František R. Kraus (גדעון בן יצחק קראוס Gideon ben Yitzhak with his Hebrew name, also known under his Terezín alter ego who had a holocaust The Terezín Moses (October 14, 1903, Prague - May 19, 1967, Prague) was a Czechoslovak Jewish anti-fascist writer, journalist and editor, member of the resistance movement, sportsperson, and one of the best known Czech holocaust survivors.

In his literary work, he deals with reflexion of the Holocaust in Czechoslovakia; topics such as human existence, dignity, justice, guilt and hope.

Due to his political prosecution during the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, vast majority of his work was censored and banned.

One of his disciples, Arnošt Lustig, considered him to be one of the most important modern Czech writers ever and compared him to authors such as Jack London, Egon Erwin Kisch or Primo Levi and taught his legacy in universities in the United States.

Kraus remained to be relatively unknown in the present-day Czech Republic until the 2020’s, his books being refused to be published until 1989 and the collapse of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia.

His legacy has been rediscovered quite recently (during and after the Covid-19 pandemic) through his posthumously published trilogy on the pre-WWII Prague, its daily Jewish life, and the holocaust in Terezín and Auschwitz.

As it was common in better well-off Jewish families at that time, he obtained his basic education at a catholic Piarist convent school in Panská Street.

He was well-befriended with Max Brod, Franz Kafka, (he describes his first encounter in a short story entitled "Džbánek plzeňského" - "A Mug of Pilsner"), Karel Čapek, Jaroslav Hašek, as well as he knew Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and his son Jan Masaryk.

However, his literary role-model, family friend and life teacher was "The Angry Reporter" Egon Erwin Kisch.

Collaboration with the Berlin-based magazine Die Grüne Post would often bring him abroad; he reported from Berlin, Vienna but even from outside of Europe.

Kraus often spoke against Nazism - the especially against Konrad Henlein and rise of Nazi powers in the Sudetenland - in his regular radio relations.

He was interrogated in the Petschek Palace and then briefly jailed at Pankrác but because his connection to the group was never proved, he was eventually released.

Because, during the 1930s, he was one of the strongest voices criticizing the Nazis, Henlein's SdP, their evil methods and their rise to power, he was immediately on their blacklist not only as a Jew, but as a Social Democrat and as a member of intelligentsia.

In November 1941, Kraus was put onto the first transport to Terezín, the Ak-1 ("Aufbaukommando Eins"), the so-called "Ghetto Build-up Unit".

"The children were not born in the ghetto, but they were forbidden under the death penalty, but the old men from Vienna and Prague, from Frankfurt and Hamburg, Amsterdam and Oslo were briefly packed into wagons, sealed and the signs pointing to the direction: "Theresienstadt, Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren , The Deutsches Reich.

"So another one came to Vienna (...) Even today, I am Moses, I have a yellow band on my left shoulder" Jüdische Transportbegleitmannschaft ", I am at the head of a sad parade, I have a member of the Viennese Order The black skirt, the tall collar of the clergy peeks from beneath the cloak, the serpent and the black sash add to the cunning of a man of noble face, he is heroic, not intimidated, around his neck is a black collar on which the silver cross hangs, and on the left side of his chest the great David Star starred with the inscription "JUDE" - And bring back our scattered ..., page 64 " At the same time, he was given the task of commanding the Communist Command of Inmates in 1942, who built the Terezín Crematorium in the Bohušovice Basin between Bohušovice and Terezín.

This terrible experience is described in the book "Gas, Gas ... Then Fire": "Our stream goes further, to the five boys, the prisoners who are tattooing, they call us in incomprehensible jargon, and I go badly to the butcher: I drape my left forearm, I have a piece of wood dipped in tincture, it's dull It hurts it The blood is already flowing through the crate It pulls out the knife and cuts it So now it's got a good tip It sinks, yes, now it goes, tincture, some purple ink, it mixes with blood It hurts, I hold tight my teeth, it's slow: B-11632 So now it's done I'm reporting a number at the back of the exit and I'm leaving in the stand I'm hurting, we all have to hold our hands up, it has to dry out ... 'Schmutzige seite - reine Seite.'

From Blechhammer, the death march was also dispatched, but he and several other people (including George Brady) managed to escape, and thanks to the partisans via Poland and the Carpathian Ruthenia in April 1945, they were already liberated in Budapest.

Kraus published under pseudonyms, especially his stories from Old Prague at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, enjoyed a great popularity.

Thanks to him famous personalities such as Jan Werich, Karel Gott, Judita Čeřovská and Waldemar Matuška performed in the cultural programs.

He lived long enough to see the Liblice conference about Franz Kafka, which he considered to be a turning point in cultural and political life.