The mysterious inscription

Chuck lifts his lamp and points to an inscription at the cave wall. "Max Kaemper March 1908" is cut into the rock, many miles away from the entrance in a remote section of the American Mammoth Cave, the world´s longest cave.

"Max Kämper was a German engineer who came to Kentucky as a tourist in 1908" explains Chuck, our guide. "Initially he wanted to stay only for some days, but the gigantic cave fascinated him so much that he stayed on and on. Eight months later he had explored and mapped over 30 miles of the cave. His unbelievably precise map is still considered as a marvel of cartography, decades ahead of his time. On Christmas, 1908 he traveled back to Germany. After this, there was no sign of life from him any more."

Why did he draw this cave map? Who was Max Kaemper? "That is one of the great mysteries of Mammoth Cave", states Chuck.

Chuck spreads the map left behind by Kaemper. A tangle of colored lines represents the ramifications of the underground labyrinth. Between them, in tiny, careful writing hundreds of names. Every passage, every dome, every remarkable place was named after persons who were obviously important to Max: many girls´ names among them, but also those of the owners of the cave and their families. The notables of Kentucky got their their tributes as well as Bismarck and Moltke.

Each name stands for a story. On this map the life lines of people from both sides of the Atlantic cross each other.

Today, Mammoth Cave is the heart of an American National Park and an important object of scientific research. Park ranger Chuck investigated together with historians of West Kentucky University all the stories behind the names on the Kaemper map - a research in the most unusual historical book imaginable. They called their project "The Kaemper Connection".

In archives and in the cave itself, where a countless number of inscriptions can be found, Chuck detected many facts about the early explorers of the cave. Only the author of the map, Max Kaemper, remained a phantom: All attempts to find out more about this legendary figure failed. Innumerable letters were sent by Chuck and his research colleagues to archives and libraries. They asked every German tourist who seemed to be interested in the subject. They sent out calls for help in the Internet: "Let's find who Max Kaemper was". Everything in vain. Two world wars had wiped out the tracks.

Only very persistent research in German archives would perhaps unveil the secret. Meeting German journalists who are interested in caves is like a gift for Chuck: "Can't you find out who Max Kaemper was? " he asks us. We accept the challenge.

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