In the latter stages of the 19th century, many European countries including various Scandinavian states went through a social and moral revolution where the awareness and protection of human rights took center stage. During this period of time, many human rights advocates emerged from the Scandinavian states of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Moreover, learning about the fate of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and the horrible conditions imposed upon them, these human rights advocates took it upon themselves to visit East Anatolia and assist the tormented Armenians. One of these champions of humanitarianism is the Norwegian missionary Bodil Katharine Biørn.

Bodil Katharine Biørn was born on January 27th of 1871 in Kragerø, Norway. In 1905, the “Women Missionary Organization” sent Biørn to the Ottoman Empire as a missionary nurse. She was first based in the town of Mezereh in the Kharberd province and later in Mush. During her tenure in the Ottoman Empire, she cooperated with the German missionaries of Hülfsbund in an effort to help the widows and orphans. In 1915, she witnessed the Mush massacres, including the persecution and annihilation of the orphans in her custody and the murder of numerous Armenian priests, teachers and assistants. During the genocide, while many of her colleagues reverted to the role of bystander, Bodil Katharine Biørn became a witness and a messiah; saving the lives of hundreds of homeless Armenian women and children.

Furthermore, Bodil Biørn documented the events she witnessed through her testimonial diary and her photography. Her photographic album consists of various images of the genocide with descriptive comments on the back of each photo print.

Moreover, Biørn adopted a 2 years old Armenian orphan, who survived the genocide and in 1917, she took the boy named Rafael with her to Norway and baptized him as Nansen. Nansen (originally named Rafael) became her only son, as Biørn never got married in her life.

Going back to the Near East, Bodil took care of Armenian orphans in Syria, Lebanon and Constantinople. In 1922, while leaving her son behind at the Beirut French School, Bjorn moved to Soviet Armenia and founded an orphanage named “Lusaghbyur” in Alexandrapole. At the “Lusaghbyur” orphanage, she was known as “Mother Katharine” by the 33 orphans she took care of. Additionally, in 1924, the government of Soviet Armenia closed her small orphanage transferring the orphans to orphanages of Amercom, forcing Biørn to move to Syria and continue her noble work by aiding the Armenian refugees/survivors in Syria and Lebanon. Until 1935 Bodil Biørn worked with the Armenian refugees in Syria and Lebanon.

Last but not least, Bodil Biørn past away in 1960, leaving behind a legacy that will live forever.

. The footnotes of the photos were written by Bodil Biorn in verso of the photos.

. Selected photos are included in the online exhibition out of 300 archival photos made by Bodil Biørn .

In April, 2010, AGMI organizes an international conference dedicated to the 95th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. The special focus of the conference will be on the cultural genocide of the Armenian heritage in Turkey.

In April 23, 2010, The Armenian genocide museum opens a temporary exhibition titled “Armenian genocide: frontpage coverage”. The exhibition includes rare century old newspapers and magazines covering Armenian genocide on their frontpages.

Ghevondyan Melkon was born in Huseyniq (Province of Kharberd of Western Armenia), teacher of French collage of Kharberd. He was killed in 1915.

March 11, 2010 Today the delegation headed by President of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Joao Soares visited Tsitsernakaberd ...

December 19, 2009 A group of Turkish journalists, who are in Armenia ...

November 21, 2009 The Chairman of the European Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions ...

October 30, 2009 Today the Foreign Minister of Belarus Sergey Martinov, visited to the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex ...

October 17, 2009 On October 16, the Association of the spouses of the foreign diplomats accredited in Armenia headed by Natalia Nalbandyan visited Tsitsernakaberd memorial of the ...

October 13, 2009 On October 13th of 2009, at 14:00, in the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute the presentation of the illustrated book of the AGMI director Mr. HAYK DEMOYAN, entitled “Armenian Sport and Gymnastics in the Ottoman Empire” ...

August 21, 2009 On August 17-21, 2009; the researcher of the AGMI Mr. Suren Manukyan took part in a conference in Cultural Studies; titled “The Cultural Life of Catastrophes and Crises”...

July 29, 2009 The representatives of Armenian and Turkish youth, “Tolerance through cultural and educational dialogues” program participants visited Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex ...