Agos Weekly: The Forgotten Norwegian Hero of 1915
Agos Weekly has published an article on Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg’s decision to not visit Yerevan to pay tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide on April 24th. The Armenian newspaper has brought up the example of Bodil Katharine Biørn, who was one of the eyewitnesses of the Armenian Genocide and is known for her pro-Armenian activities.
The article “Forgotten Norwegian Hero of 1915” presents the life of the Norwegian woman who lived in Western Armenia during the years of the Armenian Genocide and spent many years helping the Armenians.
“Biørn was born in 1871 in Norway. In 1905, she joined the Organization of Woman Missionaries”, after which she was sent to the Ottoman Empire. At first she worked in Kharberd and later moved to Mush. In 1915, she witnessed the killings of clergymen, teachers and children in Mush. While the whole world was watching, Biørn saved the lives of hundreds of homeless women and children. In 1917, Biørn adopted 2-year-old Rafael, who had become an orphan during the Armenian Genocide. Returning to Norway, she baptized him and named him Fridtjof Nansen. Biørn’s diaries and photos play an important role in the history of the Armenian Genocide. One of her most famous photos is the photo of former representative of the Ottoman Mejlis Papazyan looking at the bones of Armenians in the desert of Deir ez-Zor in the 1920s,” writes Agos, as “Arajin Lratvakan” reports.
According to Agos, in 1922, Biørn, who was working at different orphanages in Syria, Lebanon and Istanbul, left 7-year-old Fridtjof at a French school in Beirut, moved to Soviet Armenia and established an orphanage called “Lusaghbyur” in Alexandropol (modern-day Gyumri). Two years later, the woman whom the 33 orphans knew as “Mother Katharine”, left the orphanage and moved to Syria. She helped Armenian Genocide survivors until 1935. She passed away in 1960 in Norway.
“While Bodil Katharine Biørn is one of the major eyewitnesses of the Armenian Genocide, Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg declares that Norway isn’t going to be represented in Yerevan by neither the Prime Minister nor the Minister of Foreign Affairs,” writes the newspaper.
It was recently announced that Erna Solberg had refused to visit Yerevan to pay tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide on April 24th. Solberg attached importance to relations with Turkey, and that’s the reason why she has decided to not participate in the events dedicated to the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide.