Jenny Kraus
My name is Jenny Sara Kraus, and I was born August 19, 1879 to my parents Jacob Dannenbaum, a cattle dealer from Bastheim/Rhön in the lower Franconia region of Bavaria, where he lived with my dear mother Sofie.
After some time, my parents moved about 55 miles southeast to Lichtenfels, in Upper Franconia. They quickly planted roots in the bucolic community where they lived with my sisters and me. They worked hard and built a successful business, becoming well respected members in the Lichtenfels community. Life was good.
By the turn of the century, I met a very handsome, industrious and kind man named Samuel “Semi” Kraus. We fell deeply in love and were married in 1903. Semi was a successful cattle dealer just like my father, Jacob. My husband’s family were very well-respected citizens in the community. Semi’s brother, my brother-in-law, Carl Kraus (1858-1940), was a businessman, distinguished city councilman and leader of the small yet vibrant Jewish community in Lichtenfels.
In 1904, our first son, Justin, was born. Three years later in 1907, our second son, Wilhelm or “Willy” as we lovingly called him, completed our family. We lived a happy and comfortable life. I ran the household. I especially loved to cook for my family and spoiled Semi and the boys with delicious kuchen (sweet and savory pastries), schnitzel, rouladen, spätzle and sauerbraten. I was also good with numbers and managed our family finances.
As our boys matured, Justin followed in his father’s footsteps and became a businessman, later starting his own company in 1934 called “Kraus and Co.” which exported porcelain, hardware and children’s toys. Willy had a keen intellect and excelled in school, graduating from primary and secondary schools with very high grades. He went to Berlin to study law and pursue his dream of becoming an attorney. We were extremely proud of our boys and their accomplishments! They were on their way to a happy and fulfilled life.
By the early 1930’s the world economy was extremely fragile due to the 1929 Great Depression, whose economic impact was felt in Germany and Lichtenfels. At the same time, Nazism was on the rise in Germany and an Austrian-born German named Adolf Hitler rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then taking the title of Führer in 1934.
By 1935 the Nuremberg Race Laws were enacted which directly and negatively impact our lives, the Jewish community of Lichtenfels and every Jew throughout Germany. These laws were twofold: the Law for Protection of German Blood and German Honor which forbade marriages between Jews and Germans and the Reich Citizenship Law which declared that only those of German or related blood were eligible to be citizens. The Nuremberg Race Laws systematically stripped all Jews of their citizenship and rights. We were forbidden to hold jobs that could go to Germans. As early as 1933, before the Nuremberg Race Laws were even enacted, Jews were already feeling marginalized and oppressed. During this time Jews were slowly being stripped of their rights and dignity. Educational and employment opportunities became difficult. An April 7, 1933 law denied non-Aryan members of the Bar the right to practice law. Our darling Willy, who was in Berlin at this time pursuing his dream of becoming an attorney and working as a court trainee, was dismissed. He reluctantly moved back home to live with us. It was an incredibly demoralizing time in his life. He spent many months searching for a job, but was discriminated against because he was Jewish. He was unable to find work, even in Lichtenfels. Both our boys felt isolated, oppressed and dehumanized.
Justin and Willy went looking for work – any kind of work – every day, but found that there were very few to opportunities left for them in Lichtenfels. Their futures looked bleak, and they were losing hope of living a successful and productive life in Germany. Reluctantly yet with our complete support, Willy made the difficult decision to leave us, his beloved Lichtenfels and Germany. Although he would have preferred going to the United States, with the assistance of non-Jewish friend Christian Zentner who secured a ticket departing from Hamburg, he emigrated to Buenos Aires, Argentina for a better and freer life. It was 1934.
Willy wrote this heart wrenching entry in his travel diary shortly after setting sail for Argentina:
Today exactly three weeks ago, maybe even at exactly this minute, I left Lichtenfels. I’m still thinking about all of the goodbyes. I’m afraid none of the many details will ever disappear from my memory. I want to avoid talking too much about it. It was so difficult for me to part with the people that I love so much and cherish. It took a lot of strength not to get soft during it. I was glad that there weren’t many people to see me cry. At Monday noon I had the last meal of my dear mother’s cooking, who had – probably for the last time in a long time – prepared my favorite meal. The minutes on the platform until the train came turned into eternities. And my father’s crying, as the train started to move, will be stuck in my head for all time. Every time I think about it my heart sinks further. I saw my beautiful Franconian County for the last time.
When Willy was leaving Lichtenfels for what would be the last time, as a family, we made a promise that we’d reunite after 5 years. We didn’t know it at that time but my darling husband’s tearful farewell to Willy on the Lichtenfels train platform would be the very last time they would ever see each other.
Conditions continued to deteriorate in Lichtenfels under the destructive power of the Nazi bureaucracy. Semi, with the help of Justin, continued to run our business but both could see there was no opportunity, or the promise of a successful future left for Justin in Lichtenfels. He followed Willy to Argentina two years later, in 1936.
Semi and I were left to run the family business while tensions continued to rise. We felt the daily antisemitism and discrimination against us and our Jewish neighbors. Life was becoming more difficult, restrictive and isolating. It was during this time that my darling Semi’s health began to fail; he suffered from a bad heart which made it more difficult for him to work. I knew that I needed to do my part and help him run our business. At the ‘ripe old age’ of 57, I applied for and received my driver’s license. This was incredibly rare and unheard of not only because I was a woman with a driver’s license, but a Jewish Woman with a driver’s license.
In September 1938, my beloved Semi passed away. I was devastated and completely alone. . Just a few short months later, on November 9-10 what was later called Kristallnacht, our town was overrun by Nazi rioters who attacked the Jewish community. It was shocking to see the synagogue, Jewish businesses (including ours) and our homes ransacked by a feral, marauding crowd bent on destroying all that we owned. My brother-in-law Carl Kraus was chased by Nazi rioters across the market square in Lichtenfels - in his underwear. There was glass everywhere as storefronts of Jewish businesses were destroyed. Glass littered the streets and main square where most of the businesses were located.
I knew in that moment that I had to flee Lichtenfels to save my life. The Jewish community was under attack, and our rights were being systematically dismantled by the Nazi regime. It was an excruciating decision to leave all I knew (and owned) behind. Everything Semi and I had worked for our entire lives was destroyed. Our home, all our possessions and business had been confiscated by the Nazis. I knew if I didn’t try to leave immediately, I might be sent to a concentration camp where I heard that many of my Jewish neighbors were being imprisoned.
By April 1939, with emigration papers secured, I embarked on a journey to travel halfway around to the world on the ship SS Cap Arcona to reunite with my sons in Argentina, a country whose language and culture were foreign to me. It was a terribly unsettled time in my life not knowing what my future looked like. All I knew was that I was no longer able to be arrested, stripped of my rights, dignity and possibly my life just because I was Jewish.
I stepped foot on Argentinian soil on April 20, 1939, and reunited with my beloved sons. We were together and safe from the destructive power of the Nazi regime.
Willy, who now went by the name of Guillermo, and Justin (or Justino) had established themselves in Buenos Aires in the years since arriving and became successful businessmen. I couldn’t have been prouder of them, and I knew that Semi would have been equally proud of his boys. They had built a successful, happy and stable life in their new home country. I would live the rest of my days with Guillermo free from the brutal, oppressive, totalitarian Nazi regime. I consider myself and my boys extremely lucky; 6 million Jews (including many of my dear Lichtenfels friends and neighbors) were exterminated during the Holocaust, a genocide perpetrated by the Nazi regime to eradicate Jews. I will never, ever forget them.
Postscript:
Jenny Sara Kraus died in February 1955 at the age of 76. In the early 1980’s, Guillermo visited Lichtenfels with his daughter, Jenny’s granddaughter, Betina Kraus. It was important for Guillermo to show his daughter where her grandparents, Jenny and Semi, and her uncle Justin lived and worked before being forced out of their beloved Lichtenfels. Guillermo died in 1999 at the age of 92. In November 2018, to coincide with the 80th commemoration of the November pogrom, Betina traveled to Lichtenfels to relcaim her grandmother's driver's license which had been confiscated by the Nazis shortly after Kristallnacht.
Jenny Kraus’ license was one of the thirteen licenses discovered in 2017 while the town was digitizing town records and became a part of the “13 Jewish Drivers’ Licenses” research project by the students at Meranier Gymnasium. Betina met the District Administrator of Lichtenfels, Christian Meissner, Mayor Andreas Hügerich, Town Archivist Christin Wittenbauer, Upper Franconia Curator Prof. Dr. Gunter Dippold, the students and their history teacher, Manfred Brösamle-Lambrecht who lead this extraordinary and important remembrance research project. She traveled back to Lichtenfels 1 year later to ‘bear witness' as Stolpersteine were installed in memory of Jenny Kraus.
Questions for Discussion
1. What values and qualities were important to Jenny Kraus in her personal and family life?
2. How did Jenny’s upbringing and marriage shape her role in the Lichtenfels community?
3. What challenges did Jenny face as a woman managing household finances and later obtaining a driver’s license during that era?
4. What different career paths did Jenny’s sons Willy and Justin pursue?
5. How did the rise of Nazism and the enactment of the Nuremberg Race Laws and other restrictive laws impact the Kraus family's livelihood and daily life?
6. What emotional and practical challenges did Willy face as he emigrated to Argentina, and how did his family support him during this transition?
7. How did the events of Kristallnacht solidify Jenny’s decision to flee Germany?
8. How do you think the humiliation Carl Kraus endured affected Jenny?
9. What impressive feat did Jenny Kraus achieve at age 57 and why did she need to do it?
10. What role did Jenny’s courage and adaptability play in her journey to Argentina and her ability to rebuild a life there?
11. How did Justin and Willy’s early experiences in Argentina reflect their resilience in the face of displacement?
12. What does Jenny’s story teach us about the importance of family bonds during times of extreme hardship?
13. Why is it important for descendants like Betina Kraus to reconnect with and honor their family’s history?
14. In what ways do projects like the “13 Jewish Drivers’ Licenses” help communities acknowledge and address their historical injustices?