German Empire (to 1918) Weimar Republic (to 1933) Nazi Germany
Service/branch
German Army
Years of service
1939–1945
Rank
Major
Commands held
HKP562
Battles/wars
World War I World War II
Website
searchformajorplagge.com
Righteous Among the Nations
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Seven Laws of Noah
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Karl Plagge (pronounced[kaʁlˈplaɡə]ⓘ; 10 July 1897 – 19 June 1957) was a German Army officer who rescued Jews during the Holocaust in Lithuania by issuing work permits to non-essential workers. A partially disabled veteran of World War I, Plagge studied engineering and joined the Nazi Party in 1931 in hopes of helping Germany rebuild from the economic collapse following the war. After being dismissed from the position of lecturer for being unwilling to teach racism and his opposition to Nazi racial policies, he stopped participating in party activities in 1935 and left the party when the war broke out.
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.
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.
According to historian Kim Priemel, the success of Plagge's rescue efforts was due to working within the system to save Jews, a position that required him to enter a "grey zone" of moral compromise. In 2000, the story of his rescues was uncovered by the son of a survivor of HKP 562. In 2005, after two unsuccessful petitions, the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem recognized him as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations".
KarlPlagge (pronounced [kaʁl ˈplaɡə] ; 10 July 1897 – 19 June 1957) was a German Army officer who rescued Jews during the Holocaust in Lithuania by issuing...
Plagge is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Frank Plagge (born 1963), German footballer and manager KarlPlagge (1897–1957) Ludwig Plagge...
Vilnius. HKP 562's commanding officer, Major KarlPlagge, was sympathetic to the plight of his Jewish workers. Plagge and some of his men made efforts to protect...
with Oskar Schindler, Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, Helmut Kleinicke, and KarlPlagge. In 1953, Walz was awarded the Great Cross of Merit with Star of the...
members to be given this award, along with Oskar Schindler, Hans Walz, KarlPlagge and Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz. Helmut Kleinicke was born on 19 November...
November 2008) Germany portal Oskar Schindler Albert Battel Max Liedtke KarlPlagge Albert Göring Krauthausen, Ciro (1 August 2004). "El oficial que salvó...
active role in rescuing Jews during the Holocaust. Schindler, along with KarlPlagge, Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, Helmut Kleinicke, and Hans Walz are among...
Hosenfeld, Hans von Dohnanyi, Bernhard Lichtenberg, Gustav Schröder, KarlPlagge 69,314,000 0.92 Slovakia 621 Pavel Peter Gojdič 2,655,000 23.39 Greece...
automobiles for the German Army; the camp was commanded by the Wehrmacht Major KarlPlagge who, with the cooperation of his officers and men, was able to shield...
(d. 1944), SS-Obersturmbannführer with contact with Wilhelm Canaris KarlPlagge (1897–1957), Wehrmacht officer, acted alone Philipp Pless [de] (1906–1973)...
"Voyage of the Damned"; Wehrmacht officers Wilm Hosenfeld, Heinz Drossel, KarlPlagge, and Albert Battel; resistance fighter Hans von Dohnányi, and writer...
Allies. KarlPlagge – a major in the Wehrmacht Heer who issued work permits in order to save almost 1,000 Jews (see The Search for Major Plagge: The Nazi...
seismologist KarlPlagge (1897–1957), Wehrmacht officer, saved Lithuanian Jews from extermination during The Holocaust, Righteous among the Nations Karl-Otto...
furthered Jewish resistance. Other Wehrmacht rescuers, such as Major KarlPlagge, worked within the system to save Jews. Wolfram Wette described Schmid...
Kazys Binkis Anna Borkowska Petronėlė Lastienė Bronislovas Paukštys KarlPlagge Antanas Poška Ona Šimaitė Anton Schmid Chiune Sugihara Jan Zwartendijk...
politician (d. 1981) 1897 – Legs Diamond, American gangster (d. 1931) 1897 – KarlPlagge, German general and engineer (d. 1957) 1898 – Renée Björling, Swedish...
States to Holocaust survivors who were saved from the Vilna ghetto by KarlPlagge. He grew up in Philadelphia, where his father worked as a tailor. He...
September 2011. Lüdtke, Karl-Heinz (1999–2006). "Karl-Heinz Lüdtke autobiografy part 5". Andre de Zwart. Retrieved 1 September 2011. Plagge, Wenceslaus; Lebbin...
Kazys Binkis Anna Borkowska Petronėlė Lastienė Bronislovas Paukštys KarlPlagge Antanas Poška Ona Šimaitė Anton Schmid Chiune Sugihara Jan Zwartendijk...
other Jews from the ghetto – escaped by obtaining permits to work in KarlPlagge's hastily expanded HKP 562 forced labor camp on Subačiaus Street in Vilnius...
a local Zionist group, including Abba Kovner and Abraham Sutzkever. KarlPlagge (2004), German engineer, major with the German Army. As a leader of the...
Kirschner, Josef Kollmer, Franz Kraus, Herbert Ludwig, Karl Möckel, Kurt Mueller, Eric Muhsfeldt, Ludwig Plagge, Hans Schumacher and Paul Szczurek (Arthur Breitwieser...
Kampers Harry Bender Bobbie Bender Maria Forescu Paul Morgan Karl Victor Plagge Rudolf Lettinger Karl Falkenberg Gerd Briese Gerhard Lamprecht. Deutsche Stummfilme...
1971) Michael Parsons (born 1938) David Pentecost (born 1940) Wolfgang Plagge (born 1960) Tomi Räisänen (born 1976) Jan Randall (born 1952) Anirudh Ravichander...
Global Information
German Empire (to 1918)
Weimar Republic (to 1933)
Nazi Germany
German Army