Kraus, Paul Leo (33386646)

Paul Leo Kraus
Personal details
Born	1919
Died	2014
Nativity	Austria
Religion	Jewish
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	33386646
Rank	Corporal
Camp Ritchie	Class 22 (23 August – 21 October 1944)
Section	5C
Enlisted	Baltimore, Maryland
Teams	IPW 183, MII 501-G

Teammates

Team — IPW 183

Team — MII 501-G

These are other soldiers listed on the same team roster. People moved between teams; overlapping service dates are not always documented.

Research notes on this page are compiled from the source file and later edits. They may be unverified, incomplete, or incorrect, and should not be treated as established fact. Please correct the article or add sources on the talk page. For class-roster terms, see About the data.

Sources & confidence: Treat Research notes as leads, not settled fact. Prefer NARA, the class roster, newspapers, Find a Grave, or published histories for contested claims. Mark unsourced claims with {{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.

Paul Leo Kraus (1919–2014) was a Ritchie Boy (from Austria; Jewish) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 22 and served with IPW Team 183.

Biography

Author Joanie Schirm wrote a book back in 2013 titled "Adventurers Against Their Will: Extraordinary World War II Stories of Survival, Escape, and Connection-Unlike Any Others". Featured in her book is a chapter on RB Pavel (Paul) Leopold Kraus. Paul was a cousin by marriage of her father. Both were refugees in China before making it to America. Paul joined the US Army soon after reaching the US and trained at Fort Ritchie, Maryland's Military Intelligence Training Center becoming a "Ritchie Boy". He was sent to the European front as an infantry sergeant and interrogator, where he spent time in battle with Audie Murphy and arrested one of Hitler's favorite officers and Mussolini's rescuer, Otto Skorzeny, who was posing as an enlisted man in a prisoner-of-war camp. He was among the first Allied troops to reach the bunker at Berchtesgaden, where he liberated some of Hitler's best wine, which was stolen later from his jeep. Paul passed away on September 22, 2014

Research notes

• Also Class 11 5B IPW Ge
• 501-G

Gallery

• 
  Based on her father’s collection of 400 old letters, Joanie Schirm's book series is the deeply personal account of a daughter’s investigative journey some 70 years later to locate the Czech correspondents and their descendants around the world.
• 
  Based on her father’s collection of 400 old letters, Joanie Schirm's book series is the deeply personal account of a daughter’s investigative journey some 70 years later to locate the Czech correspondents and their descendants around the world.

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	95
Nara ASN	33386646
Nara Name	KRAUS PAUL L
Nara State	1
Nara County	7
Nara POE	3110
Nara DOE	11242
Nara Grade Alpha	PV0
Nara Grade Code	8
Nara Branch Alpha	BI
Nara Branch Code	0
Branch	Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
Nara Term or Enlistment	5
Term of enlistment	Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Defer. Date	0
Nara Source	0
Nara Nativity	N2
Nara Year of Birth	19
Nara Race	J
Nara Race Description	White not yet a citizen
Nara Education	0
Nara Civilian Occupation	105
Nara Marital Status	6
Nara Height (inches)	67
Nara Weight (lbs)	141
Class_ASN	33386646
Class_Name	KRAUS, Paul L.
match_method	asn_exact_name_exact
row_source	both

Sources

• Camp Ritchie class roster (classes 1–31), merged research file
• NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
• 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2022-09-25 (1 post)
• Facebook-linked source: amazon.com
• Facebook-linked source: cremation-society.com