Our friend Dita Kraus has passed away

Born on 12 July 1929 into a Czech Jewish family, Edith Polachová survived the Theresienstadt ghetto, the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp and the Neuengamme concentration camp's Dessauer Ufer, Neugraben and Tiefstack satellite camps. On 15 April 1945, she was liberated from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and returned to Prague shortly before her 16th birthday in the summer of 1945. Her parents did not survive Nazi persecution.

Dita married Otto B. Kraus, who was also a Shoah survivor, and emigrated with him to Israel. They had three children and spoke openly at home about what had been done to them and their families by the Nazis. Dita worked as a teacher for many years and painted beautiful pictures of flowers. Unfortunately, she suffered further great losses in her life: two of her three children died, and she lost her husband Otto in 2000. Dita lived mainly in Israel, but spent several months a year in her native city of Prague. She delighted in her grandchildren and great-grandchildren – they were her victory over the Nazis, she emphasised.

Although she had initially sworn never to return to Germany, Dita travelled to Hamburg in 1999 together with other Czech survivors at the invitation of Karl-Heinz Schultz, who was researching the history of the Neugraben satellite camp of the Neuengamme concentration camp. A close friendship developed. Since then, Dita has returned regularly to Hamburg, also at the invitation of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial, and has often spoken to young people about her life. She became a good friend to us. Colleagues from the memorial visited her several times in Prague and Netanya and got to know Dita on a personal level.

Dita's memoirs, ‘A Delayed Life,’ were published in German in 2020 under the title ‘Ein aufgeschobenes Leben. Kindheit im Konzentrationslager – Neuanfang in Israel’ (A Delayed Life: Childhood in a Concentration Camp – A New Beginning in Israel). They have since been published in many languages as an important historical document.

Dita actively supported our work because she wanted to show where hatred and exclusion can lead. Her aim was to continue telling her story for as long as she was able. She was an impressive contemporary witness who knew how to recount her story of persecution in a very moving way, without pointing fingers. Her message was clear: ‘Do not spread hatred!’ But she also called on young people to take responsibility, telling them: ‘Now it's up to you to be the proof and to raise your voices when people doubt and deny that it happened.’ Already in poor health, she travelled to Hamburg for the last time in May 2024 (Dita Kraus talking to young people - in german)

The events of 7 October 2023 once again presented Dita with great challenges. She moved her life from Netanya to Prague because, as she once said, the situation in Israel broke her heart and she could not bear another war. Shortly before her death, however, her family brought her back to Israel to care for her. She died there on 18 October 2025.

With Dita Kraus' passing, we have lost a dear friend and important contemporary witness. Our thoughts are with her loved ones during this difficult time

Obituary in the Jüdische Allgemeine: ‘Farewell to a strong woman - in german’