Richard Drauz
German politician (1894-1946)
Richard Drauz (German: [ˈʁɪçaʁt ˈdʁaʊts] ; 2 April 1894 – 4 December 1946) was a Nazi German politician and Kreisleiter of Heilbronn, Germany. He was also a member of the Reichstag from 1933 until the collapse of Nazi Germany at the end of World War II in Europe. Drauz was one of the most fanatical and violent Nazi Party leaders in the final days of the war. He was tried and executed by American occupation forces for war crimes in 1946.
Early life
Drauz was born in Heilbronn in Württemberg, the son of postal official Christian Heinrich Drauz (1865–1937) and Friederike Johanna, née Dederer (1866–1938). His parents were from old Heilbronn vintner families. After attending middle and high school in Heilbronn, he became a mechanic's apprentice. He enlisted in the German Army at the start of World War I and rose to the rank of Feldwebel (Sergeant) by 1918. After the war, he studied at the Hochschule Esslingen in Esslingen am Neckar and from 1921 to 1928 worked at the Maschinenfabrik Esslingen as a refrigeration engineer. There he met Wilhelm Murr, a Nazi Party agitator who later became Gauleiter and then Reichsstatthalter of Württemberg.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Richard Drauz” is german politician (1894-1946). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Richard, Drauz and German, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “german politician (1894-1946)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 16, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q108780. VIAF identifies the subject as 62656280. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1894, 1946, 1933 and 1865.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Richard Drauz”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Richard Drauz primary sources, Richard Drauz archive and Richard research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Richard Drauz”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Richard Drauz” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.