Clara Kramer Books

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.

Clara Kramer var en helt almindelig pige på 15 år, da Anden Verdenskrig brød ud. Men hun var også polak – og jøde. Da tyskerne invaderede Polen, boede der omkring 5.000 jøder i Claras hjemby, Zolkiew. Da krigen var slut, var der blot 60 tilbage. Clara og hendes forældre overlevede mirakuløst – takket være en etnisk tysker, der var en berygtet alkoholiker, skørtejæger og højrøstet antisemit. Men hr. Beck var også en mand, der ikke kunne leve med, at mennesker blev skudt som dyr. 18 mennesker levede sammen i et beskyttelsesrum, der var gravet ud i familien Becks kælder. Den femtenårige Clara førte dagbog under samtlige tyve rædselsvækkende måneder, hun tilbragte i dette skjulested – om alt fra hr. Becks affære med hendes nabo til SS-folkenes natlige drukture i rummet over dem. Claras krig er en gribende, livsbekræftende og dybt personlig beretning om en ung piges utrolige kamp for at overleve – og om en verden, hvor selv en fjende kan vise sig at være din eneste redning.