Meet Karsten

Meet Karsten
Karsten Roedder (1901-1986) grew up in the canning city of Stavanger, experienced two world wars, and emigrated to America. He chronicled the major changes of the century as a journalist and author.

Karsten grew up in a poor working-class neighbourhood, amidst the factory chimneys of Stavanger's east end. Until school age, which was then seven years old, he lived with his mother, who worked seasonally in the canning industry, and his older sister, who was a year older. The small family moved frequently, had little money, and lived in cramped conditions. At times, as many as seven families lived under the same roof.

Karsten did not meet his father until he was seven, because his father was at sea. In Stavanger, his father worked at Blikken, making tin cans for the canning industry, but he was often unemployed for long periods. Like many children, Karsten also worked in the canning industry, despite child labour being illegal.

At the age of ten, Karsten tried to steal sardines and money from two canning factories and broke into a warehouse. Although he did not steal much, the punishment was two years at Lindøy, a youth detention centre for boys. During these years, he gained two new siblings and lost a brother, who died at only three years old. After his confirmation in 1915, during World War I, he signed on to a ship to America, where he got an education, became a journalist and editor. He also published the novel "Knus ikke en elendig i porten" ("Do Not Crush a Wretch at the Gate"), which describes a boy’s upbringing in Stavanger not unlike his own.

With a sharp pen from America, he commented on the city's rapid development. Karsten write in the 1950s that from lying in the doldrums, Stavanger had become one of the country’s most vibrant cities. He was enthusiastic but also concerned: "We are living beyond our means." In the 1960s, Karsten moved back to Norway with his family. Does he regret moving back? "Not a day," he answers. "But there is no point in hoping to find the Norway you left half a century ago. It no longer exists," he says.