Paul Krauß

Paul Kraus ( born October 28, 1917 in Johann George Town, † February 15, 1942 at Taranki near Minsk, Soviet Union ) was a German ski jumper. He was the most successful ski jumpers of Saxony in the 1930s.

Career

The Olympic gold medalist Birger Ruud of Norway is said to have discovered the talent of Paul Kraus, the this met in Johann George Town, where Ruud worked in 1932/ 33 and Kraus lived with his parents in the Exulantenstraße. However, in 1935 he beat his master.

1936 Kraus won the German championship of the young men in Oberstdorf and thereby received a place in the German Olympic team. At the Olympic Games in 1936 at the time was 18 -year-old finished in 18th place. In August 1936, Paul Kraus was given a free ticket for the Olympic Summer Games in Berlin, where he was to be presented on 15 August Adolf Hitler. He was inducted into the Ski Saxony and took part in the 1937 World Cup in Chamonix, where he finished in sixth place in the jumping. On the Holmenkollen in Oslo, he finished then the 7th Place and thus was the best German Springer. In 1938 he exhibited at Hans -Heinz -Hill in Johanngeorgenstadt with 77 m a new hill record.

At the World Cup in Zakopane 1939 he represented Germany, where he finished eighth. At the end of the season he received the representatives of the German national team in Johanngeorgenstadt. These included the time Hans Marr from Oberhof, Franz Haslberger from Reit im Winkl, Franz ash forest from Austria, Josef Bradl from Salzburg, Paul Hackel from Upper Wiesenthal and Paul Schneidenbach Klingenthal. Outside of the ski season, Paul Kraus was a soldier, later sergeant in the infantry regiment 31 in Plauen. Im Vogtland he won several jumping on the Vogtland hill in Muehlleithen and on the C. A. Seydel - hill at Aschberg. When New Year's event at the Hans -Heinz -Hill in Johanngeorgenstadt he took the 2nd place in 1941, after the winner Gerhard Hanel and ahead of third -placed Herbert mercury.

After the failure of the Olympic Games in 1940 Kraus took part in the 1941 in 1946 by the International Ski Federation FIS canceled World Cup in Cortina d' Ampezzo, in which he finished 10th. In the ski flying in Planica week from February 26 to March 1, 1941, he scored on the final 112 meters with a new world record and was overall in second behind Rudi Gehring. On December 28, 1941, he participated in Oberhof on Qulifikationsspringen for the World Cup 1942 in Garmisch -Partenkirchen, where he finished third. On the following New Year's Day he took in Steinbach -Hallenberg part of the New Year's event, which was won by Oberhofer Hans Marr. It was the last competition with his participation. Two days later, the resolution of the national team. Paul Kraus was sent to the Eastern Front and was already falling in the following month as a member of a ski patrol near Minsk.

Private

Kraus was the son of Karl Kraus Klavierbautechnikers from Johann George Town, where he began an apprenticeship as Glover at the company Oskar Langer after school.