Dita Kraus

Dita Kraus, neé Polach, is a Auschwitz survivor. In 1942, she and her parents were deported to Ghetto Theresienstadt, and later to Auschwitz, where her father died. Kraus served as librarian in the block set up for children in Birkenau, with only a handful of books. In March 1944, half of the children living in the children’s block were murdered. In May, Kraus and her mother were sent to Hamburg, Germany, where they were put to back-breaking labor. From there they were transported to labor camps, and then in March 1945 to Bergen-Belsen, which was liberated several weeks later by the British Army. In 2012, Antonio Iturbe wrote The Librarian of Auschwitz, based on Kraus’ story, which became a bestseller, and in 2020, Kraus published her memoirs A Delayed Life: The True Story of the Librarian of Auschwitz.