Personal Life
Thorolf Rafto was born in 1922 in Bergen, Norway. His father, Robert Rafto was an Olympic gymnast and the winner of the Norwegian decathlon championships in 1918. In his younger days Rafto competed on national level in athletics, and won the Norwegian championships in decathlon in 1947.
During the World War II, Thorolf Rafto fled to Britain and served with the Royal Air Force. Back in Bergen after the war, he earned university degrees in Languages and History. In 1950, at the age of 28, Rafto married Helga Hatletvedt with whom, he had four children.
In 1956, Thorolf Rafto became a lecturer at the Norwegian School of Economics in Bergen. “Thorolf's abilities and charisma soon made him one of the most popular lecturers ever at the college. He had an almost photographic memory that enabled him to cite historical, economic and cultural facts as if he had a reference book before him. When he started his classes, only eight students enrolled. Two years later the lecture halls were crammed.”
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