Kathrine Bugge

Who was Kathrine Bugge?

Kathrine Susanne Bugge, née Hanssen was a Norwegian educator, cultural worker and politician for the Communist Party.

She was born in Bodø as a daughter of tailor, editor and missionary Jakob Andreas Hanssen and his wife Mathilde Dahl. She attended middle school, and at age 16 she worked as a governess. She then attended Tromsæ Teachers' Seminary and graduated there in 1897. She was hired as a middle school teacher in Vardø in 1899. Here she met Thorolf Bugge, whom she married in December 1902. The two became a part of the radical and revolutionary milieu in the city, located close to the Russian border.

Kathrine fell ill in 1906, and the couple moved to a small farm in Jarfjord, Sør-Varanger. Her husband worked at the farm and in the company Sydvaranger. Kathrine was an active cultural worker in the district, with literature, oratory and dance, as well as a Socialist Sunday school. In the socialist enlightenment work in Finnmark, the Bugge couple stood out together with Ellisif Wessel.