Margarethe Kraus
Margarethe Kraus | |
---|---|
Born | 1930 |
Known for | As 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[]
- ^ a b c Katz, Brigit. "London Library Spotlights Nazi Persecution of the Roma and Sinti". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
- ^ Trilling, Daniel (2020-01-17). "Daniel Trilling | At the Wiener Holocaust Library · LRB 17 January 2020". LRB Blog. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
- ^ a b Shackle, Samira. "Roma Holocaust: Amid rising hate, 'forgotten' victims remembered". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "We must speak up for the Roma, the 'forgotten' victims". www.thejc.com. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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)
- ^ "Forgotten Victims: The Nazi Genocide of the Roma and Sinti". The Wiener Holocaust Library. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
- ^ 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.
- Living people
- 1930 births
- Holocaust survivors
- Auschwitz concentration camp prisoners
- Ravensbrück concentration camp survivors
- Czech people of Romani descent