Gudrun Veel Jeppe & Jytte Jacobsen
Gudrun Veel Jeppe and Jytte Jacobsen did exactly this - but for them the journey into the past was especially inspirational.
Their ancestor is the Danish missionary Karen Jeppe, a courageous humanitarian who died in 1935. Known as Mother of the Armenians, her status in the Armenian Diaspora and within the Armenian nation itself is legendary.
Karen Jeppe was directly or indirectly responsible for the sheltering and aiding the escape of thousands of Armenians who would otherwise have died in the 1915 Genocide.
Few individuals have made such an impact on an entire race but Karen Jeppe was one.
Although her immediate descendants knew of her remarkable self-sacrifice, these memories were not passed down to her great nieces who were aware of only the vaguest strands of her story until much later in their lives.
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“It was mad, and incredible."
"I had never imagined that it would be possible for me to go to Armenia. It was amazing. I remember everyone called us crazy for getting the idea, but they went along with it.
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Both women remain proud but humble of their great aunt’s heroism.
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