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European Armenian Federation PRESS RELEASE NORWEGIAN CITY OF KRAGERØ HONOURS BODIL BIØRN, UNSUNG HERO AND RELIEF WORKER DURING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE Brussels, Belgium - On the initiative of the Armenian community of Aleppo, Syria, the Norwegian city of Kragerø (11000 inhabitants) has erected a statue honoring Bodil Catharina Biørn, who spent 30 years of her life providing relief to the Armenians of Turkey before, during and after the Armenian Genocide. The statue will be unveiled on Saturday, May 29.After studying nursing in Germany, Bodil Biørn, the daughter of a wealthy ship owner, left her native Kragerø in 1905 to go to Turkey. There, as part of benevolent evangelical missions, she provided aid to the Christian populations, and especially to the Armenians, who endured oppression under the Ottomans and who were regularly victims of extortion. Stationed in various regions of the Ottoman Empire (e.g., Van, Cilicia), Bodil Biørn was in Mush in 1915 when the Genocide began. She poured her energy into providing assistance to survivors there and later in Armenia, during the First Republic (1918-1920). After the Sovietization of Armenia, she continued her philathropical work in the Armenian orphanages of Syria and Lebanon, where she adopted an orphan she named Fridjof. She finally left the region to return to her country in 1936. The commemorative events in Kragerø are scheduled as follows: o Saturday, May 29th 12.00 - Exhibition "The Ships Owner's Daughter" in the Kragerø Museum 12.30 - Address by Jussi Flemming Biørn, son of Fridjof, "Bodil Catharina Biørn, Philanthropist and Missionary" 14.00 - Unveiling of Bodil Biørn statue, in front of the town hall 16.30 - Showing of the movie « Ararat ». o Sunday, May 30th 11.00 - Requiem service in memory of Bodil Biørn and the victims of the Armenian Genocide. "It is a moral duty for Armenians to pay homage to the many honorable, just people, often women, often Scandinavians, who provided relief to the victims of the barbarity committed by the Young Turks. With this commemoration, Bodil Biørn finally emerges from anonymity and takes her place beside Maria Jacobsen, Karen Jeppe, Alma Johansson or Amalia Lange, her sisters in compassion," declared Laurent Leylekian, executive director of the European Armenian Federation. "In these times of questioning about Europe's borders, we are here to testify that Europe is foremost a matter of values and identity. In this regard, Norway, which is not a member of the Union is undeniably part of our European family. This is not the case of Turkey, however, which has a long and enduring record of fascism," concluded Leylekian.
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