About us.
In 2002, Michael Kelly founded PzG, driven by a profound passion for history and an unwavering heart for teaching. Together, we cultivated this company not just as a business but as a legacy for our family of nine children and our beloved dogs. It was a dream rooted in sharing knowledge and nurturing curiosity, one we poured our hearts into every day.
However, everything shifted dramatically in 2020 with Michael’s diagnosis of cancer. He faced his illness with the same tenacity he applied to PzG, demonstrating the strength of character that impressed everyone around him. Despite his struggles with cancer then heart disease and COVID, Michael remained a beacon of hope and resilience until he passed away on October 12, 2021.
In the aftermath, our family chose to carry on his legacy, embracing his motto: “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” With the unwavering support of friends and you the members of our community, we have tackled each challenge that has come our way, striving to keep Michael’s vision alive and this website up. We are committed to pushing forward, supporting the pillars of Free Speech, honoring Michael’s memory through our work at PzG, and inspiring others with the teachings that once filled our home.
Thank you for being part of this journey.
Linda Kelly,
PzG Inc. President
Proud wife to Michael and mother to our children.
Opal Soltau, friend and collaborator of PzG Inc.
In May 1933, Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess approved the formation of an American organization to support the National Socialist cause. The group adopted a new name to emphasize its American credentials after being accused of un-patriotism. The Bund was restricted to American citizens of German descent, with the primary goal of promoting a favorable view of the Greater German Reich. It became the German-American Bund in March 1936.
Some Bund members were recent German immigrants resentful over their wartime losses and the Versailles Treaty. However, the Soltau family had lived in Indianapolis for over half a century by the time the German-American Bund convened at their Summit Street home. John Albert Soltau (1847-1938) migrated from Germany to Minnesota in 1857, then to Indianapolis in 1873, where he established a grocery chain that eventually comprised 12 stores.
William Albert Soltau, the eldest of John Soltau’s five sons, was born in 1875. He worked in his father’s grocery stores and married Laura Hansing in June 1903. The family moved to Indianapolis, IN, in 1916, by which time they had two children, Pearl (born 1905) and Charles William (1909); a third child, Opal, was born in 1920.
Opal graduated from Arsenal Tech High School in 1938 and celebrated with a trip to Germany. She often described this as a trip of a lifetime, recalling a private tour of the Hofbräuhaus led by a high-ranking party member, where Adolf Hitler founded the National Socialist German Workers’ Party on February 24, 1920. As fears of war grew, her brother traveled to Germany to bring his sister back to the United States, departing from Hamburg on November 3rd and arriving in New York on the 11th.
The Soltau family quietly supported the Bund cause. The A.V. Publishing Corporation (i.e., Amerika-Deutscher Volksbund) was a press incorporated in March 1937, with the Soltau family as stockholders. After the war, Opal worked in her family’s business, never marrying but becoming a Great Aunt to Michael Kelly and his family until her death in August 2008.
History owes Miss Soltau a great debt for preserving many of the recordings that formed the foundation of PzG Inc’s. musical archive, most of which she brought back from her trip to pre-war Germany.
The German-American Bund expressed xenophobic sentiments accepted by many “Hoosiers” at the time. Opal Soltau’s apparent lifelong affection for the ideology was distinctive, but there is little evidence that Bund members reconsidered their beliefs when these organizations disbanded. We risk overlooking the persistence of such sentiments if we focus only on these groups and individual personalities while ignoring the everyday people aligned with them socially and politically.
Music has long served as a mirror of societal values, emotions, and historical events. Through Opal Soltau’s diligent efforts, we can now immerse ourselves in the rich tapestry where each note tells a story providing insight into the social, political and emotional landscape of her time that shaped the world. As we explore this auditory journey, we gain insight into the struggles, joys, and spirits of those who came before us. Let us embrace these melodies and learn from them as they are not just sounds; they are the heartbeats of history.
God bless the power of music to connect us across time.