Hayern Aysor presents the life and career of missionary Alma Johanson. Hayern Aysor has also reflected on Karen Eppe, Hedwig Büll, Bodil Katharine Biørn and Maria Jacobsen. They were the missionaries who stood by the side of the Armenian orphans and the Armenians in panic and mourning after the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and provided them with humanitarian assistance.

The names of these noble women are included in the list for the “Our Greats” Program of the RA Ministry of Diaspora.

Swedish missionary Alma Johansson was born in 1880 and also dedicated most of her life to humanitarianism. From 1901 to 1915, she worked for German orphanages and missionary institutions based in Western Armenia. In the fall of 1915, she was compelled to return to Sweden.

From 1920 to 1922, she helped Armenian orphans and other Armenians with longing who had survived the massacres and deportations. In 1923, she moved to Thessaloniki where she worked for the Swedish relief institution and helped Armenian migrants.

In late 1941, after the Fascists occupied Greece and when it was no longer possible to carry out humanitarian acts, Johansson returned to Sweden, but she kept strong ties with the Armenians and became fluent in Armenian.

As an eyewitness of the Armenian Genocide, Johansson wrote two booklets entitled “A People in Exile” (1930) and “The Life of Armenians in Exile” (1931) in which she presented the Armenians’ deportations and the assaults against them.