CLARAS WAR

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 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 LIFEXFROM 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.