Karen Platou

Karen Platou (9 July 1879 – 10 June 1950) was a Norwegian businesswoman and a politician for the Conservative Party.

[a] She was born in Mandal, Vest-Agder, the daughter of treasurer Otto Michael Stoud Platou (1852 – 1903) and Ida Nanna Amalie Ræder (1852 – 1903).

[1] She grew up in Kristiania – today called Oslo – and received her education here and in Hanover, Germany.

[3] Her first speech in Parliament was a criticism of then Prime Minister Otto Blehr's assertion that chocolate was a luxury commodity.

During World War II, Platou worked actively for the resistance movement, until she was exposed and had to flee to Sweden in 1942.