Helga Karlsen

Karlsen was born in Oslo (at the time called Kristiania), to rail-road engineer Karl Arnesen (1860 – 1923) and Hilda Alette Torgersdatter (b. 1855).^[3] It seems as though her mother died while Helga was still young, and the girl had to go into foster care; in early records she appears under the name of Helga Pettersen.^[3] She started working at the age of fourteen, first as a maid, later in a café and in a candy factory. She then worked at a trading company for three years before entering into politics.^[3]

Karlsen had been involved in the labour movement since she first joined their theatre group in 1899.^[3] In the early 1920s, she was elected to the city council for the Labour Party.^[2] Here, among other things, she argued against municipal funding for the building of the so-called Markus Church on Grünerløkka, on the basis of the acute shortage of housing in the city.^[4] Karlsen was also deeply involved in the party's organisation of children's groups.^[3]

Member of Parliament

In 1927 she was elected to

In 1936, while running for a third term in Parliament, Karlsen fell ill. She was rarely unwell, but the busy schedule of the campaign had taken a great toll on her.[5] She died only four days before the election.^[3] Karlsen was buried from the People's Houses in Oslo, where the eulogy was delivered by Martin Tranmæl.^[5] She was survived by her husband, Fredrik Emanuel Karlsen (1873 – 1942), whom she had met through the labour movement.^[3]

References

Further reading

• Syvertsen, Sigrid; Thina Thorleifsen (1960). Kvinner i strid : historien om Arbeiderpartiets kvinnebevegelse (in Norwegian). Oslo: Arbeidernes opplysningsforbund.