Karen Dorthea Gormsen (21 February 1880 – 2 December 1960) was a Danish nurse, Lutheran missionary and orphanage founder and director active in Antung (present-day Dandong).[1][2]
Karen Gormsen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | Karen Dorthea Gormsen 21 February 1880 Vøjstrup, Nørre Broby Parish, Denmark |
| Died | 2 December 1960 (aged 80) Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Occupation | |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Denomination | Lutheranism |
Early life and education
editGormsen was born on 21 February 1880 in Vøjstrup, Nørre Broby Parish to Hans Peter Gormsen (1847–1935), a farmer, and Anna Johanne Nielsen (1844–1929), a spinner, sewist and farmworker.[1]
From 1900 to 1904, Gormsen trained as a nurse at Copenhagen Municipal Hospital and later worked as a nurse in Kerteminde.[1] Gormsen joined the Danish Missionary Society (DMS), and in 1905 studied at a women's mission school in Andst.[1]
Career
editIn November 1906, arrived in Antung and began working at the newly founded Danish hospital as a midwife.[1][3][4][5] Responsible for the women's ward, Gormsen began taking in abandoned children.[1] Word of Gormsen's actions spread and children began being left outside the hospital, the majority of whom were girls due to son preference.[1][5] Inspired by the baby hatches used by the Fødselsstiftelsen in Copenhagen, Gormsen installed a hatch at the now completed Danish hospital in 1908.[1][6][7][5]
In recognition of her work during the 1909 cholera epidemic, Gormsen was awarded a plot of land by the Antung authorities.[1][5] Gormsen built an orphanage on the land which was officially opened in 1916.[1][5] Until 1931, the orphanage was supported by both private Danish donations and the Antung authorities.[1][6]
Gormsen continued to run the orphanage throughout the Japanese and Soviet occupation of Antung.[1][5] In the aftermath of the Second World War the orphanage housed around 300 children.[5] Following the Proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Gormsen began trying try to place children in private homes.[1] In 1950, Gormsen was declared a counter-revolutionary by the Chinese Communist Party and the orphanages remaining children were forcibly sent for re-education.[5][4][8] In December 1950, Gormsen left China.[1] Gormsen's memoirs My Children in China was posthumously published in 1961.[6] In 1980, Gormsen was posthumously rehabilitated.[1]
Personal life
editOn 2 December 1960 Gormsen died in Copenhagen, aged 80.[1]
References
edit- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Nielsen, Estrid (22 April 2023). "Karen Gormsen". In Larsen, Jytte (ed.). Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark: LEX. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
- ↑ Nielsen, Sune (17 January 2011). "Bevarelsen af et stykke dansk historie i Kina". Kristeligt Dagblad (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
- ↑ Gjerø, Simon (2008). "Han opgiver Opium, Hasardspil og Usædelighed – Arbejdet og missionen". Kaldet til Kina: Danske missionærers liv og oplevelser i Manchuriet 1893–1960 [Called to China: Danish Missionaries' Lives and Experiences in Manchuria 1893–1960] (in Danish). Højbjerg: Forlaget Univers. pp. 154–193. ISBN 978-87-91668-16-6. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
- 1 2 "Manchuria – China; Photo Archive". Danmission. Hellerup, Denmark: Danish Missionary Society. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Nielsen, Estrid (20 July 2000). "En skæbnefortælling". Kristeligt Dagblad (in Danish). Copenhagen, Denmark. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
- 1 2 3 Larsen, Jytte (2001). "Iført to pelse og revolverbælte". Sygeplejersken (in Danish) (20). Copenhagen, Denmark: Dansk Sygeplejeråd: 36–39. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
- ↑ Danmission (13 August 2019). "Nu udkommer 200 års missionshistorie". RSSING (in Danish). Retrieved 25 April 2026.
- ↑ Gjerø, Simon (2008). "Der lugter som der skal – Afslutningen på en epoke, 1945-60". Kaldet til Kina: Danske missionærers liv og oplevelser i Manchuriet 1893–1960 [Called to China: Danish Missionaries' Lives and Experiences in Manchuria 1893–1960] (in Danish). Højbjerg: Forlaget Univers. pp. 207–218. ISBN 978-87-91668-16-6. Retrieved 25 April 2026.