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 Volksdeutsche (ethnically German) family from … 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.
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Everyone should know the history of the Jews during WW2. The unthinkable truths changed me and filled me with humility and gratitude for my life
Great book on Natzi era. Good read.
An amazing story.
What these people went through for survival. Horrific! I also learned more about the war and the part the Russians had.
Hard to put this one down: it’s a variation of the Anne Frank experience with multiple Jewish families being protected by their Polish Catholic neighbors. It’s almost beyond belief what they endured.
Just couldn’t finish this. Maybe I judged it too soon, but only got through 2 chapters. It just seemed to drag.
Anyone who doesn’t believe the Holocaust really happened should read this book. Man’s inhumanity to man is clearly shown in this book as are unlikely heroes.
My personal library contains hundreds of books on World War II so when I say “Clara’s War” is one of the very best first person accounts I’ve read, I have much to measure it against. Perhaps not since “The Kersten Memoirs” or Martin Gray’s “For Those I Loved” has a book been so original in its story-telling or so memorable.
At its heart, “Clara’s War” is about friendship, loyalty, betrayal, and what makes survival possible in intolerable conditions. Why do some survive and others not in a situation where every moment is measured against the lowering blade poised above your neck? Why do average people turn on their neighbors and their friends, while others break from the pack and become unlikely deliverers of salvation? And what makes a hero in a nightmarish world where any wrong word, any wrong step can mean execution on the spot?
Teen-aged Clara and her Polish Jewish family lived for 18 months in a pit beneath a house occupied by her saviors, an unlikely family who grew into their role. There were parties — sometimes nightly — above Clara’s head that included drunken German conquerors boasting of their grisly executions. As time wore on, German soldiers were billeted in the house mere inches from the Jews in the bunker beneath. At these times, Clara lived in a hell in which breathing was the only human activity permitted, often for many, many hours on end. No movement, no whispering, no coughing, no eating, no drinking, no elimination of waste — except sweat.
Clara kept a diary and for this history benefits greatly. But “Clara’s War” is much more than a recounting of fact; it is a searching memoir that tests moral quality on every page, that seeks answers to questions of faith, love, and, above all, loyalty.
“Clara’s War” sits in my library next to Eli Wiesel’s “Night,” a position it has richly earned.
I absolutely loved this book. The characters were so well written, everything felt real. Definitely a book I’d highly recommend.
Having read several world war II survivor stories recently I found this one to be different as Clara survived by being hidden by a neighbor as opposed to having endured one of the concentration camps. The deprivation, terror and trauma were described in great detail by Clara who was just a young teen at the time of their having gone into hiding. A good read from a different perspective of a survivor.
Unimaginable…what they went through.
This is one great book No one can read this book No one can read this book and not be emotional It is sad scary beautiful and sickening all at the same time
FABULOUS account of an Anne Frank type of true story
Always enjoy learning more about the lives of those you survived the Holacaust. Something to,never forget.
This book is equal to Anne Frank’s diary but has a happier ending amidst all the tragedy. The resilience, self-sacrifice, and courage of those in this memoir are truly inspiring.
It really puts one in touch with what people suffered during the War Ww11.
It restores faith in the goodness deep down in some people. I found it amazing what a young girl was able to record and see by seeing with her heart
I won’t give away the ending. Just read it.
This book was a true testament to the strength of the human spirit in the midst of the unspeakable suffering and horror of the Nazi takeover of Poland and the resulting Jewish genocide. it’s also the story of unlikely Heroes.
Very nspirational. Amazing to see what they went through to survive during the Hitler era
This book is about 18 Jewish men , women and children hidden under the floor of a German family living in Poland. It tells of the miracle survival of these people—an Anne Frank story times 18. It was very hard to comprehend all they all went through to save these people. Unforgettable.