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Moscow Hosts Week Of Nansen In Memory Of Norwegian Diplomat

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  • Moscow Hosts Week Of Nansen In Memory Of Norwegian Diplomat

    MOSCOW HOSTS WEEK OF NANSEN IN MEMORY OF NORWEGIAN DIPLOMAT

    ITAR-TASS
    October 26, 2011 Wednesday 02:52 PM EST
    Russia

    Visitors to the Week on Nansen exposition in Moscow will learn new
    facts from the biography of an outstanding Norwegian scientist,
    Polar researcher and diplomat, Fridtjof Nansen, see photographs of
    the legendary man unknown to the general public and listen to his
    favorite music.

    Deputy head of the Norwegian diplomatic mission in Moscow Bord Ivar
    Svendsen said that the Norwegian side highly appreciates a big interest
    in their compatriot and a legendary man displayed in Russia.

    He was a unique person, a man of broad interests, a good scientist and
    an excellent diplomat who made a great contribution to the development
    of humanitarian projects in Russia, Ukraine and Armenia, the Norwegian
    diplomat said. He praised the exposition devoted to Nansen, saying
    its program is diverse and rich in content.

    Natalia Budur, the Russian author of Nansen's biography, said in her
    book that Nansen skied across Greenland, sailed through Arctic ice to
    the North Pole and after being an ambassador got down to humanitarian
    activities and signed a very important document on the territorial
    integrity of Norway.

    A conference held at the Sakharov Center in Moscow on Wednesday
    in the framework of the "Week of Nansen" is being attended by
    scientists from Russia and Norway and other visitors. Later in the
    day an exposition of photographs dedicated to Hansen will open to
    show Hansen's activities in the field of repatriation of prisoners
    of war, assistance to the victims of famine in Samara and Saratov,
    the activities of Nansen Committee in Kharkov, his work at sessions
    of the League of Nations in which Nansen took part, a book published
    by the Nansen mission in bid to raise funds in aid to Russia, Nansen
    passports and other photographs.

    In 2011 the world celebrates the 150th anniversary of Nansen's birth.

    Since 1919 after a period of scientific research in the North and
    until 1930 when Nansen died he fully devoted himself to humanitarian
    activities.

    During a horrible period of famine in the Volga region in Civil War
    Nansen made heroic efforts to ensure food and financial aid to Russia
    from Europe and the United States and contributed his own funds,
    helped solve refugee problems. In 1922 Nansen became a first ever
    High Commissioner for refugees.

    On the initiative of the International Red Cross the name of Fridtjof
    Nansen was given to passports issued to refugees from Russia. This
    widely used document gave a new lease of life in the West to Igor
    Stravinsky, Sergei Rakhmaninov, Mark Shagal, Anna Pavlova and other
    bright representatives of Russian art and culture.

    The name of the bright man was given to a lunar crater, islands
    of the Franz Josef Land archipelago, mountain peaks in Antarctica,
    Tien -Shan and Canada, an island in the Kara Sea. Many streets in
    world cities were named after the celebrated man. His name crowns an
    annual prize in the field of human rights awarded by the Office of
    the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

    The Nansen Refugee Award was created in 1954 in honor of Fridtjof
    Nansen, the legendary Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat and
    politician.

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