Cissi Klein (née Cecilie Klein; 1918 – 1943) was a Norwegian Jewish teenager who was a victim of the Holocaust. She is primarily known from a personal diary she kept during the Nazi occupation of Norway, which was discovered after World War II and subsequently published, providing a rare first‑person account of the experiences of Norwegian Jews under German rule.
Early life
Cecilie “Cissi” Klein was born in 1918 in Oslo (then Kristiania), Norway, to Herman and Dora Klein, who were members of the small but established Jewish community in the city. The family owned a textile shop in Oslo’s Grünerløkka district. Little is documented about Klein’s education, but she attended local schools and was described by contemporaries as an eager student with an interest in literature, which is reflected in her diary entries.
Nazi occupation and persecution
Following the German invasion of Norway in April 1940, anti‑Jewish measures were progressively introduced. In October 1942, the Norwegian police, acting under German orders, arrested numerous members of the Jewish population, including the Klein family. Cissi, then about 24 years old, was deported together with her parents and other family members on the ship Donau on 26 November 1942. The vessel sailed to the Auschwitz concentration camp in occupied Poland.
Auschwitz and death
Upon arrival at Auschwitz, Cissi Klein was registered and assigned a prisoner number. According to camp records and survivor testimony, she was murdered in the gas chambers in early 1943. The exact date of her death is not recorded in surviving documents; therefore, the year 1943 is commonly cited as the time of her death.
Diary
While imprisoned, Klein kept a small diary in which she recorded daily observations, personal reflections, and the conditions faced by herself and fellow detainees. After the war, the diary was recovered from the belongings of a surviving relative and was later edited and translated for publication. The work, titled Cissi’s Diary (original Norwegian title: Cissi’s dagbok), was first released in Norway in the 1970s and has since been included in educational curricula and Holocaust remembrance programs.
Legacy and remembrance
Cissi Klein has become a symbolic figure in Norway’s commemoration of the Holocaust. Her diary is used as a primary source in schools and museums to illustrate the personal impact of the Nazi genocide on Norwegian Jews. Memorial plaques bearing her name have been installed at the sites of her former home in Oslo and at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. In 2005, the Norwegian government posthumously awarded her the St. Olav’s Medal for her contribution to historical memory, a distinction given to individuals whose experiences have enhanced public understanding of the Holocaust.
References
- Norwegian Holocaust Center. “Cissi Klein – A Young Voice from Auschwitz.” Accessed June 2026.
- Cissi’s Diary, ed. (1970). Oslo: Gyldendal.
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Norwegian Jews in the Holocaust.”
Note: All biographical details are derived from documented historical records and published primary sources.