Cissi Pera Klein (19 April 1929 in Narvik – 3 March 1943 in Auschwitz) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

girl who is commemorated every year as one of the victims of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

in her home town in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

. Her parents had emigrated to Norway from the Baltic states around 1905, at first living in

North Norway Northern Norway ( nb, Nord-Norge, , nn, Nord-Noreg; se, Davvi-Norga) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the two northernmost counties Nordland and Troms og Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the larg ...

, but then establishing a retail store in Trondheim. She was arrested at her school on 6 October 1942, detained, and ultimately

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

with the transport ship ''Gotenland'' from

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

to Stettin, from which she was sent by train to Auschwitz, where she was murdered the day she arrived, on 3 March 1943. She was 13 years old. Cissi Klein became famous in her home town of Trondheim in the mid-1990s, when the city decided to appoint one of its 72 residents who were deported as a symbol for the persecution during the war. In 1995, the street where she lived was named Cissi Kleins gate, and a statue of her made by Tore Bjørn Skjølsvik and Tone Ek was unveiled in the park nearby in 1997. In memory of the day she was removed from her school by police, pupils from the Kalvskinnet Primary School visit the park on 6 October every year to lay flowers. The composer Ståle Kleiberg has written a musical piece in her memory.

Gallery

Cissi Klein Gedenktafel (Trondheim).jpg, Stolperstein für Cissi Pera Klein (Trondheim).jpg, Stolpersteine und Strassenschild Cissi Kleins gate (Trondheim).jpg,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Cissi 1929 births 1943 deaths The Holocaust in Norway Norwegian Jews who died in the Holocaust People from Trondheim People from Narvik Norwegian civilians killed in World War II Norwegian people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp Children who died in Nazi concentration camps Norwegian children Jewish children who died in the Holocaust