Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival

Clara Kramer

Apr 2009 · Harper Collins

About this ebook

In the classic vein of The Diary of Anne Frank—a heart-wrenching and inspiring story of a life lived in fear and cramped quarters—Clara’s War is a true story of the Holocaust.

Cara Kramer was a typical Polish-Jewish teenager from a small town at the outbreak of the Second World War. When the Germans invaded, Clara's family was taken in by the Becks, a Volksdeutsche (ethnically German) family from their town. Mrs. Beck worked as Clara's family's housekeeper. Mr. Beck was known to be an alcoholic, a womanizer, and a vocal anti-Semite. But on hearing that Jewish families were being led into the woods and shot, Beck sheltered the Kramers and two other Jewish families.

Eighteen people in all lived in a bunker dug out of the Becks' basement. Fifteen-year-old Clara kept a diary during the twenty terrifying months she spent in hiding, writing down details of their unpredictable life—from the house's catching fire to Mr. Beck's affair with Clara's neighbor; from the nightly SS drinking sessions in the room above to the small pleasure of a shared Christmas carp.

Against all odds, Clara lived to tell her story, and her diary is now part of the permanent col-lection of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Ratings and reviews

Well-written! The author takes you back in time on a journey of bravery, love, and hate. An extraordinary will to live and with an inner strength demonstrated both individually and collectively will often leave the reader speechless and in a state of awe. Outstanding! 3 cheers for the survivors, and the Beck's and may their families continue to grow and prosper. Rest in peace to those millions that did not survive. You will always be remembered, and never be forgotten by all those who matter in this world.

Very sad heart renching sorry of what the jewish population went through. I really enjoyed this book about how they survived when so many were against them. It is truly sad that anyone could have been treated the way the Jewish were.

When reading, i felt like i was there in the bunker and felt all the numerous emotions these courageous people endured. I couldn't put it down until i finished it, and then i wanted more.

About the author

Clara (Schwarz) Kramer and her family were among the approximately five thousand Jews in Zolkiew, Poland, before World War II. At the end of the war, she and her parents numbered among the approximately sixty who survived. Kramer has served as president of the Holocaust Resource Foundation at Kean University for the past two decades. She lives in New Jersey.