Biography
Robert Krell is the son of Leo (Eliasz) and Emmy (Estera) Stelzer Krell, Polish Jews from Rzeszow, who had moved to Holland. Leo was born on September 3, 1913 and moved with his parents to Holland as a baby. Leo and Emmy lived in The Hague; he worked as a furrier and she as a seamstress. Robert was born on August 5, 1940, a few months after the German occupation. Two years later, Leo and Emmy received an order to report for deportation on August 19, 1942. Rather than obey, they decided to go into hiding. They asked their elderly neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Hol, if they would care for Robert for a few days until they could find a longer term solution. A few days later, Violette Munnik came to visit and saw the baby. She offered to take the baby for a few weeks, but Robert ended up remaining in hiding with Albert and Violette Munnik until the end of the war. The Munniks treated Robert like their own son and showered him with love, but they would not let him leave the safety of their apartment for the duration of the war. The Munnik's daugher Nora became like an older sister to Robert and taught him to read. Leo hid in the attic of his business partner, Jacob Oversloot, where he continued to sew furs for Jacob to sell. With this income Leo helped support the Munniks as well as Emmy, who after a short time in hiding, went to live in Rijswijk on false papers. After the war the family was reunited, but young Robert had difficulty accepting the fact that the Munniks were not his real parents. The Krells remained in Holland for several more years until immigrating to Canada in March 1951 and settling in Vancouver. In 1975 Albertus, Violette and Nora Munnik were recognized by Yad Vashem as Righeous Among the Nations.
