Halvdan Koht - Family Background; Early and Personal Life

Family Background; Early and Personal Life

Halvdan Koht was born on 7 August 1873 in Tromsø, one of the larger cities in Northern Norway. He was the second of four children born to Paul Steenstrup Koht (1844–1892), an educator and politician, and Betty Giæver (1845–1936), a part-time teacher with a penchant for singing, languages and drawing. Betty's antecedents were mixed: she was maternally descended from Northern Germany, yet on her father's side she was of Norwegian origin—a distinguished forebear on that side was her great-grandfather, the civil servant Jens Holmboe from Tromsø. Through the offspring of his maternal grand-uncle, Halvdan Koht was a third cousin of the parliamentarian Ola Krogseng Giæver. In Paul Koht's lineage, Kjeld Stub was a distant ancestor. The name Koht stems from German immigrants to Norway in the 17th century.

He was intended to have the name Joachim, but this was stopped on request from Joachim G. Giæver who voiced his dislike for the name. He was then christened Halfdan, changed to Halvdan some years later. The family lived in Tromsø, where Paul Steenstrup Koht was a headmaster and mayor. The family moved to Skien when Halvdan was twelve years old, where his father again immersed himself in politics: he served as mayor as well as parliamentarian for the Liberal Party. Koht finished school here, taking his examen artium in 1890. His father was among his teachers for a while in Norwegian and Greek. In 1893, one year after the death of Koht's father, the family moved to Bekkelaget, a borough in Aker. Koht studied at the Royal Frederick University (now the University of Oslo).

In September 1898 in Kristiania, Koht married Karen Elisabeth Grude (1871–1960), an essay writer and women's rights activist one and a half years his senior; she bore him three children. One child died in infancy, but the remaining two had distinguished careers: Åse Gruda Skard (née Koht) became a child psychologist and Paul Koht an ambassador. Through Åsa, Halvdan Koht was a father-in-law of literary scholar Sigmund Skard and a grandfather of politician and academic Torild Skard, psychologist and ombud Målfrid Grude Flekkøy and politician and organizational leader Halvdan Skard. In the late 1920s, Karen's declining health and Halvdan's preoccupation with his work placed a strain on their relationship. Disenchanted with the loveless union, Koht entered several extramarital friendships in the following decade, often pen friends. During the Second World War, there were rumors about a romantic relationship with his secretary Unni Diesen. After 1945 the relationship to Karen regrew in strength.