Tínhamos os corações partidos. Era o fim. O fim do mundo.
Estas palavras foram escritas por Clara Kramer quando tinha 15 anos, e nelas está contida a agonia de um povo.
No dia 21 de julho de 1942, os Nazis conquistam a cidade polaca de Zolkiew e dão início à deportação e massacre de milhares de judeus. Clara e a sua família conseguem esconder-se num bunker apressadamente escavado à mão. A viver por cima deles e a protegê-los está a família Beck. Embora se diga antissemita, o Sr. Beck arrisca diariamente a vida pelas pessoas que acolheu. É um dos rostos secretos da resistência à barbárie.
No bunker, as condições de vida são inumanas, os relatos da morte de familiares e amigos são diários, o terror é constante. Mas os laços de amor e solidariedade que se estabelecem entre todos dão conta da grandeza que faz pulsar o coração humano. Clara escreve para sobreviver, para testemunhar, para se impedir de esquecer que a vida é, acima de tudo, um milagre.
Dos cinco mil judeus que habitavam Zolkiew antes da guerra, sobreviveram menos de sessenta.
Uma história tão tocante quanto O Diário de Anne Frank e A Lista de Schindler. É assim que a imprensa internacional define este livro baseado na vida extraordinária de Clara Kramer. O seu diário está exposto no Museu Memorial do Holocausto, em Washington. O bunker ainda existe. ( )

I was drawn to this book because her married name is the same as my maiden name. Could there be a connection...?
Aside from that, I loved this book. It deserves a 5 in all my categories. I could not put it down. I was scared, I was disgusted, I was so many things! I am amazed that 18 people survived. The perseverance of the human spirit!
I am so happy that Mama made Clara write a diary! ( )

A piece that can stand with other great holocaust literature. Clara describes her life and Polish town a bit before Sept. 1, 1939, but most of the book describes her Jewish family's struggle to survive for the next 6 years. Some members of her family and neighbors end up spending nearly 2 years below the floor of a house. Clara records much of what is going on during this time in a diary, which is the basis for the book. I like the fact that there isn't a lot of "day XX, same as day YY," kind of daily descriptions of their horrible situation. She does spend a lot of time discussing her feelings with the reader, and lauding the family who is protecting them, as well as giving us descriptions of the challenges they are facing. Worth reading for anyone interested in the holocaust.
( )

I ofte question why I read so many memoirs by Holocaust survivors; I'm not longer ensconced in the academic world (therefore no longer required to read books that are often depressing and intellectual), my family has been out of Europe since the late 1800s (and therefore not involved in the War efforts), and we're not at all Jewish (at least not to my knowledge). But in reading this story of a family's miraculous survival I finally found my answer laid out in front of me; I read for the same reason that Clara wrote hre diary in the first place: for her story (and that of her people) to be remembered and for these attrocities to never happen again. Of course other racial genocides occured after the Holocaust (most memorably in Sarajevo and Rwanda), but eventually the message of the survivors must sink in that we must all learn to get along on a global and multi-ethnic scale.

Nel luglio del 1941 i nazisti arrivano nella piccola cittadina di Zolkiew, in Polonia, e la vita per la giovane Clara cambia per sempre (fonte: Google Books)