Clara Kramer Part One: The Girl Who
Spent Nearly Two Years Hiding Under a House
Today I want to give you a little overview of Clara Kramer. She was a young
Jewish girl whose story of survival was hidden for decades.
Clara was born in 1927 in the small town of Żółkiew in Poland, which is now
Zhovkva in Ukraine. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, her life was completely
changed. Anti-Jewish laws, persecution and violence quickly increased. Over the
years, many members of her family, friends and neighbours were murdered as the
Holocaust spread across occupied Europe.
In 1942, after escaping from the Żółkiew ghetto, Clara, her parents and
several others were given refuge by a Polish couple. At immense personal risk,
the couple hid them beneath their home in a cramped underground cellar.
Eighteen people were eventually squeezed into the tiny hiding place. They
lived there for almost twenty months. There was very little food, almost no
fresh air and hardly any room to move. They needed to remain almost completely
silent. Even the slightest noise could possibly lead to their discovery,
including the family that was protecting them.
During this time, Clara secretly kept a diary. She recorded not only the
fear that they faced each day, but also the friendships, arguments, hopes and
determination that helped them to cope.
When they were finally liberated in 1944, Clara and the others entered into
a world that had been completely changed by war. Many of their loved ones were
gone, but thanks to the courage of the
people protecting them eighteen lives had been saved.
Have you heard Clara Kramer's remarkable story before?
Tomorrow we start taking a closer look at her life.
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