Kraus, Ota B.

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KRAUS, OTA B.

KRAUS, OTA B. (1921–2000), Czech writer. Born in Prague, Kraus spent World War ii in the concentration camps of Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, and Schwarzheide. After 1945 he started his studies of philosophy and literature at Charles University. In 1949 he immigrated to Israel and lived on a kibbutz. His first novel, Země bez boha ("Land without God,"1948, 1992), was published in Czechoslovakia. It describes life in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, as does his novel The Diary published as Můj bratr dým (1993) in the Czech Republic. His other works, Dream Merchant and other Galilean Stories (1991) and a best-selling novel Vítr z hor ("Mountain Wind," 1991), reflect kibbutz life.

[Milos Pojar (2nd ed.) ]