Fonds SCA403-GA470 - Robert Kelp fonds.

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Robert Kelp fonds.

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    • Source of title proper: Title from content of the fonds.

    Level of description

    Fonds

    Reference code

    SCA403-GA470

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    Statement of scale (cartographic)

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    Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

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    Physical description

    4 cm of textual records
    270 photographs : col. ; 13 x 16 cm or smaller

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    Archival description area

    Name of creator

    (1926-2013)

    Biographical history

    Robert Julius Kelp was born in Hamburg (Germany) in 1926 to Karl and Katherine (Kruse) Kelp.
    In 1944, Kelp joined the Luftwaffe (the aerial-warfare branch of the German armed forces or Wehrmacht) where he served as a paratrooper on the Western Front, primarily in Belgium and the Netherlands.
    During his time as a member of the Wehrmacht, Kelp was injured and spent time in a hospital and visiting family. He returned to the front and was captured by the British forces in the winter of 1945. From 1945 to 1948, Kelp was a prisoner of war and was transferred to different prisoner-of-war camps, ending in France where he was assigned to work removing landmines in Normandy and working on several farms in the area. In 1946, Kelp and his colleagues tried to escape to Germany and ended up in the Cherche-Midi prison in Paris. In November 1948, Kelp returned to Hamburg with his family, where he trained and worked as a tool and die maker.
    In 1958, Kelp emigrated to Toronto where he worked with Frank Stronach (founder of Magna International). In 1963, he was joined in Canada by his girlfriend Gitta Hartmann (1932-2018) whom he married soon after and with whom he had two children. The family soon moved to Kitchener-Waterloo for work-related reasons. In 1967, Kelp became a Canadian citizen.
    Robert Julius Kelp died in 2013, aged 87.

    Custodial history

    Scope and content

    Materials related to the Second World War from the perspective of a German soldier. Includes a Nazi propaganda card album that narrates and praises the creation, evolution, and rise of the Third Reich; and an autobiographical narration by Robert Julius Kelp (paratrooper in the Luftwaffe) during the last two years of the Second World War and the following years as a prisoner of war in France.

    Notes area

    Physical condition

    Immediate source of acquisition

    Donated in 2019.

    Arrangement

    Language of material

    • English

    • German

    Script of material

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      General note

      Materials in fonds include examples of Nazi propaganda. Language and attitudes rooted in harmful and racist stereotypes that some will find triggering and deeply upsetting appear throughout.

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      Dates of creation, revision and deletion

      Described by CGD in 2022.

      Language of description

      • English

      Script of description

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        Accession area