Born in Dresden, Krauß was a member of Dresdner SC, where she was discovered and trained by the influential coach Woldemar Gerschler.

[20] She was also on the German women's 4 × 100 m relay team that was in the lead but lost due to a dropped baton on the final leg;[21][22][23] in the heats the German team had been faster than the Americans, the eventual winners, and beaten the world record with a time of 46.4 s;[24][25] the American winning time in the final was half a second slower.

[26][27][28] As national 100-metre champion, Krauß was the fastest runner on the German team,[29] but had run dead heats with Marie Dollinger.

[30] After World War II, Krauß moved to Landau, where she coached[31] and was active in senior athletics; there she was also known as a pianist and the owner of a sporting goods shop.

Along with the gold and silver medalists in the 1936 Olympic women's 100 metre event, Helen Stephens and Stanisława Walasiewicz, Krauß has been suspected of being intersex.