Klara Shteinberg (Clara Shteinberg) was born in the Jewish shtetl, Shpikov (Shpykiv), in the Vinnitsa (Vinnytsia) region of the Ukraine in 1936, to her parents, Grisha and Fanya (Fanny) Weissman. She was one of four siblings: her, her older sister, and two brothers. In 1941, Romanian soldiers occupied her village. The soldiers issued an order that required all Jewish residents to be forcibly relocated to a concentration camp at Rohozna. Klara spent 10 months at the camp before being relocated to another concentration camp, Pechora. While at the camp, her mother gave birth to another baby girl, who was killed shortly after birth. Klara lost her other siblings in the camps or relocation process. She came to Chicago in 1992 with her husband, Simon, and mother, Fanya Weissman, to reunite with her two daughters: Mila and Elena, and their families. In Chicago, Clara became an active part of the Jewish-Russian community and a member of the Association for World War II Veterans and Prisoners of Ghettos and Concentration Camps.