Erwin Kraus: Head of Technology and Motor Vehicle Inspector South of the NSKK (1935) and Korpsführer of the NSKK (1942-1945)

(1894–1966)

Life

After attending secondary school in Karlsruhe, Erwin Kraus studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University in Karlsruhe. From 1914 to 1918 he took part in the First World War with the Reserve Infantry Regiment 235 and with the Aviation Troop. In the post-war period he belonged to the Berlin Freikorps, the East Border Guard and an association in the Baltics. In the 1920s, Kraus held leading positions in industry and transport, and from 1929 he was a freelance expert for motor vehicles and machines in Munich and Stuttgart.

Kraus first became a member of the NSDAP in 1923 and rejoined the party after it was banned in 1930 (membership number 247,608). He also became a member of the NSKK and acted as a technical advisor to the NSKK and Motor-SA. From 1930 to May 1933, Kraus was leader of the Southwest Squadron in Stuttgart. From May 1933 to the summer of 1935 he was head of technology and motor vehicle inspector south of the NSKK. Since 1935 he was the inspector for technical training and equipment at the NSKK and, due to his technical expertise, acted as Adolf Hühnlein's right-hand man. At the NSKK he achieved the rank of Obergruppenführer. From 1933 to 1942 he was also a member of the Supreme National Sports Authority for German Motor Vehicles and served as a delegate in international racing committees. From March 1936 until the end of National Socialist rule in the spring of 1945, Kraus sat as a member of the National Socialist Reichstag for constituency 31 (Württemberg).

After Hühnlein's death, Kraus was appointed Korpsführer in the NSKK on June 21, 1942 and remained in this position until May 1945. In the final phase of the Second World War, he also took over "motor engineering advice in the Volkssturm and the composition of motorized special units".

After the end of the war, Kraus was interned by the Allies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. After a tribunal trial in Nuremberg, he was denazified as incriminated (Category II) in November. In addition to a three and a half year prison sentence, against which the internment imprisonment was counted, he was fined 1,000 marks. He settled in Freiburg. In 1953, he and two other NSKK members were investigated for the murder of NSKK member Lukat.