Unlike Oskar Schindler, I’ve never heard Plagge’s story:
Dec 21 • 16 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
In 1944, a Nazi officer defied the Third Reich.
While his comrades slaughtered thousands, he risked everything to save 250 Jews—arming them with tools, teaching them to lie and building secret bunkers.
This is the untold story of Major Karl Plagge: the Nazi who became a savior:
Karl Plagge was born in 1897 in Darmstadt, Germany, and grew up during a time of nationalistic fervor.
In 1931, he joined the Nazi Party, lured by promises of economic stability and national revival.
But by the early 1940s, after witnessing the atrocities committed by the Nazis, Plagge became disillusioned.
Posted to Vilnius, Lithuania, as part of the Wehrmacht's engineering corps, he was horrified by the genocide unfolding around him.
By 1941, the SS and local collaborators had begun the systematic murder of Vilnius’s Jewish population, claiming over 100,000 lives.
Witnessing these horrors, Plagge decided to act.
Using his position as a commanding officer, he established the HKP labor camp—a workshop ostensibly for repairing German military vehicles.
Plagge argued that skilled Jewish labor was essential for the war effort and went to great lengths to protect his workers.
He issued false certifications declaring untrained Jews as “skilled mechanics” and insisted on housing families together to “boost morale.”
In reality, he was creating a haven for the Jews under his protection.
The HKP camp, located in Vilnius, became an unlikely refuge for over 1,000 Jews.
Unlike other labor camps, where brutality and starvation were the norm, Plagge ensured that his workers received extra food, firewood for warmth, and medical care.
He even introduced sewing workshops to employ women and older children, shielding them from the SS’s wrath.
Survivors later described Plagge’s camp as a rare place of relative safety in a world consumed by terror.
In March 1944, while Plagge was on leave, the SS launched a brutal operation known as the Kinderaktion.
Under the guise of medical vaccinations, SS officers raided the camp to seize children and elderly residents.
The scene was horrific—children were dragged from their mothers, flung into trucks, and later executed.
When Plagge returned, he was devastated, feeling personally responsible for the tragedy despite his absence.
Survivors recalled his profound sense of guilt and sorrow.
As the Soviet Army advanced toward Vilnius in July 1944, the Nazis prepared to eliminate the remaining Jews in HKP.
Plagge, knowing what was to come, issued a veiled warning to his workers, urging them to hide.
“I am sorry,” he told them. “The SS will be evacuating you, and you will be escorted by an organization devoted to the protection of refugees.”
His coded message saved hundreds of lives.
Nearly 500 Jews went into hiding in secret bunkers called malinas.
While the SS searched the camp and executed those they found, approximately 250 Jews survived, emerging after Vilnius was liberated by the Red Army.
After the war, he faced trial for his involvement with the Nazi regime.
Jewish survivors came forward to testify in his defense.
Plagge’s heroism went largely unrecognized until decades later, when the family of a survivor, Michael Good, uncovered the story.
In 2005, Yad Vashem honored Karl Plagge as one of the Righteous Among the Nations
History Nerd
@_HistoryNerdDec 21 • 16 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
In 1944, a Nazi officer defied the Third Reich.
While his comrades slaughtered thousands, he risked everything to save 250 Jews—arming them with tools, teaching them to lie and building secret bunkers.
This is the untold story of Major Karl Plagge: the Nazi who became a savior:
Karl Plagge was born in 1897 in Darmstadt, Germany, and grew up during a time of nationalistic fervor.
In 1931, he joined the Nazi Party, lured by promises of economic stability and national revival.
But by the early 1940s, after witnessing the atrocities committed by the Nazis, Plagge became disillusioned.
Posted to Vilnius, Lithuania, as part of the Wehrmacht's engineering corps, he was horrified by the genocide unfolding around him.
By 1941, the SS and local collaborators had begun the systematic murder of Vilnius’s Jewish population, claiming over 100,000 lives.
Witnessing these horrors, Plagge decided to act.
Using his position as a commanding officer, he established the HKP labor camp—a workshop ostensibly for repairing German military vehicles.
Plagge argued that skilled Jewish labor was essential for the war effort and went to great lengths to protect his workers.
He issued false certifications declaring untrained Jews as “skilled mechanics” and insisted on housing families together to “boost morale.”
In reality, he was creating a haven for the Jews under his protection.
The HKP camp, located in Vilnius, became an unlikely refuge for over 1,000 Jews.
Unlike other labor camps, where brutality and starvation were the norm, Plagge ensured that his workers received extra food, firewood for warmth, and medical care.
He even introduced sewing workshops to employ women and older children, shielding them from the SS’s wrath.
Survivors later described Plagge’s camp as a rare place of relative safety in a world consumed by terror.
In March 1944, while Plagge was on leave, the SS launched a brutal operation known as the Kinderaktion.
Under the guise of medical vaccinations, SS officers raided the camp to seize children and elderly residents.
The scene was horrific—children were dragged from their mothers, flung into trucks, and later executed.
When Plagge returned, he was devastated, feeling personally responsible for the tragedy despite his absence.
Survivors recalled his profound sense of guilt and sorrow.
As the Soviet Army advanced toward Vilnius in July 1944, the Nazis prepared to eliminate the remaining Jews in HKP.
Plagge, knowing what was to come, issued a veiled warning to his workers, urging them to hide.
“I am sorry,” he told them. “The SS will be evacuating you, and you will be escorted by an organization devoted to the protection of refugees.”
His coded message saved hundreds of lives.
Nearly 500 Jews went into hiding in secret bunkers called malinas.
While the SS searched the camp and executed those they found, approximately 250 Jews survived, emerging after Vilnius was liberated by the Red Army.
After the war, he faced trial for his involvement with the Nazi regime.
Jewish survivors came forward to testify in his defense.
Plagge’s heroism went largely unrecognized until decades later, when the family of a survivor, Michael Good, uncovered the story.
In 2005, Yad Vashem honored Karl Plagge as one of the Righteous Among the Nations
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