page_title: Maria Jacobsen
section_title: Armenian Genocide
hierarchical_section_title: Maria Jacobsen / Armenian Genocide
caption_attribution_description: English: Personnel card of Maria Jacobsen
context_page_description: Maria Jacobsen was a Danish missionary and a key witness to the Armenian Genocide. Jacobsen wrote the Diaries of a Danish Missionary: Harpoot, 1907–1919, which according to Armenian Genocide scholar Ara Sarafian, is a "documentation of the utmost significance" for research of the Armenian Genocide. For her humanitarian efforts, Jacobsen is known as "Mayrik" or "Mama" for having saved many Armenians during the Genocide.
context_section_description: When Maria Jacobsen arrived in Kharpert, she immediately started working in the American hospital located in the area.
  In a diary entry regarding the deportation of Armenians, on 26 June 1915, Jacobsen stated that, "it is quite obvious that the purpose of their departure is the extermination of the Armenian people." She added:
  Conditions now are completely different from what they were during the massacres of 20 years ago. What could be done then is impossible now. The Turks know very well about the war raging in Europe, and that the Christian nations are too busy to take care of Armenians, so they take advantage of the times to destroy their "enemies"
  Jacobsen also stated in her diaries that Turkish soldiers told her and other Danish missionaries, "Why do you give money and food to these people? They are only going out to the mountains to be killed."
  On July 6, Maria Jacobsen and Danish missionary Tacy Atkinson reported that 800 of the males thirteen years and older who were arrested were "massacred" in a gorge. Jacobsen then wrote about males over the age of nine who were taken to a mosque under the guardianship of "Kurds and gendarmes" who returned with their clothes covered with blood.
  Jacobsen described the situation of the Armenian orphans and the famine throughout the city:
  We lived this way for a year in fear that all the children would die of hunger. Each day new groups of children stood in front of my door asking for help, but what more could I do? I had nothing more to give them. One day a 13 year old boy stood out among a starved group of children that came to me. His belly was not swollen up with hunger as others so I told him; there are many in worse condition than you who need help. Yours is the least serious, that's why I am sorry, I can not take you in. The same evening when I came to our kitchen's fireplace, my eyes caught a child lying crumpled on the warm ashes. It was the boy I sent away the previous day. He had died of hunger. That day I thought I would never be able to smile again. Each day we found ten to fifteen children that had died of famine.
  Jacobsen later wrote about the circumstances of the deportees stating that 'these poor people did not look like humans any more, not even animals could be found in this state, people would be merciful and kill them'.
  Serving as part of the Danish missionary, Jacobsen had taken thousands of children under her care and hid them from Turks. She was known for taking care of an orphan that was a survivor of a group of orphans that were killed when thrown into a river. Jacobsen reported that the Turkish authorities demanded from the American missionaries to hand over the orphans, however, when this happened, many of them were killed.
  Jacobsen also remarked about the Norwegian and Scandinavian media during the Genocide: 
  Today I went down to Mezreh and visited Sister Bodil (Biørn), together with Karen-Marie and some Turkish sisters. There we saw an account of the great Turkish blood bath of the Armenians in a Norwegian newspaper from September 30th. We were glad to see this. If they know about this in Norway, they must also know in Denmark and can follow us better in thought and prayer. This we need in these distressing times that the friends at home share in our suffering and carry us forward to the Mercy Seat.
  It was during this period that Jacobsen adopted three children. The first, Hansa, had fled the Bedouin family she was sold into and hid in a tree until she became unconscious from sickness and fell, where a Turk police officer and Jacobsen found her. Jacobsen chose to adopt her on the spot. The second child was Beatrice, and the third was Lilly, who she had found on the side of the road.
caption: Personnel card of Maria Jacobsen
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