Clara Leiser was a good friend and colleague of Mildred Fish Harnack. Both attended the University of Wisconsin - Madison in the early 1920's. Later in the 1930's, Clara travelled a few times to Europe to visit Mildred and her German-born husband, Arvid. The last time Clara saw Mildred in the U.S. was when Mildred stayed with her in New York in 1937.
 
Clara received the following postcard from Mildred dated January 12, 1939 from London. In it Mildred writes Clara that she had "Better not write but don't forget me and don't be angry." The next news she heard told of the execution of Mildred and her husband by Hitler and his war machine on February 16, 1943 and December 22, 1942 respectively.

This photograph, published by the Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand in Berlin ("Arvid and Mildred Harnack," Material 17.2; 10/91), bears the caption "Clara, Mildred und Arvid Harnack, Neubabelsberg 1941[?]."