Otto Kraus was born in Prague. He and his fam­i­ly were deport­ed in May 1942 to Ghet­to Terezin and from there to Auschwitz, where he became one of the children’s coun­selors on the Kinderblock. He was mar­ried to Dita Kraus, whom knew from the Kinderblock. She was the char­ac­ter on whom The Library of Auschwitz is based. Otto died at home on Octo­ber 5, 2000, sur­round­ed by his family.