Clara's War

New
Paperback
2009
$14.16

On 21 July, 1942, the Nazis took control of the small Polish town of Zolkiew, life for Jewish 15-year-old Clara Kramer was never to be the same again. While those around her were either slaughtered or transported, Clara and her family hid perilously in a hand-dug bunker. Living in the house above and protecting them were the Becks. Mr. Beck was a womaniser, a drunkard and a self-professed anti-Semite, yet he risked his life throughout the war to keep his charges safe.Nevertheless, life with Mr. Beck was far from predictable. From the house catching fire, to Beck's affair with Clara's cousin, to the nightly SS drinking sessions in the room just above, Clara's War transports you into the dark, cramped bunker, and sits you next to the families as they hold their breath time and again. Sixty years later, Clara Kramer has created a memoir that is lyrical, dramatic and heartbreakingly compelling. Despite the worst of circumstances, this is a story full of hope and survival, courage and love.

Synopsis

On 21 July, 1942, the Nazis took control of the small Polish town of Zolkiew, life for Jewish 15-year-old Clara Kramer was never to be the same again. While those around her were either slaughtered or transported, Clara and her family hid perilously in a hand-dug bunker. Living in the house above and protecting them were the Becks. Mr. Beck was a womaniser, a drunkard and a self-professed anti-Semite, yet he risked his life throughout the war to keep his charges safe.Nevertheless, life with Mr. Beck was far from predictable. From the house catching fire, to Beck's affair with Clara's cousin, to the nightly SS drinking sessions in the room just above, Clara's War transports you into the dark, cramped bunker, and sits you next to the families as they hold their breath time and again. Sixty years later, Clara Kramer has created a memoir that is lyrical, dramatic and heartbreakingly compelling. Despite the worst of circumstances, this is a story full of hope and survival, courage and love.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 368
Publisher: Ebury Press
Published: 05 Feb 2009
ISBN 10: 0091924413
ISBN 13: 9780091924416
Book Overview: A young girl's true story of miraculous survival under the Nazis

Media Reviews

Superlative memoir of survival ... Few wartime memoirs convey with such harrowing immediacy the evil of the Nazi genocide ... Her book is a model documentary * Daily Telegraph *
Not only a record of terrible deprivation but also a kind of unexpected nobility ... extraordinary -- Margaret Forster
Lucidly told with deeply etched personality sketches,thanks to the author's use of her teenage diary, now in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum * Kirkus reviews *
This vividly detailed and taut narrative is a fitting tribute to the bravery of victims and righteous gentiles alike * Publishers Weekly *

Author Bio

Clara Kramer is now 81 years old. Based in New Jersey, she founded a Holocaust and Prejudice Reduction Center at Kean University which trains 1200 teachers annually. She still gives talks about her experiences regularly.