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Tag: Krausz

Auschwitz, Israel, Austria

At the very last moment, Heinz Krausz is put on a train by his mother which takes him to Trieste, where the father, who has already fled, places him on a ship to Palestine. While his mother is deported to Auschwitz and survives there with the help of an Austrian SS man, Krausz joins the Palmach and actively participates in the founding of Israel. With a letter to Ben-Gurion his mother gets Heinz back to Vienna to help rebuild their lost factory. His grandson Theo understands the importance of the state of Israel for the Jews. Theo is just about to graduate high-school and although he has studied the history of the family he has many questions, though, especially about the ambivalence of his great-grandmother’s survival and the confrontation of his grandfather with anti-Semitism in Austria after the war.

This dialogue appears in the series as well as in the documentary.

Historical focus: founding of Israel, Palmach, Ben-Gurion, Auschwitz, Italy, reconstruction, Jewish Community Vienna

Theo Krausz in conversation
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