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

published in hardcover in 2009, it’s available on Kindle for $1.99 (price set by seller - HarperCollins Publishers )

Why so cheap?  I think it’s because it’s a book that should be read by everyone and HarperCollins is making that possible.  Of particular interest to me is the fact that it takes place in Poland.  I remember when I first learned years ago (too many to count) some of the history of Poland and how it was passed around from occupier to occupier like a ping pong ball.  It certainly made Polish jokes way less funny for me.

 I’ve just started reading it and at first was confused by the dizzying array of people referred to with names that with my poor language skills I am unable to even guess at pronouncing, but it is all is coming together.

With the commie/marxist/libtards bandying about the pejorative of “Nazi” to anyone with whom they disagree (which is everyone who stands for truth, dignity, rule of law, and God) it is important to understand exactly what the Nazi mentality really was.  

If you have a Kindle, head on over and grab a copy.  If you don’t have a Kindle, maybe it’s time to acquire one.  It’s a seriously good backup for when a book-book is either not available at the library or is too bulky to carry around. 

“One Girl’s Story of Survival,” Clara’s War is based on Clara Kramer’s diary of her years spent hiding in an underground bunker with seventeen other people during the Nazi occupation of Poland. 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 as told by a remarkable young girl who lived to bear witness. source Amazon

Clara (Schwarz) Kramer was born in 1927, in Zolkiew, a town in the Galicia section of Poland (currently a part of the Ukraine).  The commencement of World War II, in 1939, marked the beginning of the Russian occupation of her town.   

Clara, her younger sister Mania, and parents, Sara and Meir, lived under the occupation until 1941, when the Germans invaded and supplanted the Russians.   In an attempt to escape the Germans, a fifteen year old Clara and her family were joined by several other families as they hid together in an underground bunker that they dug, under a home.   

For almost two years, the eighteen people were hidden by righteous Christians, Valentin Beck and his family, who risked their lives, even while German soldiers shared the home with them, for prolonged periods of time.    

While underground, Clara’s mother instructed her daughter to keep a diary so there would be a record of what occurred, for posterity.  With a small bound notebook and a single pencil, Clara kept a diary of events for the next twenty months, until liberation.  The original diary is currently housed in the National Holocaust Museum, in Washington, D.C.  There were approximately 5,000 Jews in Zolkiew, before the war. Clara and her parents were among the approximate 60 that survived.  Her sister, Mania, was captured and killed by the Germans.     

After the war, Clara and her family, like most survivors, left Poland and made their way to Austria and Germany, where they spent the next four years in Displaced Persons camps.  It was in the DP camps where Clara met her husband, Sol Kramer.  They married and moved to the newly established State of Israel, in 1949, where their two children, Philip and Eli, were born.    

In 1957, the Kramer family moved to Brooklyn, New York and ultimately settled in Elizabeth, NJ, in 1965.  Clara and Sol, married for over 59 years, have been an active part of the Elizabeth Jewish Community for this entire time. They continue to devote their time and resources to organizations such as the Jewish Educational Center; the Jewish Federation; the Israel Bonds Organization; the Jewish Family & Children’s’ Service; the Union County YM & YWHA; and the Holocaust Resource Foundation at Kean University, which they helped to co-found.    

However, of all the worthy causes in which Clara is involved, her life’s work is perpetuating the memory of the atrocities of the Holocaust and the stories of bravery that resulted in the saving of lives. Clara has served as President of the Holocaust Resource Foundation, at Kean University, for the past two decades.  During this time, she has lectured at hundreds of schools throughout the Metropolitan area, telling her story of survival.  She has worked together with the Kean University Holocaust Resource Center, accompanying groups of teachers as they made their pilgrimages, each semester, to the National Holocaust Museum, in Washington, answering questions and validating the teaching of the Center with her real-life experiences.  source

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