Alma Johansson

Alma Johansson was a Swedish missionary who worked in the city of Mush in the Ottoman Empire, during the beginning of the 20th century. She worked at a German orphanage for Armenian children. On the outbreak of the First World War, the atrocities against the empire's Christian minorities escalated and she became an eye witness to these crimes of humanity. She told about her experiences in the script called “Ett folk i landsflykt” (a people in exile). She also made testimonies to German and American diplomats who published them later. Alma told about how women took poison so they wouldn’t be captured by the Turks alive and how the soldiers transported bloody, wounded women and children trough the city while other soldiers fired at them just to frighten. When the wounded fell to the ground, the solders hit them whit the butt-end. “I can never forget the sight. And nothing could you do for them!”

She gave information about how the kids at the orphanage were handed over to a Turkish officer, and then taken to a building outside the city where they all were murdered.

On the 90 year anniversary of the Armenian genocide, a group of Swedish Armenians visited Alma Johanssons grave at Skogskyrkogården in Enskede to remember these horrifying events and to honour her efforts.