Fridtjof Nansen: Humanitarianism and the Armenian Question in the Interwar Period

The Ararat-Eskijian Museum, the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), and the Armenian Genocide Research Program within the PAI at UCLA present "Fridtjof Nansen: Humanitarianism and the Armenian Question in the Interwar Period" by Dr. Roy Knocke, director of Potsdam Lepsius House and associate lecturer at the University of Potsdam.

Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) was an exceptional European figure. As a scientist, adventurer and polar explorer he made a name for himself early on. In the final decade of his life, Nansen worked for the League of Nations and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922. He was a central figure of tackling the European refugee crisis after the decline of the multi-ethnic Ottoman, Romanov, Habsburg and Hohenzollern empires. The lecture sheds light on Nansen humanitarian merits during the interwar period, especially on his commitment for the Armenians, a people to whom he admiringly dedicated one of his last books Gjennem Armenia in 1927 (translated as Armenia and the Near East in 1928).