Friedrich Kraus

* 1933

  • "I rode my bike as the first one. Suddenly, I hear some sounds. I thought I would fall to the ground. I was only twelve years old, I was terrified. Two Czechs appeared in the forest, one older and one younger. The older one was quite sensible, he tried to persuade the younger one to let me go. The younger one knocked me into a ditch and I hit my head on some kind of wood. For many years I had a headache. I screamed as much as I could. I hoped my father would come. I hoped in his ID. Then, finally my father came and he showed them his ID. He said that another colleague who had taken over the district had come to his hunting cabin, and that we were now trying to stay somewhere else. Then they let us go."

  • "In July 1944, we went on a bicycle trip from Mariánky to Šumava in eight people. I was in Jungvolk at that time, that was at a time when very young and very old people were already accepted to join the war. We had a gun, a small-bore rifle and we took care of the food ourselves. We shot a hen, we picked cherries. We begged farmers for eggs, they were nice, very generous people, mostly Czechs. Anyway, one of us always had to carry the gun. Once we took a break again to get food. During this break, the gun was handed to one of my very good friends - and suddenly a shot! The trigger caught on the wheel, so it shot. A friend fell to the ground, but he was fully conscious. We looked at him and we saw mixed cherries flowing from his stomach, but it took a long time for our leader to let us go to get the doctor. It was very difficult to get some at all back then, we were in the middle of the prairie. By the time the help came, the boy died. We could not help him anymore. I can hardly describe what it was like for us - in short, terrible. Then at night we wanted to pitch a tent, but a very strong downpour came. So, we just hid under the canvas and walked home. It was the scariest bike trip I have ever experienced, both mentally and physically. He was a really good friend of mine, so it affected me a lot. The young man was subsequently buried in Tři Sekery. When I stopped there later, the cemetery was very ruined. I couldn't understand why at least the dead couldn't be left alone. This is a thing that has hit me hard. I still have nightmares about it. Sometimes I wake up at night completely covered in sweat. It keeps coming back to me."

  • "In later years, I noticed more and more trains that transported some prisoners in uniforms and hats. They were supervised by their people. They had some advantages or something out of it. We saw terrible things, and I said to myself, "God, what system do we live in, where our own people hurt others?"

  • "On May 15, 1993, an exhibition of the Klingenthal district took place on the square in Cheb. We built stalls with musical instruments, the Klingenthal city band won. I had a soft spot in my heart for it, I was very involved. I was probably the first German after a very long time who could say hello to the square in Cheb. I thought: That's probably not even possible I went to school here, it buried me here, I worked here at the airport for years. And now the little Kraus is standing here and giving a speech in the square. A great experience "I will never forget it. Such a small substitute for what I experienced during and after the war."

  • Celé nahrávky
  • 1

    Rehau, 10.09.2019

    (audio)
    délka: 01:36:20
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of the expelled Germans born in the Karlovy Vary region
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

It is not about closing the past, but closing it within yourself

Fritz Kraus
Fritz Kraus
zdroj: Post Bellum

Friedrich Kraus was born on May 8, 1933 and he spent his entire childhood in the Mariánské Lázně region - his father worked in the state forests, the family lived in a gamekeeper´s cabin. He began his schooling in the nearby village of Tři Sekery, and later attended schools in Mariánské Lázně, Stříbro and Cheb. In 1945, after the raid on Cheb, he was buried in the rubble for several days. In the summer of 1945, the family left to Germany, from March 1946 they lived in Horní Franky, where their father found work as a gamekeeper. Fritz Kraus continued his studies at the grammar school in Münchberg and later in Bayreuth, but when his father died unexpectedly in 1954, he had to become fully independent. For many years he worked for the Landesversicherungsanstalt Oberfranken und Mittelfranken in Bayreuth. In 1972 he graduated from the Verwaltungs und Wirtschafts academy Nürnberg / Erlangen / Bayreuth. In the same year, he was elected to the Bayreuth City Council (CSU), where he worked in various committees for a total of 24 years. After 1989, he was offered to help bring the West German and East German administrations closer together. From 1990 to 1996, he headed the district of Klingenthal from the position of provincial council. He was one of the founders of the Naturpark Erzgebirge Vogtland, and he was the first chairman of the Euregio Egrensis. In his work, he placed great emphasis on the renewal and establishment of contacts with people on the Czech side of the border, in addition to the official way also on a very informal and human level. He has received a number of awards for his lifelong social commitment. He and his wife raised two daughters and a son.