Hansteen, Kirsten (1903–1974)
Hansteen, Kirsten (1903–1974)
First woman member of the Norwegian ministry, who was active in resistance during World War II and whose husband was executed by the Germans. Born Kirsten Moe in Lyngen, Troms county, in the far north of Norway, in 1903; died in 1974; married Viggo Hansteen (1900–1941), in 1930.
Born Kirsten Moe in Lyngen, Troms county, in the far north of Norway, in 1903, Kirsten Hansteen became a Norwegian politician and member of the Communist Party. In 1930, she married the Oslo barrister Viggo Hansteen, one of the first two anti-fascist members of the Norwegian Resistance movement to be executed during the German Occupation of Norway, 1940–45. During the war, Kirsten Hansteen edited Kvinnefronten (The Women's Front), an organ of women's Resistance. After the Liberation of Norway in 1945, this publication changed its name to Kvinnen og Tiden (Women and Current Affairs). Hansteen was given the post of consultative Cabinet minister in Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen's coalition government of June–November 1945, and she represented Akershus county in the Norwegian Storting (Parliament) from 1945 to 1949.
sources:
Aschehoug and Gyldendal. Store Norske Leksikon (The Greater Norwegian Encyclopedia). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget, 1992.
Elizabeth Rokkan , translator, formerly Associate Professor, Department of English, University of Bergen, Norway