František R. Kraus

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František

František R. Kraus (גדעון בן יצחק קראוס Gideon ben Yitzhak with his Hebrew name, also known under his Terezín alter ego he had during the holocaust The Terezín Moses (October 14, 1903, Prague - May 19, 1967, Prague) was a Czechoslovak Jewish anti-fascist writer, journalist and editor, member of the resistance movement, sportsperson, and one of the best known Czech holocaust survivors. He is considered to have written probably the very first autobiographical testimonial on surviving the holocaust (in Terezín Ghetto and Auschwitz) in the world ever. It was published already in June 1945 under the title Gas, gas… then fire. In the interwar period, he was a journalist of the famed Prager Tagblatt, also Freie Presse, and others, and was an editor in the Czechoslovak Radio, the founder of its Shortwave section and speaker for the Foreign section in Czech, German, French and English. In his literary work, he deals with reflexion of the Holocaust in Czechoslovakia; topics such as human existence, dignity, justice, guilt and hope. Main theme of his short stories is a pictorial world of weird figures and characters from old Prague. Due to his political prosecution during the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, vast majority of…Citește mai mult

František R. Kraus a adăugat o fotografie

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František

František R. Kraus was born in Josefov, then the Jewish quarter in Prague into a Jewish family of Robert Kraus, a travelling salesman and Matylda Kraus née Kollmann, a housewife. As it was common in better well-off Jewish families at that time, he obtained his basic education at a catholic Piarist convent school in Panská Street. Later he continued at Realschule in Jindřišská Street. He graduated at Gymnasium in Kinský palace at the Old Town Square. He also attended Talmud-Thora Schule in Josefov’s Jáchymova Street. Because his parents divorced, due to financial circumstances he could not pursue his academic career and instead went into journalism as a teenager.

František R. Kraus a adăugat o fotografie

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František

Pre-WWII Czechoslovakia Kraus was a journalist and writer. He belonged to the so-called "Der enge Prager Kreis" or "close Prague circle" (Prager Kreis). Right at the end of the World War I, he started to work for German newspaper, for example for the famous Prager Tagblatt, Prager Presse, Bohemia and others. He had strong ties to the Czech intellectual elite. He was well-befriended with Max Brod, Franz Kafka, (he describes his first encounter in a short story entitled "Džbánek plzeňského" - "A Mug of Pilsner"), Karel Čapek, Jaroslav Hašek, as well as he knew Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and his son Jan Masaryk. However, his literary role-model, family friend and life teacher was "The Angry Reporter" Egon Erwin Kisch. He even lived in his house for some time. In the 1930s, Kraus participated on the foundation of the Czechoslovak Radio, he was an editor of the "Spoken news". He was also active as a reporter, journalist and editor in the Czech News Agency (ČTK) for quite a long time. Collaboration with the Berlin-based magazine Die Grüne Post would often bring him abroad; he reported from Berlin, Vienna but even from outside of Europe. Kraus was also a keen sportsman. He played…Citește mai mult

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Protectorate, resistance, and arrest After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, Kraus became an informer of the resistance group of František Schmoranz. This network, later known as the "Schmoranz group" did mostly intel activities and collection of information about the German Army. This information was then passed along to the former analyst of the Czechoslovak Army and in the form of messages, these were then sent through the Obrana národa to London. After Schmnoranz being arrested by the Gestapo, Kraus was also arrested. He was interrogated in the Petschek Palace and then briefly jailed at Pankrác but because his connection to the group was never proved, he was eventually released.

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Holocaust Because, during the 1930s, he was one of the strongest voices criticizing the Nazis, Henlein's SdP, their evil methods and their rise to power, he was immediately on their blacklist not only as a Jew, but as a Social Democrat and as a member of intelligentsia. In November 1941, Kraus was put onto the first transport to Terezín, the Ak-1 ("Aufbaukommando Eins"), the so-called "Ghetto Build-up Unit". This group was sent ahead to prepare the small city of Terezín in North Bohemia for the planned incoming transports of dozens of thousands of Jews, mainly from the Protectorate, Germany and Austria, into the city, therefore becoming a ghetto. In the transport, Kraus got the number Ak-353. The Ak-1 transport was a normal, passenger train, not cattle wagons as it was common later. As there is no railroad connection to Terezín from the main corridor, the group was transported to nearby Bohušovice nad Ohří and from there had to walk, escorted by Czech gendarmerie, to Terezín.

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Terezín In November 1941 he was placed in the very first transport to Terezin. It was designated with "Ak-1", which was the abbreviation for "Aufbaukommando Eins", ie. "The First Commando for Construction". This group was to take part in the conversion of the city of Terezin to the Jewish ghetto. Kraus received number Ak-353 when registering. This first Terezín transport was still a normal classical train, not the cattle-wagons that were used later. The tranmsport left Praha - Masarykovo nádraží on 24 November 1941. They went by train to Litoměřice, went to Bohušovice and walked to Terezín, accompanied by Czech gendarmes. Kraus was then authorized by Judenältestenrat until June 1943, when Terezín was connected to the railway line Praha-Lovosice-Ústí nad Labem by railway siding, organizing pedestrian crossings transported from Bohušovice nad Ohří to Terezín, 3 kilometers away. He served as a popular nickname in the ghetto because he always went to the front of the crowd. "The children were not born in the ghetto, but they were forbidden under the death penalty, but the old men from Vienna and Prague, from Frankfurt and Hamburg, Amsterdam and Oslo were briefly packed into wagons, sealed and the signs pointing to the direction:…Citește mai mult

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Auschwitz From Terezin he was transported with his wife on October 1, 1944 to Auschwitz. Upon arrival, they were divided in the selection. He himself was lucky and was chosen for work, commuting every day from Auschwitz together other prisoners for daily work at IG Farben near Buna, where synthetic gasoline was produced. One day, blacksmiths and carpenters were to sign up - Kraus, who was a clerk by profession and hardly ever held a hammer in his hand, signed up. He was again lucky and was included in the work camp in Gleiwitz, where prisoners were repairing railway wagons, a terrible job for which prisoners from Terezin were mostly selected. In this selection, Kraus was left on the left forearm number B-11632. This terrible experience is described in the book "Gas, Gas ... Then Fire": "Our stream goes further, to the five boys, the prisoners who are tattooing, they call us in incomprehensible jargon, and I go badly to the butcher: I drape my left forearm, I have a piece of wood dipped in tincture, it's dull It hurts it The blood is already flowing through the crate It pulls out the knife and cuts it So now it's…Citește mai mult

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After WWII When Prague was liberated, Kraus came back home. He was reunited with not only his wife Alice, who also survived Terezín and Auschwitz, but also both of his parents. They then lived together in the Jewish Quarter. The Communist putsch in Czechoslovakia in 1948 greatly influenced Kraus' life. After the war, he re-joined the Czechoslovak Press Office and Czechoslovak Radio, where he became the head of the foreign broadcast. He acted as a speaker in the English, French and German editorial and commentator for Central Europe. His most important student was Arnošt Lustig. All this ended in the early 1950s during the Slánský trial. Kraus has lost his employment in both ČTK and the radio. He was not allowed to publish. His work was repeatedly changed by the censorship, then completely rebuked, with the reasoning that "The Holocaust has been completely exhausted for five years after the war. It is past and no one is interested in it. People now have to focus on the future - building a new, better and more just society - Communism." His books The Three Rifles, The Face Number 5 and a children book The Song about Léa were not published. The…Citește mai mult

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Sto let Františka R. Krause Alena Drábková - Reflexe holocaustu v české literatuře 1945–1949