Richard Drauz

 Richard Drauz  (April 2, 1894 – December 4, 1946) was a Nazi German politician and Kreisleiter of Heilbronn, Germany. He was also Member of the Reichstag from 1933 until the collapse of the Third Reich after World War II. One of the most fanatical and violent NSDAP leaders in the last days of the war, Drauz was put on trial 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 both from old Heilbronner vintner's 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 advanced 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 agitator who later became Gauleiter and then Reichsstatthalter of the German State of Württemberg. On 1 April 1928, Drauz joined the Nazi Party as Member No. 80730 and shortly afterwards he and his family moved to Dortmund. His employment there is unclear.