Michael J. Kraus papers
The Michael J. Kraus papers contain documents and diaries concerning Kraus’s experiences as a child survivor of the Holocaust. Selected by Dr. Josef Mengele as one of the "Birkenau Boys," Kraus was interned at Theresienstadt, Auschwitz-Birkenau, and Mauthausen before being liberated in 1945. Included in his collection are records pertaining to his parent’s property and assets and letters his parents wrote from the concentration camps. Among the post-war material is correspondence between Michael and his liberators, a diary describing his memories from the war written between 1945 and 1947, and a memoir written after a journey back to Austria in 1994, among other materials.
The Michael J. Kraus papers contain diaries and papers collected by Kraus during and after World War II. Papers from the wartime period include his parent’s property lists, receipts, and financial information. Also included is postcard sent by Karel from Auschwitz in 1944 and a letter sent by Lotte to her sister in 1945 under a false impression that she had survived. Documents from the immediate post-war period include a series of correspondence exchanged between United States liberators and medical personnel and Michael between 1945 and 1947. Michael met the correspondents in 1945 when they rescued him and treated him for typhoid. A scrapbook with notes and various post-war identification documents pasted in in also included here within. The diaries comprised in this collection were written and illustrated by Michael in Nàchod, Czechoslovakia between 1945 and 1947 and describe his memories of the German occupation of Czechoslovakia and of the Holocaust. A short memoir written by Michael titled “Austria Revisited – Fifty Years Later” is also included among these materials and recounts Michael’s visit to the concentration camps in which he was interned with his family in 1994.
- Date
-
inclusive:
1937-1994
bulk: 1945-1947
- Extent
-
1 box
1 oversize box
17 folders
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Michael J. Kraus
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Record last modified: 2022-05-02 14:13:48
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn535243
Also in This Collection
Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp scrip, 50 kronen note, owned by a child inmate
Object
Theresienstadt 50 kronen receipt that belonged to Michal Kraus, who at age 12 was interned with his parents Dr. Karel and Lotte Kraus in Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp from December 1942-December 1943. They were then deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and placed in the family camp. In June 1944, his mother was sent to Stutthof where hse perished in January 1945. When the family camp was closed in July, his father was ill and sent to be murdered in the gas chamber on July 11. Michal was one of 90 boys selected by Dr. Josef Mengele to live at a neighboring men's camp, later known as the Birkenau boys. In January 1945, as Soviet forces approached, Michal and the others were sent on a death march and then taken by train to Mauthausen, then to Melk, and then back to Mauthausen. On April 28, they were sent on a 40 mile death march to Gunskirchen where they were liberated by American troops of the 71st Infantry. Michal was ill with typhus and after several weeks in hospital returned to Czechoslovakia. Of Michal's large extended family, only an aunt and one cousin survived.
Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp scrip, 100 kronen note, owned by a child inmate
Object
Theresienstadt 100 kronen receipt that belonged to Michal Kraus, who at age 12 was interned with his parents Dr. Karel and Lotte Kraus in Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp from December 1942-December 1943. They were then deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and placed in the family camp. In June 1944, his mother was sent to Stutthof. When the family camp was closed in July, his father was ill and was murdered in the gas chamber on July 11. Michal was one of ninety boys selected by Dr. Josef Mengele to live at a neighboring men's camp. In January 1945, as Soviet forces approached, Michal and the others were sent on a death march and then taken by train to Mauthausen, then to Melk, then back to Mauthausen. On April 28, they were sent on a 40 mile death march To Gunskirchen where they were liberated by American troops of the 71st Infantry. Michal was ill with typhus and after several weeks in hospital returned to Czechoslovakia. Of Michal's large extended family, only an aunt and one cousin survived.