  High spatial resolution imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope allowed us to
resolve the compact HII, region N81 lying in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC).
We show the presence of a tight cluster of newborn massive stars embedded in
this nebular ``blob'' of about 10 arcsecs, across. This is the first time the
stellar content and internal morphology of such an object is uncovered. These
are among the youngest massive stars in this galaxy accessible to direct
observations at ultraviolet and optical wavelengths. Six of them are grouped in
the core region of about 2 arcsecs diameter, with a pair of the main exciting
stars in the very center separated by only 0.27 arcsecs or 0.08 pc. The images
display violent phenomena such as stellar winds, shocks, ionization fronts,
typical of turbulent starburst regions. Since the SMC is the most metal-poor
galaxy observable with very high angular resolution, these observations provide
important templates for studying star formation in the very distant metal-poor
galaxies which populate the early Universe.
