Hendrik Olsen

Hendrik Lars Balle Olsen (born March 3, 1901 in Qipingasoq , † June 20, 1967 in Sisimiut ) was a Greenland state councilor , trade administrator , interpreter , journalist and translator .

Life

Hendrik Olsen was the son of missionary Gustav Eli Karl Olsen (1878–1950) and his wife Ane Sophie Karen Berthelsen (1882–1951). His mother was the daughter of Rasmus Storm Josva Berthel Berthelsen (1827–1901). He was born in a now abandoned town near Napasoq .

From 1915 to 1920 he attended Grønland's seminarium and then received further training in Denmark . He was then employed by Den Kongelige Grønlandske Handel as a trade administrator, interpreter and assistant in Upernavik . He also wrote articles for many years in Grønlandsposten and was editor of the self-founded local newspaper in Upernavik. He was active in local politics in Upernavik and sat on the National Council for many years between 1934 and 1954. After 40 years in the service of the KGH, he moved to his father's hometown in Sisimiut .

In the 1940s, the first female Bahá'í follower in Denmark, Johanne Høeg , spread letters and religious literature in Denmark and Greenland. Hendrik Olsen became interested and began correspondence with Høeg for years. He translated Bahá'u'lláh og Hans Budskab into Greenlandic and also worked as a translator for Knud Rasmussen . In the spring of 1965 he invited Johanne Høeg to Greenland. During her visit in the summer of that year, he was the first Greenlander to officially convert to Baha'itum and began translating John Esslemont 's Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era , which he had only half finished translating when he was 66 in 1967 Years ago in the hospital in Sisimiut.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Church records Maniitsoq 1901–1913 (Born boys p. 1)
2. ↑ ^{a b} The Bahá'í World Edition 14 Part II (p. 369f) (.pdf)
3. ↑ ^{a b} Nekrolog in the Atuagagdliutit of July 6, 1967
4. ↑ Axel Kjær Sørensen: Denmark-Greenland in the Twentieth Century (= Meddelelser om Grønland . Man and Society. 34). Danish Polar Center, Copenhagen 2006, ISBN 87-90369-89-0 , ( digital copy (PDF; 3.35 MB) ).