Renate Krakauer was born in Stanisławów, Poland (now Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine), in 1941. She was an infant during the war when her parents entrusted her to a non-Jewish farmer to keep her safe. Renate reunited with her parents after the war, and she and her family stayed in a displaced persons camp in Germany until immigrating to Canada in 1948. They settled in Montreal, and Renate later moved to Toronto. Renate Krakauer is the author of But I Had a Happy Childhood.