The Search for Major Plagge: The Nazi Who Saved Jews, Expanded Edition

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Plagge was born to a Prussian family in Darmstadt, Germany, on 10 July 1897; many of his ancestors had been militarydoctors. Plagge's father died in 1904, leaving Plagge, his mother, and his older sister. [1]

HKP 562 forced labor camp - Wikipedia HKP 562 forced labor camp - Wikipedia

The judges may have been reluctant to recognize the extent of Plagge's humanitarian achievements because they cast a bad light on the indifferenceofordinaryGermanstotheHolocaust and the retention of Nazi judges in the postwar judicial system. [37]

Conditions get more serious

After leaving Vilnius, Plagge led his unit westward and surrendered to the United States Army on 2 May 1945 without suffering a single casualty. [33] During that interval, the camp was officially owned and administered by the SS, but run on a day-to-day basis by a Wehrmacht engineering unit, Heereskraftfahrpark (HKP) 562 (Army Motor Vehicle Repair Park 562), stationed in Vilnius. HKP 562's commanding officer, Major Karl Plagge, was sympathetic to the plight of his Jewish workers. Plagge and some of his men made efforts to protect the Jews of the camp from the murderous intent of the SS. It was partially due to the covert resistance to the Nazi policy of genocide toward the Jews by members of the HKP 562 engineering unit that over 250 Jewish men, women and children survived the final liquidation of the camp in July 1944, the single largest group of Jewish survivors of the Holocaust in Vilnius. I'm John Lienhard at the University of Houston, where we're interested in the way inventive minds work. (Theme music) Plagge was drafted into the Wehrmacht (German Army) as a captain in the reserve at the beginning of WorldWarII, [4] and stopped paying Nazi Party membership fees at the same time. Serving initially in Poland after the Germaninvasion, he witnessed atrocities that caused him to decide "to work against the Nazis". [10] In 1941, he was put in command of an engineering unit, Heereskraftfahrpark562 (vehicle maintenance unit 562, or HKP 562; literally, "Army motor-vehicle park"), which maintained and repaired military vehicles. After the GermaninvasionoftheSovietUnion, HKP 562 was deployed to Vilna, Lithuania, in early July 1941. Plagge witnessed the genocide being carried out against the Jews of the area. [4] [11] Good said he sought the Yad Vashem honor for Plagge after he found out the German had no relatives he could thank directly. He told England's Guardian newspaper that during their trip to Vilnius, his mother was "waving her cane around and saying 'He was better than Schindler.'"

Karl Plagge - the Nazi Party member who employed and Karl Plagge - the Nazi Party member who employed and

During World War II, he used his position as a staff officer in the German Army to employ and protect Jews in the Vilna Ghetto. At first, Plagge employed Jews who lived inside the ghetto, but when the ghetto was slated for liquidation in September 1943, he set up the HKP 562 forced labor camp, where he saved many male Jews by issuing them official work permits on the false premise that their holders' skills were vital for the German war effort, and also made efforts to save the worker's wives and children by claiming they would work better if their families were alive. Through these efforts he was able to protect over 1250 Jews from the genocide occurring in Vilna until the final days of the German occupation. Although unable to stop the SS from liquidating the remaining prisoners in July 1944, Plagge managed to warn the prisoners of the imminent arrival of SS killing squads, allowing about 200 to successfully hide from the SS and survive until the Red Army's capture of Vilnius. Of 100,000 pre-war Jews in Vilnius, only 2,000 survived, of which the largest single group were saved by Plagge. The judges may have been reluctant to recognize the extent of Plagge's humanitarian achievements because they cast a bad light on the indifference of ordinary Germans to the Holocaust and the retention of Nazi judges in the postwar judicial system. [37]

Nazis on trial

Dr. Marianne Wrobel (2011-10-08). "English - Karl Plagge Award". Plagge-award.com . http://plagge-award.com/index.html . Retrieved 2013-06-19. Jews in the area, so it was going on all around him," said Dr Good. "He felt he had helped create this monster and that it was his duty to try to help these imperilled Jews." Plagge was born to a Prussian family in Darmstadt, Germany, on 10 July 1897; many of his ancestors had been military doctors. Plagge's father died in 1904, leaving Plagge, his mother, and his older sister. [1] The major insisted that each laborer be permitted to bring his wife and two of his children with him, arguing that this system would raise worker morale and boost productivity. Among this fortunate group were Perela Esterowicz (later Pearl Good) and her parents, Ida and Samuel Esterowicz. Establishment [ edit ] St. Peter and St. Paul's Church in Vilnius with a sign pointing to the HKP 562 forced labor camp

Unraveling the Mystery of Major Karl Plagge a Nazi Officer

Because he had joined the Nazi Party so early and commanded a labor camp where many prisoners were murdered, he was tried in 1947 as part of the postwar denazification process; he hired a lawyer to defend him. [34] Plagge and his former subordinates told the court about his efforts to help Jewish forced laborers; Plagge's lawyer asked for him to be classified as a fellowtraveler rather than an active Nazi. Former prisoners of HKP 562 in a displacedpersoncamp in Ludwigsburg told Maria Eichamueller [ who?] about Plagge's actions. After reading about the trial in a local newspaper, Eichamueller testified on Plagge's behalf, which influenced the trial result in his favor. The court did not exonerate Plagge completely, because it believed that his actions had been motivated by humanitarianism rather than opposition to Nazism. [35] [36] Plagge was a World War One veteran and engineer who joined the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (later to become known as the Nazi Party) in 1931, in the hopes of rebuilding Germany following the economic collapse. Witnesses said that in Nazi-occupied Vilna, Major Plagge had hired over twelve hundred Jews to work in his military vehicle repair camp, saving their lives by giving them the yellow “life” certificates that marked them as “indispensable” laborers. The year is 1947, a Nazi is on trial for war crimes. He refuses to defend himself. In a surprising turn of fate he is acquitted. Why? Because his former Jewish workers have come forward to save him, they have testified on his behalf, he was a good man, a good Nazi, he saved their lives and the lives of many Jews. He tried to save many more, he was one man against many. His name was Karl Plagge.

Because he had joined the Nazi Party so early and commanded a labor camp where many prisoners were murdered, he was tried in 1947 as part of the postwar denazification process; he hired a lawyer to defend him. [34] Plagge and his former subordinates told the court about his efforts to help Jewish forced laborers; Plagge's lawyer asked for him to be classified as a fellow traveler rather than an active Nazi. Former prisoners of HKP 562 in a displaced person camp in Ludwigsburg told Maria Eichamueller [ who?] about Plagge's actions. After reading about the trial in a local newspaper, Eichamueller testified on Plagge's behalf, which influenced the trial result in his favor. The court did not exonerate Plagge completely, because it believed that his actions had been motivated by humanitarianism rather than opposition to Nazism. [35] [36] Major Karl Plagge was a hero, but he never saw himself as such, he was just trying to do what any decent man would do. But this was a time when decent men were hard to find. He was ashamed of his people, the Germans, and he decided to work against them. He was just one man but he did what he could. He not only saved Jews, he treated them with respect. He provided extra food, medical care, and wood for fire during the harsh winters. He also allowed the workers to build Malinas secret bunkers. Plagge had just saved some 250 lives. And that was the tip of an iceberg. So let's learn more about this Nazi officer, Karl Plagge: He'd served in WW-I until the British captured him. Afterward, he'd studied chemical engineering at Darmstadt. And he joined the new Nazi party. That lasted until he'd heard their crazy ideas about race. Then he withdrew from active involvement. Plagge-Strauss Letters" . http://searchformajorplagge.com/searchformajorplagge.com/Plagge_Documents.html.

Karl Plagge, Officer in the Survivors Pay Tribute to Rescuer Karl Plagge, Officer in the

The front line is moving west and HKP's assignment is to always be a certain number of miles behind the front line...As a result, you the Jews, and the workers will also be moved...since all of you are highly specialized and experienced workers in an area of great importance to the German army, you will be reassigned to an HKP unit...You will be escorted during this evacuation by the SS which, as you know, is an organization devoted to the protection of refugees. Thus, there is nothing to worry about... " But he could not prevent the SS from seizing 250 children from the camp and murdering them while he was on leave. On his return he made no secret of his disgust with what he called the latest "achievements of my fellow Germans". Karl Plagge in 1943. Do not be fooled by the Nazi uniform, this man is a hero, a humanitarian. Remember his name..After the outbreak of World War Two in 1939, he was drafted to form part of the engineering facility which brought him to Vilnius, Lithuania. Plagge was tried before an Allied denazification court in 1947, which accepted his plea to be classified as a " fellow traveler" of the Nazi Party, whose rescue activities were undertaken for humanitarian reasons rather than overt opposition to Nazism. Survivors he rescued testified on his behalf. Plagge died ten years after the trial. On certain occasions, Plagge’s general policy of non-confrontation with the SS put him “in a gray zone, and in a catch-22 situation with serious moral implications,” according to historian Kim Priemel. Probably 95% of the 57,000 Jews who lived in Vilnius before the war were murdered. Of the rest, as many as 10% were saved by Plagge. Plagge once took an ailing Jewish prisoner to a hospital reserved for non-Jews, where she stayed until the end of the war. He also saved two people from execution by the SS by faking their beating.