Margarethe Kraus

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Margarethe Kraus
Born1930
Known forAs a Roma victim of the Holocaust

Margarethe Kraus (born 1930[1]) was a Roma woman who was persecuted during the porrajmos, imprisoned at Auschwitz and Ravensbruck. Her experience was recorded in later life by the photographer .

Biography[]

Whilst little is known about Kraus' early life, she was a woman of Roma origin, who was living in Czechoslovakia with her family prior to their deportation to Auschwitz in 1943.[2][3] Roma and Sinti people were persecuted during the Holocaust and Kraus family were part of the 500,000 who were murdered in the Romani genocide.[4] Kraus was deported to Auschwitz in 1943, aged 13, alongside her family; they were held in what became known as the Gypsy family camp.[4][5][3][1] She was subjected to medical experimentation during her internment.[1] She suffered extreme abuse and deprivation, and also contracted typhus.[6] Her parents were murdered in Auschwitz, and she was subsequently moved to Ravensbruck where she was used as slave labour.[4]

In 1966 Kraus was photographed by journalist (it) in the German Democratic Republic.[7] She posed at the window of her caravan and the tattoo she was marked with at Auschwitz is clearly visible on her left arm.[7][8] She told Gilsenbach that her parents were both murdered in Auschwitz and that she was then transferred to the Ravenbrück camp where she worked as a slave.[4] However she did not mention the medical experimentation she endured.[4]

Legacy[]

Kraus was featured in the 2019 exhibition Forgotten Victims: The Nazi Genocide of the Roma and Sinti at the Wiener Holocaust Library in London.[9] The exhibition highlighted the persecution of Roma and Sinti communities and the murder of 500,000 people, termed porrajmos in Romani.[6]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Katz, Brigit. "London Library Spotlights Nazi Persecution of the Roma and Sinti". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  2. ^ Trilling, Daniel (2020-01-17). "Daniel Trilling | At the Wiener Holocaust Library · LRB 17 January 2020". LRB Blog. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  3. ^ a b Shackle, Samira. "Roma Holocaust: Amid rising hate, 'forgotten' victims remembered". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  4. ^ a b c d e "The Persecution of the Roma Is Often Left Out of the Holocaust Story. Victims' Families Are Fighting to Change That". Time. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  5. ^ "We must speak up for the Roma, the 'forgotten' victims". www.thejc.com. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  6. ^ a b "The Wiener Holocaust Library's new exhibition: 'Forgotten Victims: The Nazi Genocide of the Roma & Sinti'". OHRH. 2019-10-11. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  7. ^ a b Moss, Richard; Post, 31-10-19. "The Wiener Holocaust Library tells the tragic story of the Roma and Sinti Holocaust". Museum Crush. Retrieved 2021-04-05.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ "Forgotten Victims: The Nazi Genocide of the Roma and Sinti". The Wiener Holocaust Library. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  9. ^ Hines, Nico (2019-11-17). "Forgotten Genocide: How a Quarter of Europe's Roma Were Murdered by the Nazis, then Erased From History". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
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