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Cantor Moshe Kraus fonds
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn112978
- Collection
- Cantor Moshe Kraus fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Material Type
- electronic record
- Physical Description
- 2 digital record
- Fonds No.
- I0310
- Date
- 2023
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consist of two digital recordings of Cantor Moshe Kraus' funeral in Ottawa and Israel.
- Collection
- Cantor Moshe Kraus fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Material Type
- electronic record
- Physical Description
- 2 digital record
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consist of two digital recordings of Cantor Moshe Kraus' funeral in Ottawa and Israel.
- Date
- 2023
- Fonds No.
- I0310
- History / Biographical
- Cantor Moshe Kraus was born August 15th, 1923, in Uzhhorord, a Czechoslovakian border town, now part of Ukraine. He was the eldest of nine children born to Myer and Henya Kraus. He and his family were Hasidic Jews. At the age of 8, his beautiful singing voice was discovered and he began singing at Shabbat services and giving concerts. He eventually went on to receive professional training at the Vienna Conservatory. He was there in November 1938 during Kristallnacht. At 18, Kraus was hired as the chief cantor of Sighet, a Hungarian town with five synagogues. As cantor, he led the community in prayer and song at every Jewish event. A young man named Elie Wiesel sang in his choir; the two would become lifelong friends. In 1942, at the age of 19, he became the chief cantor of Budapest, Hungary. In 1943, Kraus was deported to work in Bor labour camp, at a Serbian copper mine. He was there for nine months before being sent to a coal mining camp in southwestern Poland, Katowice. From there, he was shipped to Bergen-Belsen in northern Germany wheer he became prisoner A855. Kraus sang to lift people’s spirits and performed for his fellow prisoners, including those in the women’s barracks. Kraus was so weak that he couldn’t get out of bed by the time British forces liberated Bergen-Belsen on April 15, 1945. He weighed just 35 kilograms. The last thing he remembers is a British soldier picking him up, and shouting, ‘Victory! Victory!” He woke up in hospital. After he recovered, Kraus went to work for a Jewish relief organization, then returned to Bucharest in search of his family. There he learned that his father, mother and five of his siblings had all been murdered by the Nazis. Despondent, Kraus moved to British-controlled Palestine and joined the Israeli army, where he learned to assemble and disassemble tanks. He was later asked to become the IDF’s first chief cantor. Kraus spoke six languages, Kraus and his wife moved to Ottawa in 1975, when he was hired as cantor at Congregation Beth Shalom. He retired as a full-time cantor in 1980, but continued to give concerts and was a regular feature at National Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies and other special events. Cantor Moshe Kraus passed away at home on Monday, May 29, 2023 after a brief illness.
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Ottawa Jewish Archives
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