Book about “Danish Mother of Armenians” Karen Jeppe published in Denmark

A book about Danish missionary Karen Jeppe known for her work in the Ottoman empire during the Armenian Genocide has recently been published in Denmark, Bogvaegten reports.

Jeppe was described as the “Danish Mother of Armenians” by the Golden Apricot International Film Festival.

The Danish missionary heard a lecture about the Armenians at the age of 26 and decided that she wanted to be a teacher for orphaned Armenian kids.

Jeppe arrived in Urfa where she joined a school-orphanage under the direct supervision of the German clergyman Johannes Lepsius.

After the Armenian Genocide, She was stationed in Syria where she  found employment for Armenian widows by establishing orphanages, schools, medical clinics and workrooms, then worked to rescue two thousand Armenian women and children scattered in the area, as Aleppo director of the Commission for the Protection of Women and Children in the Near East.

Karen Jeppe made all possible efforts to create good relations between Bedouins and Armenian peasants, through which, she succeeded to found six Armenian farming colonies in the region of Raqqa like Tel Armen, Tel Samen, Charp Bedros.

The first-established Armenian higher educational college in Aleppo (opened in 1946) is named after Karen Jeppe.