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Clara's War: A Young Girl's True Story of Miraculous Survival Under the Nazis
by
Clara Kramer
This heart-stopping story of a young girl hiding from the Nazis is based on Clara Kramer's diary of her years surviving in an underground bunker with seventeen other people.
Clara 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 Volksdeuts...more
Clara 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 Volksdeuts...more
Hardcover, 352 pages
Published
April 1st 2008
by Ebury
(first published January 1st 2008)
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Clara è solo una bambina quando Hitler sale al potere in Germania. All'inizio sembra impossibile che riesca a mantenere il consenso nonostante le idee estreme che professa, ma ben presco gli ebrei di Zolkiew - una cittadina polacca rinomata per la tolleranza e la convivenza di fedi diverse - si rendono conto che qualcosa di terribile sta per abbattersi su di loro. Tutto inizia con l'occupazione dei comunisti, terribile ma che ancora permette la sopravvivenza. Quando comincia l'invasione nazista ...more
When the SS invaded on July 5, 1941 the Jews in Zolkiew felt lucky they has some wealth, an oil press business, and could ransom a bit for their lives, but still sensed the days were numbered. Clara Schwarz and her immediate family, along with two other families, escaped the ghetto and lived in an underground bunker over the Beck family's home, hiding from the SS for nearly two years. Ordered by her mother to keep a written record, her diary, detailing day to life of a Jewish family in Poland du...more
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There were many things that stood out in this Holocaust memoir of suffering, loss, determination, and survival. How a person acts in times of trial, stress and persecution says a lot about that person's character. There were real life examples of evil, selfishness, sacrifice, and goodness. I could go on a lot about some of the individual choices of so many characters (even minor ones) in this book. However, I keep thinking about the Beck family, who put their lives on the line by harboring 1...more
When World War II came to their small Polish town, Clara's family was taken in by a Catholic family and hidden in a dug-out bunker underneath the house. Eventually, the bunker came to hold 18 Jews in total and they lived in squalid conditions, praying that they would survive to see the end of the war. Using details from her diary, Clara relates this gruesome tale of her family's determination to survive and the kindness and generosity of the family that risked their own lives to hide them for so...more
This was a beautifully written book about living through the Holocaust in Poland during WW II. Kramer was only 13 years old when she and her family moved into a bunker under a house to escape the Nazis. They lived there for 18 months, eventually numbering 18 people in hiding in a 4-foot high dug out space with a dirt floor.
The family who hid them, the Becks, took a huge risk and over and over again showed great courage and resourcefulness in keeping them safe. Mrs. Beck, a Polish Catholi...more
The family who hid them, the Becks, took a huge risk and over and over again showed great courage and resourcefulness in keeping them safe. Mrs. Beck, a Polish Catholi...more
Like reading Diary of Anne Frank, except they survive. This is a page turning tale of stupefying cruelty and deadly indifference set in Poland, where first the Russians, then the Germans, and then the Russians again after the War, terrorized the Polish, Jews and non-Jews alike. It is unfathomable to me that 18 people lived in a dug out hole under a house for two years, surviving only because of the goodness of a drunk, wife-beating Polish man. Since I've read this, I've been embarrassed about t...more
I always find it hard to believe the cruelty that reared it's ugly head during the Holocaust and what many people had to endure during their struggle to survive the Nazi's and anti-Semetic behavior.
This book is based on the diary that the author kept during 20 months of hiding in a dirt bunker under a house often occupied by Nazi soldiers and sympathizers. Her protector, Mr Beck, was a man "known to be an alcoholic, womanizer, and a vocal anti-Semite" who hated the Nazi's and their ...more
This book is based on the diary that the author kept during 20 months of hiding in a dirt bunker under a house often occupied by Nazi soldiers and sympathizers. Her protector, Mr Beck, was a man "known to be an alcoholic, womanizer, and a vocal anti-Semite" who hated the Nazi's and their ...more
This book blew me away. It is the nonfiction account of a Polish-Jewish teenager who, along with seventeen other people, lived in a hidden bunker underneath a house during the Holocaust - and survived. Does that explain why the book blew me away? I find it difficult to write about my feelings toward anything Holocaust-related without sounding trite, which I think is part of the reason why I have procrastinated on writing this review for as long as I have. I'm dumbfounded that humans treated ...more
It's about the courage, fears, and amazing faith of 18 Jews in three families who hid for 20 months in a basement bunker during World War II. Clara was 15 when she started her diary of the bunker events, but 81 when she wrote her story in the context of a wider history. The three non-Jewish Poles who sheltered them are people whose bravery and sacrifice are admirable. Their weaknesses are also vividly portrayed. The book is an engrossing view of Jewish, Polish, and Russian inhabitants of a s...more
This is the memoir of Clara Kramer, a young Jewish girl in Poland. When the Nazis invade Poland, Clara and her family and another couple are taken in by the Becks who hide them all in a bunker under their house. For 18 months, Clara and the others endure horrendous conditions, heat, cold, starvation, lice, fleas, fevers, the loss of family members, and the constant stress of knowing that one false move could mean death for all.
Like Anne Frank, Clara keeps a diary of her experience...more
Like Anne Frank, Clara keeps a diary of her experience...more
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I'm really lost for words after finishing this book.. I actually just want to bawl my eyes out..
Most of us have read Anne Frank's Diary (and if you havent, please run to your local bookstore and pick up a copy.. Seriously..) and I guess this is the same kind of book.. Its about Clara, who suvived the 2nd World War, hiding under a house, with 13 other people, for almost 2 years..
And when you read this, its just unbelievable that this is a true story. Its heartbreaking and...more
Most of us have read Anne Frank's Diary (and if you havent, please run to your local bookstore and pick up a copy.. Seriously..) and I guess this is the same kind of book.. Its about Clara, who suvived the 2nd World War, hiding under a house, with 13 other people, for almost 2 years..
And when you read this, its just unbelievable that this is a true story. Its heartbreaking and...more
I could not put this book down. It is the autobiography of a woman who survived the Holocaust with her family and 15 others by hiding in a bunker, with the protection of a gentile family, for more than 18 months. It is, of course, full of tragedy, but also demonstrates the power of the human spirit and will to survive. The writing is beautiful and I think teens could really connect to the story because she wrote it based on diaries she kept during their time in the bunker as a teen. I cannot...more
I can only hope that someday this book is as well-read as Anne Frank's diary. It's the story of a Polish teenager who, after the Nazis take Poland, lives in an underground bunker with 17 other family members and neighbors. They are watched over by a local German man, who despite his previous anti-Semitic feelings, risks his life and his family's safety over and over again to ensure that everyone is safe. It's an amazing true story, drawn from the journals that Clara's mother insisted she keep...more
I have read a lot of books about the Holocaust. A lot. Never before have a heard a story quite like Clara Kramer's. Based on the location of her hometown, WWII seems to have hit her home at a different time and with a different pace than the rest of Eastern Europe. There was very little conversation in this book, but it was never dry or dull. I was always fully engaged in his story. If you want a different perspective on surviving the Holocaust, family, and post-WWII life, read this book. ...more
One of the most powerful Holocaust memoirs I've ever read. 14 people in a bunker dug out under a house for 18 months, all depending on their former housekeeper and her volatile, unpredictable, but in the end, dependable husband for survival.
When they finally come out of the bunker, they are among the 50 surviving Jews out of a community of 5000.
Clara, just a young teenager, kept a diary of their time in the bunker and the book is based on the diary, and there are also excerpts. ...more
When they finally come out of the bunker, they are among the 50 surviving Jews out of a community of 5000.
Clara, just a young teenager, kept a diary of their time in the bunker and the book is based on the diary, and there are also excerpts. ...more
Another book I almost didn't read, thinking maybe I'd read enough WWII memoirs for a while... But I did pick it up, and it caught my interest so I kept going... Kind of an Anne Frank-ish story, but different in that it was set in Poland, and these 3 families' (plus some others) hiding place was the crawl-space under a Gentile's house. So in a way, worse conditions than the Frank family. At times, there were SS men boarding at the house, too, which obviously added a lot of stress. It made me...more
Teenage Clara and her sister and parents, are forced into hiding from the Nazis in rural Poland during the second world war. Close neighbours hide 18 jews in a bunker below their house, without any space to stand and with limited acess to food and bathroom facilities. It is also amazing that German soldiers end up living in the room above the bunker for several months toward the end of the war.
Throughout this ordeal, Clara keeps a diary of events of their daily surviva...more
Throughout this ordeal, Clara keeps a diary of events of their daily surviva...more
This book is phenomonal! It is hard to imagine anyone could survive those conditions and live to tell her story. This diary was not like Anne Frank's--Clara Kramer seemed more concerned with just getting facts down rather than imagining her first love. I cannot believe how powerful her words are--she almost makes you feel like you are in the bunker with her and you can feel the terror they felt each time someone came to the door. I highly recommend this book and think everyone should read it...more
This book is a gift. It is wonderful that Clara's mother valued education and made Clara keep this diary. It is a living testimony to humankind's desire to live in spite of atrocities and persecution. I had to take breaks from this book to build courage to read more about the horrific things done to the Jewish people in Poland. And then I realized how selfish that was because they never got to take a break. The conditions just kept getting more intolerable but they continued the battle for l...more
I am a sucker for a good Holocaust memoir. I have read many of them, but this is one of my favorites. It is told from the perspective of a Polish Jewish family who live for 18 months underground in a small dugout bunker. The city of Zolkiew where they live has a Jewish population of 5,000 before the war. It is decimated to around fifty after the war. It is interesting to read a Holocaust book from a Jew that stayed religious through the trial. The story of the family who hid this group of survi...more
World War II...The holocaust...Clara and her family, along with other families, are hidden in a bunker under a house of a man named Beck who swears, beats his wife, has affairs, and collaborates with the Nazis during many parties they have right above the bunker! Julia, Becks' wife, was once the maid of Clara's family. Beck sounds like an animal, but for many years, he protected the 18 people living in the bunker as if they were his own family.
The sheer terror of being hidden and...more
The sheer terror of being hidden and...more
Any and every Holocaust memoir is an important book by definition. This book stood out for me for several reasons.
The quality of the writing is certainly one such reason. Even compelling stories are not always well organized and well told. This one is. Clara is a keen observer of the people and events around her. And the book she and her co-writer have drawn from the raw material of her diary makes great use her talent.
Clara's War also helps us understand the Holoc...more
The quality of the writing is certainly one such reason. Even compelling stories are not always well organized and well told. This one is. Clara is a keen observer of the people and events around her. And the book she and her co-writer have drawn from the raw material of her diary makes great use her talent.
Clara's War also helps us understand the Holoc...more
An excellent war diary by a girl that survived WWII in an unbelievable way -- in a dirt bunker underneath a house with 17 other people. I just can't even comprehend the strength it took to get through nearly two years of that kind of torture. The photos will really hammer home the story.
Highly recommended.
Lori Anderson
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Highly recommended.
Lori Anderson
Web Site
Blog
I went to hear the author, Clara, speak at the Brookline Booksmith about her time hiding in Poland during WWII. I thought the talk and her story were fabulous, hence the four stars, but if I were rating just the book, I'd probably give it only 3 stars. She took on a co-author to bridge the language gap (and because she's like, 85 now), and I feel like the co-author's contributions detract from the book. His language was generic and dumbed-down, but the story & her experience were really interest...more
This is a heartbreaking book but also a story of courage and mercy that will inspire you. It's a story about a 13 year old Clara along with her family and other members of the Jewish community who hid from the Nazis in a bunker under a house for 20 months. Clara's mother told her daughter to write down what was happening in case they were to die or be killed so people could know what had happened to them. their benefactor was a Polish man and his wife-who professed no love for the Jews but were ...more
This was a heart wrenching read - stories like this leave me amazed and shocked and thankful that I've led such a nice little life. Kramer is very candid and doesn't hide what life was like, under the Soviets or under the Nazis, neither of which was pleasant by any stretch of the imagination. This is one of the better Holocaust memoirs that I've read. I will warn prospective readers that there is a fair amount of swearing as she recounts conversations.
Clara and her family were Jewish people in Poland during World War II. They were hidden by a Polish family that pretended to be on the Nazi's side. They hid 18 people from 3 families for 27 months and Clara tells of the anguish, hunger, and how they just managed to stay alive. It helps us to be thankful for the wonderful lives we all live in this country and anger that selfish, power hungry people start wars and ideas so people have to suffer.
This book was very good. It was extrememly touching and parts of it were so sad that I got goosebumps. When I think about how this book is an autobiography, I think about how the author must have felt in those differnt situations. Its horrifying thinking about all the terrible things that happened during the Holocaust. However, it is inspiring to know how some people were kind hearted and risked their lives to save jewish people during the Holocaust.
Tragic story of a young Jewish girl along with 17 others living in a dug out bunker under the house (and protection) of a Polish family. It's very hard to imagine that this actually happened and I kept having to remind myself that this wasn't fiction. Overall I felt it was a bit rushed and not detailed enough, but that being said, the families were living in an environment where a lot of time could pass between things happening.
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Clara Kramer (née Schwarz) and her family were among the approximately 5,000 Jews in Zolkiew, Poland, before World War II. At the end of the war, she and her parents
numbered among the approximately 60 who had survived. Kramer is the cofounder of the Holocaust Resource Foundation at Kean University. She lives in New Jersey.
More about Clara Kramer...
numbered among the approximately 60 who had survived. Kramer is the cofounder of the Holocaust Resource Foundation at Kean University. She lives in New Jersey.
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