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Klara
Klara Schulrabe, born in 1920 to German parents in the Ukraine, survived Stalin's collectivization and the 1932-33 Holodomor (famine) before escaping with her family to Germany just in time for the rise of Hitler and the Nazis. She trained as a nurse and worked in a sanatorium until World War II swept her into military service with the Luftwaffe. She escaped death in the RAF raid on Kassel, intercepted Russian radio messages in a top-secret Warsaw base, fell in love on the Russian front and got married, witnessed first-hand the Warsaw Uprising and the fire-bombing of Dresden, rescued her wounded brother from a hospital just ahead of the advancing Russians, and survived to see her town captured by American soldiers. This memoir recounts the first 25 years of life for a young woman who lived as an eyewitness through some of the most traumatic and historic events of the twentieth century. To this day she is convinced that a guardian angel has been with her throughout her life.
176 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 8, 2017
3 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 10, 2018
I knew Claire as a grandma who loved to knit
After Clair Arndt passed away, I discovered that this lovely German lady who was married to Les Arndt, my daughter-in-law's grandfather, had written a book about her early years as a child growing up and ending when she was 25. Claire and I used to sit and talk at family dinners about grandchildren and great-grandchildren (my own grandchildren), knitting and canning, but I never knew her story, until I read her account of growing up in Russia and finally being caught up in the Nazi war machine in Germany. Each page drew me in, her words allowed me to see a young German nurse who was helplessly carried along in this evil tide, without knowing what was truly happening. Her memories of the many atrocities on both sides of the war, which she miraculously lived through, made a terrible era come to life in a deeply personal way and still allowed good and God to triumph in the end. If you enjoy history or just an incredibly well written story, I highly recommend reading KLARA. I wish I could've read it when Claire was still here to tell me the rest of her story! RIP, Claire, thank you for sharing with the rest of us.
After Clair Arndt passed away, I discovered that this lovely German lady who was married to Les Arndt, my daughter-in-law's grandfather, had written a book about her early years as a child growing up and ending when she was 25. Claire and I used to sit and talk at family dinners about grandchildren and great-grandchildren (my own grandchildren), knitting and canning, but I never knew her story, until I read her account of growing up in Russia and finally being caught up in the Nazi war machine in Germany. Each page drew me in, her words allowed me to see a young German nurse who was helplessly carried along in this evil tide, without knowing what was truly happening. Her memories of the many atrocities on both sides of the war, which she miraculously lived through, made a terrible era come to life in a deeply personal way and still allowed good and God to triumph in the end. If you enjoy history or just an incredibly well written story, I highly recommend reading KLARA. I wish I could've read it when Claire was still here to tell me the rest of her story! RIP, Claire, thank you for sharing with the rest of us.
Displaying 1 of 1 review