Whilst little is known about Kraus' early life, what is known is that she was a young woman of Roma origin, who was living in Czechoslovakia with her family prior to their deportation to Auschwitz in 1943.[2][3] Roma and Sinti people were persecuted during the Holocaust and the Kraus family were part of the 500,000 who were murdered in the Romani genocide.[4] Kraus was deported to Auschwitz in 1943, aged 13, alongside her family; they were held in what became known as the Gypsy family camp.[4][5][3][1] She was subjected to medical experimentation during her internment.[1] She suffered extreme abuse and deprivation, and also contracted typhus.[6] Her parents were murdered in Auschwitz, and she was subsequently moved to Ravensbruck where she was used for forced labour.[4]
In 1966, Kraus was photographed by journalist Reimar Gilsenbach (it) in the German Democratic Republic.[7] She posed at the window of her caravan and the tattoo she was marked with at Auschwitz is clearly visible on her left arm.[7][8] She told Gilsenbach that her parents were both murdered in Auschwitz and that she was then transferred to the Ravensbrück concentration camp where she worked as a slave.[4] However, she did not mention the medical experimentation she endured.[4]