Clara Kramer Part 2: Clara's Life Before the Second World War

Clara Kramer Part 2: Clara's Life Before the Second World War.

I wrote yesterday introducing Clara Kramer and today I want to find out a little more about her life before the Second World War. 

Image info;

Zolkiee Synagogue

Clara Kramer was born on the 27th of August 1927 in the small town of Żółkiew, in eastern Poland, a town that is now called Zhovkva that is now part of modern-day Ukraine. Żółkiew had a thriving Jewish community that had lived there for centuries. Jewish families lived alongside their Polish and Ukrainian neighbours, running businesses, going to school and taking part in everyday life. They were part of the town and the community.

Clara was raised by Meir and Salka Schwarz, in a loving family. Meir managed the family's oil mill, which was owned by members of Salka's wider family and their business partners. Salka came from the well-known Reitzfeld family in Żółkiew. The family was well established within the town's Jewish community.

She went to school at the Polish public elementary school and spent time with friends, after school she went to the Tarbut Hebrew school where she learned Hebrew and Jewish history.

Her world revolved around her family, her education and the close-knit community that she called home.

Jewish religious festivals were an important part of her family life. Holidays like Passover and Hanukkah brought all her extended family together, and the synagogue remained an important centre of worship and community. Although anti-Semitism did exist in parts of Poland before the war, many Jewish families, including Clara's, could never have imagined just how quickly their lives would be turned upside down.

Towards the end of the 1930s, political tensions across Europe were growing. While world leaders were arguing, their armies were preparing for war. Twelve-year-old Clara may have sensed the tensions but she could not have imagined that everything she knew was about to change dramatically and forever.

I would like to add for clarity that she was born as Klara Schwarz, but she would later become known as Clara Kramer after the war, following her marriage and her move to the United States. Throughout this series, I will refer to her as Clara Kramer, which is the name she is best known by today.

Look out for my next part where we discover even more about this remarkable family.