AZG Armenian Daily #070, 20/04/2005
Armenian Genocide
SWEDISH ARMENIANS PLEDGE NEVER TO FORGET THE MISSIONARY ALMA JOHANSSON
RED CARNATION FOR OUR LOVING ALMA
Stockholm – 17/04/2005
It is a beautiful spring day, the sky is blue and the birds are
singing… spring is finally here in Stockholm.
Anna Mahdessian is on her way to the cemetery of…. Which is in the
centre of the city… For the Armenian community of Sweden this is an
annual pilgrimage. You see parents with their children, young people,
old people, heading towards Alma Johansson’s grave.
“Who is Alma Johansson”, asks Daron, the little boy holding her mom’s
hand, somehow terrified to be in a cemetery. “This is the first time
he is in a cemetery. Death is abstraction for him.
Anna calms him down and whispers a few comforting words in his ear.
On the 17th of April, in response to the initiative of the April 24
– 90th anniversary committee, Anna and many other Armenians paid a
tribute the Swedish missionary Alma Johansson.
This was an extraordinary woman, who back in 1915, did her outmost to
help Armenians during the massacres, by awakening the public opinion
on the matter. It was thanks to her efforts that Hjalmar Brantning,
the first Swedish Social Democratic prime minister, then the finance
minister, argued for the Armenian cause, and described the massacres
as genocide, by using the Swedish word for that “folkmord”, long
before R. Lemkin did.
“We shall always remember her, we are always going to be there to
show our gratitude. This is a sacred place for us, Swedish Armenians,
explains the chairman of the committee representing Stockholm’s
Armenian Relief Society (HOM) Mr. Hagop Khatcherian, arranging the
flowers by the grave.
“I have some carnations, which is for eternal love,” Says Anna with
a smile and then sinks her gaze to the candle burning in her hands.
The Armenian priest, Father Norayr together with the people prayed
for her soul and everybody came to the grave with their ointments.
Haig Hagopian played “Sourp Sourp” on duduk.
Mr. Hagop Khatcherian; Armenian Relief Society of Stockholm, Sweden
(HOM); E-mail: homstockholm@yahoo.se; Tel: +46707461495