• News
• Links
• Partners
• Site map

 NANSEN Fridtjof (1861- 1930) - a Norwegian  scientist, explorer, diplomat, oceanologist, humanist, public figure. After the First World War (1914-18) as a High Commissioner of League of Nations Nansen dealt with the problems of prisoners of war and refugees. He provided aid to the starving people of Volga Region (1921). The important part of Nansen’s social works included the assistance to the Armenian people. 

F. Nansen strongly condemned Abdul Hamid II and Young Turks for carrying out the Armenian Genocide and stressed that the Turkish atrocities and cruelty could not compared with anything in history. Nansen greatly helped thousands of Armenian refugees providing them with "Nansen passport” that to some extent eased their situation. He advocated the creation of conditions for the repatriation of Armenian refugees to Soviet Armenia, headed the Repatriation Commission (1925-29).  With his commission Nansen arrived in Yerevan on June, 1925 for investigation and preparation of the issue. He visited the regions of Armenia to find out the possibilities of accepting refugees.

Returning to Geneva, he presented a report in the League of Nations on the results of his visit to Soviet Armenia, noting that in case of assistance, 25-30 thousand refugees could be accommodated in the Republic. Making sure that the League of Nations didn’t make any decision on the issue of the repatriation of the Armenian refugees, he found the necessary funds and allocated them to organization of the repatriation of 7000 Armenians.

F. Nansen wrote numerous articles, reports, speeches on the history of the Armenian people and Armenia. 

In 1927, his book “In Armenia” was published in Norway and was translated into English and French entitled "Armenia and the Near East" and in German “The Deceived People” in which the author condemned both the Turks who carried out the massacres and Western Powers for involving the Armenian people in their policy.

 In 1922 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for humanitarian works. 

A school in Yerevan was named after Nansen. Fridtjof Nansen’s monument is in the area of “Norwegian village” that was built by the Norwegians after the earthquake of 1988 in the town of Spitak.

Source-Encyclopedia "The Armenian Issue", Yerevan, 1996.