This red building at Bispegata 9b was built in 1855 to house Norway's oldest school for the deaf. Since the school was founded in 1825, teaching had taken place in borrowed premises, but with this building, the school gained a permanent base in the city. 

Many Sámi deaf children attended the school. In 1943, Kirsten Sara Ørsnes from Kautokeino traveled to Trondheim to attend the school. She was 10 years old at the time. She was interviewed by her daughter in 2009. In the interview, she talks about the time before she went to the school, her childhood in Kautokeino, experiences during the war, and memories from her school days at the deaf school. 

What was it like to be a Sámi student at the school?

Kirsten doesn’t remember there being much discussion about it at the school. She had brought her "kofta" (traditional Sámi clothing) from Kautokeino and remembers that the housemother where she lived liked to show her off to her friends. The children from the school were sometimes taken on "coffee visits" to wealthy citizens in the city to receive donations for the school: 

"I also remember the housemother well because she liked to dress me in my kofta and go visit her friends when she had time off. We would walk down the street so she could show me off, and then visit someone. These visits could go late into the evening, and I was often tired and worn out when we returned. The next morning I was tired at school. This lasted until I was in 3rd or 4th grade." 

"When the war was over, all the students were able to go home. I traveled to Kvænangen, and my mother and father came to pick me up. I told my mother that I didn’t want to wear Sámi clothes at school. I wanted her to hide them at home or give them to Ellen, my relative. I was so tired of the housemother and other teachers taking me on coffee visits to show me off. I wanted to play with the other children at the deaf school. It was a struggle to be shown off like that. But I didn’t tell my mother that." 

"When the fall came, and I was back at the deaf school, the housemother asked about my Sámi clothes. She said I was foolish for leaving them at home. I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. The principal also thought I should have brought my Sámi clothes with me." 

Thanks to Kristin Sara for the information and permission to publish her mother’s story.