The YSU Faculty of Oriental Studies hosted the presentation of the book "Three Scandinavian Missionary Women and the Armenian Genocide." Among the attendees were the book's co-authors and editors, Maria Smaberg and Svante Lundgren, professors at Lund University, one of Sweden's leading higher education institutions.
The book tells the story of three Scandinavian women missionaries who devoted their lives to helping Armenian women and children. Having witnessed the atrocities of the Armenian Genocide in 1915, they continued working with Armenian refugees over the following decades in Lebanon, Syria, Greece and the Armenian SSR.
Amid mass violence, the women were compelled to develop additional skills and assume responsibilities far beyond those for which they had originally been prepared, becoming a key part of the international humanitarian network supporting Armenian refugees in the Middle East.
The volume presents their stories and examines the international, religious and gender dimensions of relief work, religious motivations and missionary practices in humanitarianism, as well as women's roles as both victims and agents in wartime settings.
In his opening remarks, Ruben Melkonyan, Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies and Professor, highlighted the significance of the book and of presenting it to the public from scholarly, educational and humanitarian perspectives. He emphasized that the volume is highly valuable both as a scholarly study and as an important documentary account of outstanding human qualities.
The authors briefly presented the history behind the book, the origins of the idea and its content.
The event was moderated by Varuzhan Geghamyan, Associate Professor at the Chair of Turkology, who facilitated an active discussion. Faculty members and students attending the presentation had the opportunity to ask the guests questions on topics of interest.
"Three Scandinavian Missionary Women and the Armenian Genocide," an edited volume, was published in June 2026 by Lund University Press and Manchester University Press, two leading academic publishers.
