Spiritual Reformation and Engagement with the World: Scandinavian Mission, Humanitarianism, and Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1905–1914

These are the words of missionary and nurse, Bodil Biørn (1871–1960), describing her first encounter with the Musch region in eastern Anatolia in October 1907. In an attempt to make Norwegian supporters and sponsors identify with the plight of Armenian mountain people in eastern Anatolia, Biørn described their food. The bread reminded her of the barkebrød (bark bread) Norwegians survived on during a period of hunger during the Napoleonic wars.2 During the hundred years that had passed since the Norwegians suffered the consequences of European wars in the early 1800s until 1907, Norway had become an independent state, which demonstrated early signs of a modern health system. The first professional nursing training school, for example, the deaconess institution Lovisenberg in Christiania (Oslo), was established in 1868. Before leaving for theOttomanEmpire as amissionary, Biørnwas a student at Lovisenberg and she later worked as a nurse in Norway for several years. Upon hearing about the plight of Armenian orphans, Biørn experienced a personal calling to work among the Armenians as a missionary and nurse. In 1905 she arrived in Turkey in order to work for a small organization, theWomen MissionWorkers (“Kvinnelige misjonsarbeidere”: KMA). Here Biørn became part of a transnational network that engaged in humanitarian work among the Armenian population, and later with Armenian refugees in the years during and after World War I.