Clara Kramer was born in 1927 in Zolkiew as Klara Schwarz. She was the first child of Salka (née Reitzfeld) and Meir Schwarz. Her younger sister Mania was born in 1928.

Her maternal grandfather Szymon Reitzfeld, together with the Patrontasch and Melman families living in the neighbourhood, owned an oil press. The Jewish world of pre-war Zolkiew ended in 1939. Right after the outbreak of the war, the Soviets entered the town. Meir Schwarz continued to manage the oil mill, but he no longer owned it. In 1940, Clara's grandfather Szymon Reitzfeld was arrested. Soon after that, other members of the family were deported to Kazakhstan: Clara's grandmother Leah, her mother's sister Róża Karp with her four children, and her mother's brother Manek Reitzfeld. The Schwarz family avoided deportation. Deported to Kazakhstan, the relatives survived, except for Róża Karp's eldest son Wilk, who died in an accident while working in a factory in 1940. Clara's mother tried in vain to get her father released from prison. Szymon Reitzfeld was murdered in the NKVD prison in Lviv when after the outbreak of the German-Soviet War, the retreating enclaves exterminated the prisoners. The Germans entered the city at the end of June 1941. On the same day, they set fire to a synagogue that was over three hundred years old. Persecution began almost immediately. On 24 March 1942, the first "action" took place in which many Jews were deported to the extermination camp in Bełżec. In June 1942, in anticipation of the coming another "action", the Schwarz family and their friends began to dig a shelter under the house of their neighbour and former business partner Mechel Melman. The bunker allowed the Schwarz family, as well as the Patrontasch and Melman families, to survive the "big action", which took place on 22-23 November 1942. The girl's father was looking for salvation for his relatives. The Polish family Becks - the couple Julia and Valentin and their teenage daughter Ala helped them. They were Volksdeutsche. Valentin Beck was a well-known womaniser and drunkard in Zolkiew. Beck and his wife saved several Jewish families from death. Eventually, eighteen Jews found shelter in a bunker dug in the basement of the Melman house. Living underground was a rescue, but also a constant nightmare, a fear that the hiding place would be discovered. On 18 April 1943, a fire broke out in Zolkiew, which also involved the Melman house with the Jews locked in the shelter. Some wanted to escape, others decided to stay in the shelter. In the end, only Mania, Clara's sister, escaped. The fire was eventually brought under control, but Mania did not return to the shelter. When she ran through the streets of the city, she was recognised as a Jew and brought to the gendarmerie, where she was interrogated. However, she protected her family to the very end and did not reveal where she was hiding. She probably died the same day, shot by the Germans in the former Jewish cemetery. The last weeks before the Red Army entered Zolkiew were very difficult. The inhabitants of the bunker were starving. The Becks, as Volksdeutsche, were every day expecting an order to leave the town, which would mean certain death for the residents of the shelter. The Red Army entered Zolkiew on 23 July 1944. The inhabitants of the shelter left it on 26 July. The Schwarz family remained in Zolkiew until the winter of 1945. Initially, they, like other Survivors, set their sights on rebuilding their lives in their hometown. In September 1944, the Becks were arrested by the NKVD on charges of collaboration with the Germans. They were deported to Lviv. Attempts by Meir Schwarz and Mechel Melman to free them were unsuccessful. The Becks were saved by a diary written down by Clara. Her notes convinced the authorities that the Becks stayed in Zolkiew in order to save the Jews they were hiding. Julia and Valentin were released from prison. They left for Poland in June 1945. The Schwarz family stayed in Zolkiew longer but they, too, finally decided to leave the town. They went to Legnica. In the summer of 1946, as part of the "Bricha" action, they made their way illegally to Austria, where they ended up in displaced persons camps. There Clara Schwarz met her future husband, Sol Kramer. From Austria, they went to Munich, where Clara and Sol were married. In 1948, a few months after the creation of the state of Israel, the Schwarzs' and their daughter with her husband emigrated to Palestine. In 1950, the Kramers' first son, Philip, was born; in 1954 - a second, Eli. In 1957 Clara and Sol Kramer emigrated to the United States, where the entire Sol family settled. Clara Kramer still lives there today. Clara Schwarz's family kept in touch with the Becks until the mid-1950s, then the Becks diplomatically made it clear that further correspondence could cause them problems. Julia Beck died in 1959, the date of Valentine Beck's death is not known. Soon after the fall of communism, Clara Kramer renewed her contact with Ala Beck, who came to the United States at her invitation. In 1983, the Becks were awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.

The story of Clara Kramer life is presented in a book published in Polish and English:

Clara Kramer, Stephen Glantz, Wojna Klary, Kraków 2009.

Clara Kramer, Stephen Glantz, Clara's War: One Girl's Story of Survival, 2008.

More about Clara's story you can read in the presentation below.