Czech traveller and writer Karel Hansa was born on November 25, 1890, in Vienna. In 1919 he moved to Prague. In 1922 he travelled around the countries of the Near East. From Istanbul he took a trip to Smyrna (Izmir), Beirut and Aleppo where he witnessed the miserable conditions and the sufferings of the Armenian refugees living in the streets and tents. It was in Aleppo that he first learnt about “Near East Relief” association. He was inspired by their humanitarian activity and joined the program to transfer eight thousand Armenian orphans to Syria.

Later Hansa left for Lebanon where he visited the Danish orphanage and met Maria Jacobsen. At the end of 1922 he returned to Europe by the same ship which was carrying 896 Greek orphans to Athens. He was deeply disheartened by the horrifying scenes he witnessed in the Near East. Hence upon his return to homeland he set up “Armenian Orphans’ Relief Foundation of Hansa” which operated adjacent to the Czechoslovakian Red Cross. In 1923 he published the book titled “The Horrors of the East” in which he speaks about the Armenian history and culture: Hansa states the anguish of the Armenian orphans and widows in consequence of the Genocide. The book is enriched with 60 photos taken by the author. The Czech Armenophile donated the whole profit of the book to “Armenian Orphans’ Relief Foundation of Hansa”.

The information about the end of Hansa’s life and activity dated back to 1951. It is known that he was not married and did not have children.



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