HKP 562 forced labor camp
HKP 562 was the site of a Nazi forced labor camp for Jews in Vilnius, Lithuania, during the Holocaust. It was centered around 47 & 49 Subačiaus Street, in apartment buildings originally built to house poor members of the Jewish community. The camp was used by the German army as a slave labor camp from September 1943 until July 1944.
| HKP 562 forced labor camp | |
|---|---|
| Nazi concentration camp | |
A Holocaust memorial near the former camp, Subačiaus Street | |
Location of HKP 562 forced labor camp within Lithuania | |
| Coordinates | 54°40′34″N 25°18′18″E |
| Known for | largest single group of Jewish survivors of the Holocaust in Vilnius |
| Location | Vilnius, Lithuania |
| Operated by | SS and Heereskraftfahrpark (HKP) 562 (Army Motor Vehicle Repair Park 562), |
| Commandant | Major Karl Plagge |
| Original use | apartment buildings |
| Operational | 16 September 1943 – 3 July 1944 |
| Inmates | Jews |
| Number of inmates | 1,234 |
| Killed | 750 |
| Liberated by | Red Army, July 1944 |
| Notable inmates | Hirsch Schwartzberg, Samuel Bak |
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.