During the first half of the twentieth century, a couple of Scandinavian women dedicated their lives to helping Armenian children and women afflicted by persecution and eventually genocide. As nurses and midwives, as well as managers of orphanages and schools, Bodil Biørn, Alma Johansson and Maria Jacobsen spent decades working for the Armenian people. In 1915, they became eyewitnesses to the Armenian Genocide. In the middle of the violence, the three women were compelled to develop additional skills and take on wider tasks than the ones for which they had been trained. In so doing, they became part of a transnational humanitarian network that supported Armenian refugees in the Middle East. These women have gained an exalted position in the modern history of Armenians through their life-long commitment and work in Ottoman Turkey, Soviet Armenia, Lebanon, Syria and Greece. This edited volume tells their story and explores the transnational, religious and gendered dimensions of relief work. It also addresses religious motivation and missionary practices in the context of humanitarianism, and it discusses the roles played by women as victims and agents in war.

The book will be of interest to scholars in the fields of Armenian studies, Late Ottoman studies, women's studies, missionary studies, genocide studies, memory studies and studies of humanitarianism. In addition, the graphic narratives of the three women missionaries will be read and remembered by bearers of the Armenian heritage worldwide.