By Mike Agopian
Maria Jacobsen (November 6, 1882 – April 6, 1960) was a
Danish missionary and a key witness to the Armenian Genocide. Jacobsen wrote
the Diaries of a Danish Missionary: Harpoot, 1907–1919, which according to
Armenian Genocide scholar Ara Sarafian, is a “documentation of the utmost
significance” for research of the Armenian Genocide.[1] For her humanitarian
efforts, Jacobsen is known as “Mayrik” (Armenian: mother) or “Mama” for having
saved many
Armenians during the Genocide.
Armenians during the Genocide.
Maria Jacobsen was born in Denmark in the town of Siim
near Ry on 6 November 1882 and as a child, she lived in Horsens with her father
Jens Jacobsen and mother Ane Kristine Pedersen. At an early age, Jacobsen had
learned about the massacres of Armenians during the Hamidian massacres from the
Danish media. Christian organizations throughout the world started a campaign
to express their solidarity with the Armenians and to serve to help them. When
Mrs. Jessie Penn-Lewis, a feminist activist, came to Denmark from England in
1898, she helped form the Women’s Missionary Workers (K.M.A.; Danish:
Kvindelige Missions Arbejdere) in 1900.[3] Jacobsen soon participated in the
support and relief efforts of orphans in the eastern provinces of the Ottoman
Empire.
When Maria Jacobsen arrived in Kharpert, she immediately
started working in the American hospital located in the area.
In a diary entry regarding the deportation of Armenians,
on 26 June 1915, Jacobsen stated that, “it is quite obvious that the purpose of
their departure is the extermination of the Armenian people.” She added:
Conditions now are completely different from what they
were during the massacres of 20 years ago. What could be done then is
impossible now. The Turks know very well about the war raging in Europe, and
that the Christian nations are too busy to take care of Armenians, so they take
advantage of the times to destroy their “enemies”
Jacobsen also stated in her diaries that Turkish soldiers
told her and other Danish missionaries, “Why do you give money and food to
these people? They are only going out to the mountains to be killed.”
On July 6, Maria Jacobsen and Danish missionary Tacy
Atkinson reported that 800 of the males thirteen years and older who were
arrested were “massacred” in a gorge. Jacobsen then wrote about males over the
age of nine who were taken to a mosque under the guardianship of “Kurds and
gendarmes” who returned with their cloths covered with blood.[7][8]
An Armenian child waiting before his admission to the
orphanage
Jacobsen described the situation of the Armenian orphans
and the famine throughout the city:
We lived this way for a year in fear that all the
children would die of hunger. Each day new groups of children stood in front of
my door asking for help, but what more could I do? I had nothing more to give
them. One day a 13 year old boy stood out among a starved group of children
that came to me. His belly was not swollen up with hunger as others so I told
him; there are many in worse condition than you who need help. Yours is the
least serious, that’s why I am sorry, I can not take you in. The same evening
when I came to our kitchen’s fireplace, my eyes caught a child lying crumpled
on the warm ashes. It was the boy I sent away the previous day. He had died of
hunger. That day I thought I would never be able to smile again. Each day we
found ten to fifteen children that had died of famine.
Jacobsen later wrote about the circumstances of the
deportees stating that ‘these poor people did not look like humans any more,
not even animals could be found in this state, people would be merciful and
kill them’.
Serving as part of the Danish missionary, Jacobsen had
taken thousands of children under her care and hid them from Turks. She was
known for taking care of an orphan that was a survivor of a group of orphans
that were killed when thrown into a river.[8] Jacobsen reported that the
Turkish authorities demanded from the American missionaries to hand over the
orphans, however, when this happened, many of them were killed.
Jacobsen also remarked about the Norwegian and
Scandinavian media during the Genocide:
Today I went down to Mezreh and visited Sister Bodil
(Biørn), together with Karen-Marie and some Turkish sisters. There we saw an
account of the great Turkish blood bath of the Armenians in a Norwegian
newspaper from September 30th. We were glad to see this. If they know about
this in Norway, they must also know in Denmark and can follow us better in
thought and prayer. This we need in these distressing times that the friends at
home share in our suffering and carry us forward to the Mercy Seat.
It was during this period that Jacobsen adopted three
children. The first, Hansa, had fled the Bedouin family she was sold into and
hid in a tree until she became unconscious from sickness and fell, where a Turk
police officer and Jacobsen found her. Jacobsen chose to adopt her on the spot.
The second child was Beatrice, and the third was Lilly, who she had found on
the side of the road.
After World War I, Maria Jacobson left the Ottoman Empire
after contracting typhus from the orphans.[4] After going to her native
Denmark, she went to the United States where she gave a series of lectures and
speeches on the plight of the Armenian people and the massacres that they have
been subjected to. In the seven months that she spent in the United States, she
managed to raise money for the orphans. After being prohibited from entering
Turkey, Jacobsen subsequently went to Beirut, Lebanon where she continued to
care for the orphans.
In January 1922, after the Armenian Genocide, Jacobsen
transferred many orphans to Beirut. After moving to Zouk Michail in July 1922,
she helped establish an orphanage which sheltered 208 Armenian children from
the region of Cilicia. Through the efforts of the Danish missionary, an
Armenian orphanage that had previously been owned by the Near East Foundation
was acquired by The Women’s Missionary Workers (K.M.A.) in 1928.The orphanage,
which was located in Jbeil, became known as the “Bird’s Nest”.
Maria Jacobsen, who was also fluent in Armenian, often
read the bible to the orphans in Armenian. Jacobsen also married an Armenian
dentist.
Maria Jacobsen died on 6 April 1960 and is buried in the
courtyard of Birds’ Nest as desired by her will
• On the 130th anniversary of her birth, the Armenian
Genocide Museum issued a jubilee postcard of Maria Jacobsen.
• Jacobsen became the first woman to receive the Danish
Kingdom’s Gold Medal Award in 1950.
• On her 50th Jubilee celebration, Jacobsen was awarded
with the Gold Medal of Honor by the government of Lebanon on 14 December 1954.
The award was given to her for her service and dedication to the Armenian
community.
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