1. Major Karl Plagge
Oana, Brian, Rose

2. Background Information
-Vilna Ghetto in Lithuania: Jews without work papers were captured and killed by the SS
-During the summer of 1943, Himmler decided to destroy all Ghettos of Eastern Europe

3. Vilna Ghetto

4. Karl Plagge -joined the Nazi Party in 1931
-Plagge felt responsible for some of the killings
-used his position as an officer in the German Army to employ/protect about 1200 Jews

5. Saving the Jews
-Plagge helped by giving out about 250 life-saving work certificates, certifying them as essential and skilled workers regardless of their actual backgrounds.
(This kind of work permit protected many Jews from the SS sweeps carried out in the Vilna Ghetto)
-He provided them warm clothing, medical supplies and firewood.

6. Saving the Jews (cont’d)
-Plagge transported over 1,000 of his Jewish workers and their families from the Vilna Ghetto to a newly built camp where they remained in relative safety. Less than a week later (September 23rd, 1943) the SS liquidated the Vilna Ghetto.
-As the Soviets approached the camp, Plagge warned the Jews to go into hiding, (the SS wanted to exterminate all the Jews in the camp before the Soviets arrived) About 250 of the 500 who went into hiding survived.

7. Vilna Ghetto

8. Work Cited Page
Dirkdeklein. “Major Karl Plagge-German WW2 Hero.” History of Sorts, History of Sorts, 8 July 2016, dirkdeklein.net/2016/07/08/major-karl-plagge-german-ww2-hero/.
“Karl Plagge.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 May 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Plagge.
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