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Wiener Library

Baker-Byrne, Robert Phillip (b 1910): personal papers


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 1556 WL 897

Held at: Wiener Library

Title: Baker-Byrne, Robert Phillip (b 1910): personal papers

Date(s): 1944-1957

Level of description: collection

Extent: 1 folder

Name of creator(s): Various

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Robert Philip Baker-Byrne was born in Berlin in 1910. His father was the owner of the company, Modellhaus Becker, Berlin. In 1936 he and his parents, under increasing pressure from life under the Nazis, came to Great Britain as refugees. Some time later he married and had a daughter. From 1939 until 1944 he was a member of the Pioneer Corps. In 1944 he began working for the British Secret Service and made two lone parachute drops into enemy territory. Whilst on the last mission into the Lübeck area he was apparently captured.

Having survived the war, he worked as an investigator in the investigation section of War Crimes Group, North West Europe. After he left the military he went to Australia (presumably with his family). After a few years he returned to Great Britain where he worked as a sales manager in the 1950s. Nothing further is known about his life nor that of his family.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Robert Philip Baker-Byrne, 1944-1957, notably include his personal papers including passport and notebook containing addresses and notes apparently taken during Baker-Byrne's time as investigator into war crimes in Kiel, 1948-1957; a memoranda from War Crimes Group (North West Europe) regarding the role and activities of Captain Robert Philip Baker-Byrne, 1947-1948; correspondence and papers regarding 'the Kiel Hassee case' in which 50 allied prisoners of war were summarily executed by Gestapo officers, 1948-1951 and correspondence including affidavits regarding an application for restitution money from the German government.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: German and English

System of arrangement:

Arranged in original order.

Conditions governing access:

Open

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

A detailed description exists on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Angela Smiles

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Archivist's note: Compiled by Samantha Velumyl.

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: March 2008


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Antisemitism | Racial discrimination
Legal procedure | Administration of justice
Right to property | Civil and political rights | Human rights
War | International conflicts
War crimes | Humanitarian law
World War Two (1939-1945) | World wars (events) | Wars (events)

Personal names
Baker-Byrne | Robert Phillip | b 1910 | investigator for War Crimes Group

Corporate names
Gestapo x Geheimes Staatspolizei
War Crimes Group

Places