1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 3 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:14,600 - [Narrator] In 1947 Major Karl Plagge, 4 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:17,730 a former commander of a Nazi forced labor camp 5 00:00:17,730 --> 00:00:21,646 was tried for his part in the German occupation of Vilnius 6 00:00:21,646 --> 00:00:24,180 (gunshots banging) 7 00:00:24,180 --> 00:00:29,180 during which 100,000 Lithuanian Jews were murdered. 8 00:00:29,258 --> 00:00:31,925 (gunshot bangs) 9 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:36,070 To everyone's surprise, a few Jewish survivors 10 00:00:36,070 --> 00:00:39,263 of the labor camp came to testify on his behalf. 11 00:00:42,660 --> 00:00:45,680 What they revealed was a covert operation 12 00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:49,850 set up to save the lives of the last Jews of Vilnius. 13 00:00:49,850 --> 00:00:52,600 (dramatic music) 14 00:01:05,890 --> 00:01:08,760 In modern Vilnius commuters are oblivious 15 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:11,410 to this low rent building complex. 16 00:01:11,410 --> 00:01:14,250 It was once called HKP, 17 00:01:14,250 --> 00:01:17,380 and it's the only Holocaust labor camp in Europe 18 00:01:17,380 --> 00:01:20,733 that hasn't been destroyed or turned into a memorial. 19 00:01:25,310 --> 00:01:28,793 During the second world war hundreds were saved here. 20 00:01:29,770 --> 00:01:32,973 Hundreds more were murdered and buried here. 21 00:01:34,230 --> 00:01:36,940 Before these old buildings are torn down 22 00:01:36,940 --> 00:01:41,350 a team of scientists, historians and survivors converge here 23 00:01:41,350 --> 00:01:44,253 to revive the story that was almost forgotten. 24 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:48,750 Using the latest noninvasive technologies, 25 00:01:48,750 --> 00:01:52,880 basing themselves on survivors' testimonies and sketches, 26 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:55,650 they hope to unearth the mass grave 27 00:01:55,650 --> 00:01:57,660 of those who didn't make it 28 00:01:57,660 --> 00:02:00,513 and the hiding places of those who did. 29 00:02:13,030 --> 00:02:16,570 These old buildings on the outskirts of Vilnius, 30 00:02:16,570 --> 00:02:18,989 conceal a dark secret. 31 00:02:18,989 --> 00:02:21,656 (ominous music) 32 00:02:22,510 --> 00:02:25,510 The current residents may very well be living 33 00:02:25,510 --> 00:02:28,473 on top of the bones of the previous occupants. 34 00:02:30,430 --> 00:02:34,000 They were Jews imprisoned by the Nazis. 35 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,760 During the Holocaust, they fought for their lives 36 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:40,083 in the very rooms these people live in today. 37 00:02:41,350 --> 00:02:45,530 At the time one Nazi major called Karl Plagge 38 00:02:45,530 --> 00:02:48,590 risked his life, lying to the Nazi command 39 00:02:48,590 --> 00:02:51,650 in order to carry out a daring operation 40 00:02:51,650 --> 00:02:53,893 to save the Jews imprisoned here. 41 00:02:55,700 --> 00:02:58,730 Their story and Major Plagge's actions 42 00:02:58,730 --> 00:03:02,040 were largely unknown until Michael Good, 43 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:05,760 an American family doctor, found out that his mother 44 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:08,683 was one of those saved by Major Plagge. 45 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:14,950 - And so I just kept on having these questions 46 00:03:14,950 --> 00:03:19,143 pop into my head, who was this Major Plagge? 47 00:03:21,810 --> 00:03:25,329 Why would a Nazi major be running around 48 00:03:25,329 --> 00:03:28,150 and protecting and saving Jews? 49 00:03:28,150 --> 00:03:30,340 When the rest of the Germans in Vilna 50 00:03:30,340 --> 00:03:32,410 were committed to slaughtering them? 51 00:03:43,790 --> 00:03:46,000 - [Narrator] Dr. Good's ensuing research 52 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:47,710 finally brought to light 53 00:03:47,710 --> 00:03:50,993 one of the most remarkable stories of the Holocaust, 54 00:03:52,050 --> 00:03:55,200 about a Nazi who decided to save Jews 55 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:59,000 by creating workshops to fix German army vehicles 56 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,240 and demanding Jewish workers to labor in them. 57 00:04:05,140 --> 00:04:08,220 - This vehicle repair shop was different than all of those 58 00:04:08,220 --> 00:04:11,500 other places because families, men, women 59 00:04:11,500 --> 00:04:13,700 and children were housed together. 60 00:04:13,700 --> 00:04:18,180 Plagge argued to his superiors that they had to be together 61 00:04:18,180 --> 00:04:21,020 to make them more enthusiastic workers 62 00:04:21,020 --> 00:04:24,153 so that they would do really good work. 63 00:04:27,110 --> 00:04:31,320 So his vision of what this HKP was, 64 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:33,440 was more than just a repair shop. 65 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:38,233 For many of these people this was their permit for life. 66 00:04:41,210 --> 00:04:44,310 - To really appreciate what Karl Plagge did 67 00:04:44,310 --> 00:04:46,053 we need to go to his workshops. 68 00:04:47,420 --> 00:04:50,620 The workers, they were totally without skills. 69 00:04:50,620 --> 00:04:54,540 They were shopkeepers, school teachers, accountants, 70 00:04:54,540 --> 00:04:58,600 businessman, and they had absolutely no automotive skills, 71 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:01,610 even though Plagge had certified them 72 00:05:01,610 --> 00:05:04,950 as being skilled mechanics. 73 00:05:04,950 --> 00:05:06,600 But very quickly, 74 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:09,290 they started to learn more and more skills. 75 00:05:09,290 --> 00:05:11,010 And before too long, 76 00:05:11,010 --> 00:05:13,180 they actually were the skilled workers 77 00:05:13,180 --> 00:05:14,730 that Plagge claimed them to be. 78 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:21,420 But then the SS wanted to take the women and children 79 00:05:21,420 --> 00:05:23,320 and kill them because they were idle. 80 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:27,620 So he made arrangements to set up clothing workshops 81 00:05:27,620 --> 00:05:29,490 in the camp and imported sewing machines 82 00:05:29,490 --> 00:05:32,713 and put the women and older children to work. 83 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:37,800 - On the one hand, you have Plagge 84 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:40,230 trying to keep a Jewish workforce alive. 85 00:05:40,230 --> 00:05:42,300 On the other side, you have the SS who are committed 86 00:05:42,300 --> 00:05:44,720 to the destruction of all the Jews in this vicinity. 87 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:47,170 So what that represents the permanent conflict 88 00:05:47,170 --> 00:05:51,540 that exists between Plagge in particular and the SS in Vilna 89 00:05:51,540 --> 00:05:55,033 who would seek to destroy as many Jews as possible. 90 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:05,483 - [Narrator] But Plagge's plan didn't always work. 91 00:06:06,570 --> 00:06:10,150 Before HKP is torn down for urban renewal, 92 00:06:10,150 --> 00:06:14,330 scientists armed with the latest in archeological technology 93 00:06:14,330 --> 00:06:17,003 are here to identify mass graves. 94 00:06:19,570 --> 00:06:22,830 - HKP is unique in the history of the Holocaust. 95 00:06:22,830 --> 00:06:27,280 It's still in the same form as it was 75 years ago, 96 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:29,993 a killing field where people are still living. 97 00:06:32,460 --> 00:06:34,670 So this is the target that we're looking for. 98 00:06:34,670 --> 00:06:38,180 This is the original place where this group from July 2nd 99 00:06:38,180 --> 00:06:40,390 and July 3rd, were basically killed? 100 00:06:40,390 --> 00:06:41,540 - That's right? 101 00:06:41,540 --> 00:06:43,760 - [Narrator] According to survivors' testimonies, 102 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:46,720 the Nazis executed hundreds of prisoners 103 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:49,280 on the side of the Western building. 104 00:06:49,280 --> 00:06:53,100 The bodies were then hastily buried in shallow pits. 105 00:06:53,100 --> 00:06:55,360 - And then they moved the bodies 106 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:59,920 from the original killing trench to another place. 107 00:06:59,920 --> 00:07:01,460 - That's right. 108 00:07:01,460 --> 00:07:03,720 - [Narrator] After the liberation of Vilnius, 109 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:07,370 the corpses were exhumed and reburied in a mass grave 110 00:07:07,370 --> 00:07:10,630 somewhere in the courtyard between the buildings. 111 00:07:10,630 --> 00:07:13,220 - First thing is before we start anything, 112 00:07:13,220 --> 00:07:15,370 we're going to drone the whole area, right? 113 00:07:18,950 --> 00:07:23,290 We've sort of cornered the market on doing really good 114 00:07:23,290 --> 00:07:27,893 science in areas where you cannot do traditional archeology. 115 00:07:33,312 --> 00:07:38,312 Noninvasive archeology means that you can identify locations 116 00:07:38,330 --> 00:07:42,203 of where things happened without having to excavate them. 117 00:07:44,410 --> 00:07:46,290 - First, we'll be taking high resolution, 118 00:07:46,290 --> 00:07:48,500 aerial imagery using a drone. 119 00:07:48,500 --> 00:07:51,230 So we'll be taking hundreds of photos over the site, 120 00:07:51,230 --> 00:07:53,640 putting them together in a composite image 121 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:57,264 with a resolution on the order of one centimeter per pixel. 122 00:07:57,264 --> 00:08:00,097 (camera clicking) 123 00:08:02,770 --> 00:08:05,770 - [Narrator] The scientists now discover a patch of grass 124 00:08:05,770 --> 00:08:08,653 that looks different from the surrounding vegetation. 125 00:08:09,570 --> 00:08:13,540 - Here we clearly see this area of stressed vegetation. 126 00:08:13,540 --> 00:08:15,970 - [Narrator] This might indicate that an excavation 127 00:08:15,970 --> 00:08:19,763 took place in the area, maybe to dig a mass grave. 128 00:08:22,574 --> 00:08:25,270 - Okay so 40 meter line. 129 00:08:25,270 --> 00:08:28,290 - [Narrator] They now deploy ground penetrating radar 130 00:08:28,290 --> 00:08:31,653 or GPR, to see what lies underneath. 131 00:08:35,410 --> 00:08:38,100 - We're trying to locate a mass burial site. 132 00:08:38,100 --> 00:08:41,540 The hypothesis we have here is that bodies were moved here, 133 00:08:41,540 --> 00:08:43,800 potentially around this building, placed in here 134 00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:45,960 and then covered up for their final burial. 135 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:48,330 And so what we're doing here is using ground penetrating 136 00:08:48,330 --> 00:08:50,890 radar to image into the subsurface. 137 00:08:50,890 --> 00:08:53,020 - [Narrator] FM radio waves are transmitted 138 00:08:53,020 --> 00:08:55,500 from the device into the soil. 139 00:08:55,500 --> 00:08:57,380 By measuring how quickly the signals 140 00:08:57,380 --> 00:09:01,340 are reflected back to the unit, GPR can reveal figures 141 00:09:01,340 --> 00:09:03,643 in the ground that don't look natural. 142 00:09:05,070 --> 00:09:08,510 The GPR data will take several days to analyze, 143 00:09:08,510 --> 00:09:11,460 only then will they know if they've located 144 00:09:11,460 --> 00:09:12,713 the victims of HKP. 145 00:09:22,530 --> 00:09:25,653 Karl Plagge was born in Darmstadt Germany. 146 00:09:28,830 --> 00:09:31,403 He grew up here as a German nationalist. 147 00:09:32,350 --> 00:09:36,600 - There is a tradition in the family to be in the military 148 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:41,600 and to be a very loyal subject to the government 149 00:09:41,890 --> 00:09:45,853 and to want best for the country. 150 00:09:48,130 --> 00:09:49,920 - He was old enough to serve in the first world war. 151 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:52,200 He was captured by the British, becomes a POW 152 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:55,213 for three years, was sent home in 1920. 153 00:09:56,252 --> 00:09:58,340 And then in the 1920s, his family undergo 154 00:09:58,340 --> 00:10:00,740 exactly the same privations as most German families 155 00:10:00,740 --> 00:10:02,710 do during the German inflation, 156 00:10:02,710 --> 00:10:05,970 where their savings were more than likely wiped out. 157 00:10:05,970 --> 00:10:10,970 - He wanted to be a doctor but he couldn't pay the fee 158 00:10:12,020 --> 00:10:15,030 and therefore he was engineer. 159 00:10:15,030 --> 00:10:17,890 He didn't want to construct things, 160 00:10:17,890 --> 00:10:21,490 he wanted to cure people, to help people. 161 00:10:21,490 --> 00:10:24,060 - He's unusual in the sense that he joins the Nazi party 162 00:10:24,060 --> 00:10:29,060 in 1931, which is very early for somebody taking that step. 163 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:33,470 - He was convinced that Hitler and his promise 164 00:10:33,470 --> 00:10:37,000 to bring would be a kind of solution. 165 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:40,780 He was also unemployed and Hitler also promised 166 00:10:40,780 --> 00:10:43,010 to bring those thousands and thousands 167 00:10:43,010 --> 00:10:45,010 of unemployed back to work. 168 00:10:45,010 --> 00:10:46,640 - When we get to 1940, 169 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:51,290 he's drafted in to form part of this engineering facility, 170 00:10:51,290 --> 00:10:53,713 which ultimately brings him to Vilnius. 171 00:10:55,590 --> 00:10:58,600 - [Narrator] It was here that he stopped identifying 172 00:10:58,600 --> 00:10:59,821 with the Nazis. 173 00:10:59,821 --> 00:11:02,280 (gunshots banging) 174 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:05,970 At the time, the SS was in the process of murdering 175 00:11:05,970 --> 00:11:08,903 the 100,000 Jews of Vilnius. 176 00:11:12,290 --> 00:11:16,010 Karl Plagge was horrified by the atrocities committed 177 00:11:16,010 --> 00:11:20,110 by his people and their local Lithuanian helpers. 178 00:11:20,110 --> 00:11:23,930 He decided that he must do something to help the Jews. 179 00:11:23,930 --> 00:11:28,570 As he wrote, "I decided to work against the Nazis. 180 00:11:28,570 --> 00:11:32,737 I saw unbelievable things. I was ashamed." 181 00:11:42,060 --> 00:11:45,223 - [Sidney] So we came here in September of '43. 182 00:11:46,530 --> 00:11:49,290 - [Narrator] Dr. Good now invites Sidney Handler 183 00:11:49,290 --> 00:11:50,733 to join him at the site. 184 00:11:51,890 --> 00:11:56,527 Sydney is 84 old. He was nine when he moved into HKP. 185 00:11:58,970 --> 00:12:00,780 Some parts of these buildings 186 00:12:00,780 --> 00:12:03,773 haven't been explored since 1944. 187 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:07,250 - We lived around here someplace. 188 00:12:09,230 --> 00:12:13,140 So I was nine and there were other children in the camp. 189 00:12:13,140 --> 00:12:14,150 - Were you aware that there were 190 00:12:14,150 --> 00:12:15,650 any other children who survived? 191 00:12:15,650 --> 00:12:17,720 - No. I had no knowledge of that. 192 00:12:28,399 --> 00:12:30,640 See the hallways, Michael? 193 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:32,340 That's exactly what we had before. 194 00:12:35,460 --> 00:12:38,940 Let's try a door here, maybe we can see one of these. 195 00:12:38,940 --> 00:12:42,503 (knocking on door) 196 00:12:42,503 --> 00:12:45,120 - Doesn't look like anybody's home. 197 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:47,424 - Let's see if we can get in here Michael. 198 00:12:47,424 --> 00:12:50,341 (knocking on door) 199 00:12:52,813 --> 00:12:53,730 Hi. Gracia? 200 00:12:56,257 --> 00:12:57,516 May we come in. 201 00:12:57,516 --> 00:13:01,683 (woman speaking foreign language) 202 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:07,894 This was it Michael, this was it. 203 00:13:07,894 --> 00:13:10,080 About four families here. 204 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:12,372 - Four families? - Four families. 205 00:13:12,372 --> 00:13:13,720 Eight people, they had bunk beds. 206 00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:16,550 - Bunk beds. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 207 00:13:16,550 --> 00:13:19,630 It was all tiny, tiny. 208 00:13:19,630 --> 00:13:22,033 Do you know what happened here during the war? 209 00:13:32,580 --> 00:13:35,200 - [Narrator] To find evidence of the execution pits 210 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:39,050 the scientists now deploy another scanning technology 211 00:13:39,050 --> 00:13:43,327 known as electrical resistivity tomography, or ERT. 212 00:13:45,010 --> 00:13:49,010 - This box connected to our array of 81 electrodes 213 00:13:49,010 --> 00:13:51,260 will measure the resistivity of the ground 214 00:13:51,260 --> 00:13:53,126 along the entire length of 40 meters 215 00:13:53,126 --> 00:13:56,163 to a depth of six or seven meters. 216 00:13:57,180 --> 00:13:59,950 - [Narrator] The control unit powered by an electrical car 217 00:13:59,950 --> 00:14:03,280 battery fires hundreds of electrical pulses 218 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:05,663 through the metal spikes into the ground. 219 00:14:07,250 --> 00:14:10,330 It measures the way soil conducts electricity 220 00:14:10,330 --> 00:14:13,720 and creates a map, distinguishing natural soil 221 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:17,530 and manmade disturbances like killing pits. 222 00:14:17,530 --> 00:14:20,620 - There is an eye witness testimony that there was a trench 223 00:14:20,620 --> 00:14:24,820 that was dug in this general area behind this building here. 224 00:14:24,820 --> 00:14:26,670 And we want to see evidence of that trench. 225 00:14:26,670 --> 00:14:30,680 So we want to see where the ground was dug into 226 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:32,770 and where it was backfilled. 227 00:14:32,770 --> 00:14:35,970 - And we have that information from testimony. 228 00:14:35,970 --> 00:14:39,010 And we also have it from the bullet holes at head height 229 00:14:39,010 --> 00:14:42,033 behind me and all along the wall of this building. 230 00:14:43,510 --> 00:14:45,710 - [Narrator] For years, Major Plagge worked 231 00:14:45,710 --> 00:14:48,973 to make sure no harm befell his Jewish workers. 232 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:52,333 For the most part, he was successful. 233 00:14:53,340 --> 00:14:57,620 - Plagge had really set up a very unusual atmosphere here. 234 00:14:57,620 --> 00:14:59,890 He gathered around him a group of officers 235 00:14:59,890 --> 00:15:03,500 who were like minded, and he gave them orders 236 00:15:03,500 --> 00:15:06,420 that the civilians should be treated with respect. 237 00:15:06,420 --> 00:15:07,740 So there was no brutality. 238 00:15:07,740 --> 00:15:10,770 There are no tales of Jewish workers being beaten 239 00:15:10,770 --> 00:15:14,990 or savaged within the Plagge workshops. 240 00:15:14,990 --> 00:15:17,870 He went to great efforts to try to get more food 241 00:15:17,870 --> 00:15:21,890 because the SS was allowing only starvation rations. 242 00:15:21,890 --> 00:15:24,510 He got firewood for them so they didn't freeze to death 243 00:15:24,510 --> 00:15:27,010 during these winters, and he actually found doctors 244 00:15:27,010 --> 00:15:29,970 so that they wouldn't get disease. 245 00:15:29,970 --> 00:15:31,623 He thought of a lot of details. 246 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:35,820 - [Narrator] Plagge feared that one day the SS 247 00:15:35,820 --> 00:15:39,253 would get the better of him and remove him from his post. 248 00:15:40,380 --> 00:15:43,650 To prepare for that moment he allowed the inmates 249 00:15:43,650 --> 00:15:47,120 to build secret spaces called malinas 250 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:50,173 in which they would be able to hide and survive. 251 00:15:51,140 --> 00:15:54,400 The archeologists have expanded their work. 252 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:57,840 They're now not only looking for the mass graves, 253 00:15:57,840 --> 00:15:59,793 but for the malinas as well. 254 00:16:03,860 --> 00:16:07,010 Paul and Alastair are in one of the apartments on the ground 255 00:16:07,010 --> 00:16:11,610 floor, looking for remnants of one of these hiding places. 256 00:16:11,610 --> 00:16:14,710 - So we're going to use radar to look through the floor 257 00:16:14,710 --> 00:16:16,950 inch by inch to see if there's a shaft 258 00:16:16,950 --> 00:16:18,450 leading into the malina below. 259 00:16:19,740 --> 00:16:21,990 - [Narrator] According to survivors testimony 260 00:16:21,990 --> 00:16:24,480 it was underneath what is now a kitchen. 261 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:26,480 - 15 centimeters below the surface here. 262 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:28,020 - [Narrator] To see below the floor, 263 00:16:28,020 --> 00:16:32,163 they deploy a Conquest 100 concrete imaging device. 264 00:16:33,010 --> 00:16:35,750 Using radio waves it works in the same way 265 00:16:35,750 --> 00:16:38,133 as the larger ground penetrating radar. 266 00:16:39,100 --> 00:16:42,920 Concrete imaging is used to scan smaller surfaces 267 00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:46,773 and provides a detailed view inside walls and floors. 268 00:16:48,020 --> 00:16:51,980 - So here we have feature that's, about 15 inches, 269 00:16:51,980 --> 00:16:54,770 18 inches by 18 inches. 270 00:16:54,770 --> 00:16:57,640 - So on the grid there that's pretty small. 271 00:16:57,640 --> 00:16:59,358 - It's small, but it's big enough. 272 00:16:59,358 --> 00:17:01,280 - Big enough to get your hips through. 273 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:03,410 - Well we don't have anything that definitively looks 274 00:17:03,410 --> 00:17:06,690 like a shaft, but we do have what clearly looks 275 00:17:06,690 --> 00:17:11,000 like some square framing, big enough for an adult to fit in. 276 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:13,430 It's not to say that this was the entrance to the shaft, 277 00:17:13,430 --> 00:17:14,823 but it could be. 278 00:17:15,730 --> 00:17:18,000 - [Narrator] The result is not conclusive, 279 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:20,580 but it suggests that there might still be spaces 280 00:17:20,580 --> 00:17:24,570 beneath the building that haven't been filled with concrete. 281 00:17:24,570 --> 00:17:27,600 - It's exactly at this location on the template, 282 00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:28,433 on the floor. 283 00:17:29,740 --> 00:17:32,878 - [Narrator] For over two years, Plagge's plan worked. 284 00:17:32,878 --> 00:17:37,657 Both he and the Jews of HKP began to believe 285 00:17:37,657 --> 00:17:42,390 that the families under his protection would survive. 286 00:17:42,390 --> 00:17:45,400 That's when he allowed himself to go on leave 287 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:47,370 to see his family, 288 00:17:47,370 --> 00:17:50,633 a decision that would haunt him for the rest of his life. 289 00:17:57,740 --> 00:18:02,740 - There was a Kinder Action, a child capture. 290 00:18:04,620 --> 00:18:08,393 - It actually occurred in all the camps across Lithuania. 291 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:12,883 It was March 27th, 1944. 292 00:18:14,358 --> 00:18:17,025 (ominous music) 293 00:18:18,690 --> 00:18:22,840 Early in the morning, after the men had gone to work, 294 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:27,470 the SS surrounded the camp with Lithuanian SS troops, 295 00:18:27,470 --> 00:18:31,410 and then began coming into the buildings, 296 00:18:31,410 --> 00:18:33,956 yelling that the children 297 00:18:33,956 --> 00:18:38,053 must present themselves for vaccinations. 298 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:49,120 - The SS take advantage of Karl Plagge's absence 299 00:18:49,120 --> 00:18:52,320 to mount a raid on these premises, on these buildings 300 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:54,503 to roust out all the children. 301 00:18:59,580 --> 00:19:01,440 - We knew that the front wasn't going well. 302 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:03,330 And by that time my father was gone, 303 00:19:03,330 --> 00:19:06,667 my brother was gone, everybody was gone. 304 00:19:06,667 --> 00:19:10,260 Everybody had lost family here already in the camp. 305 00:19:10,260 --> 00:19:13,673 So it was nothing that we didn't expect exactly. 306 00:19:14,950 --> 00:19:17,457 The final finish to our lives. 307 00:19:17,457 --> 00:19:19,957 (tense music) 308 00:19:27,100 --> 00:19:31,250 - The mothers were just frantic, fighting. 309 00:19:31,250 --> 00:19:35,523 They were being beaten off and smashed with rifles. 310 00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:40,340 The SS men took the children by their feet 311 00:19:40,340 --> 00:19:45,060 and flung them into the truck so that they landed head down 312 00:19:45,060 --> 00:19:46,430 and smashed their heads 313 00:19:46,430 --> 00:19:49,763 and they could hear the children crying in pain. 314 00:19:51,610 --> 00:19:53,510 - My mother and I came down the stairs 315 00:19:54,380 --> 00:19:59,380 and there was a guard up there, there was a guard down here. 316 00:19:59,740 --> 00:20:03,090 My mother saw the closet open 317 00:20:03,090 --> 00:20:06,610 and she just pushed me in there with her tush. 318 00:20:06,610 --> 00:20:10,190 And I stayed in this closet all day long, 319 00:20:10,190 --> 00:20:14,000 including the time some German soldier came by here 320 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:17,403 and shoved their bayonet into that closet. 321 00:20:18,747 --> 00:20:20,910 The bayonet went right by me. 322 00:20:20,910 --> 00:20:24,280 And I was so scared. I didn't utter a word. 323 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:25,703 I defecated my pants. 324 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:34,433 - My father used to go out to work every morning. 325 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:39,790 That morning when the Kinder Action was on 326 00:20:39,790 --> 00:20:41,113 he didn't go out to work. 327 00:20:41,950 --> 00:20:44,610 He had a feeling that he has to stay home 328 00:20:44,610 --> 00:20:45,633 and take care of me. 329 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:51,023 And he hid me on the top of the roof. 330 00:21:29,368 --> 00:21:33,035 - He put me on the roof and I held myself up 331 00:21:34,941 --> 00:21:39,323 on the cantements of the roof. 332 00:21:40,620 --> 00:21:45,620 And I sat on the roof when the Action was going on, 333 00:21:45,810 --> 00:21:49,303 when they were taking the children to be killed. 334 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:53,423 And I was saved on top of the roof. 335 00:21:54,430 --> 00:21:59,060 And I laid there from the morning till evening. 336 00:21:59,060 --> 00:22:00,230 - And the door stayed open. 337 00:22:00,230 --> 00:22:03,680 I heard every child that came down the stairs. 338 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:07,050 Every mother came down the stairs I heard them. 339 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:14,010 And that's all I remember is the mother's crying, crying, 340 00:22:14,010 --> 00:22:18,843 crying, crying, because the kids were taken away from them. 341 00:22:18,843 --> 00:22:21,760 (distant shouting) 342 00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:19,190 - The men had no idea what was happening at the camp. 343 00:23:19,190 --> 00:23:22,600 And so at the end of the day, when they returned home, 344 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:25,473 they came home to just a horrible scene. 345 00:23:26,700 --> 00:23:30,143 The women were wailing and crying and weeping. 346 00:23:35,500 --> 00:23:40,500 The survivors describe this horrible cry 347 00:23:40,610 --> 00:23:42,900 emanating from the camp that you could hear 348 00:23:42,900 --> 00:23:45,130 from every corner of the neighborhood. 349 00:23:45,130 --> 00:23:47,773 And this crying went on for days and days. 350 00:23:50,580 --> 00:23:53,760 This traumatic event was so horrific 351 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:57,030 that the parents were just unable, 352 00:23:57,030 --> 00:24:00,713 just unable to bring themselves to get up and come to work. 353 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:03,560 And I think that these women wouldn't have cared 354 00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:05,823 if the SS threatened to shoot them, 355 00:24:07,674 --> 00:24:09,003 they just could not go on. 356 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:15,090 And so for three days after March 27th, 357 00:24:15,090 --> 00:24:16,443 the workshops were empty. 358 00:24:19,630 --> 00:24:22,223 - In the evening when the Germans already left, 359 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:28,680 I went down and my father came up to take me. 360 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:33,700 And then my father looked for a place to hid me. 361 00:24:33,700 --> 00:24:35,883 So they wouldn't take me away. 362 00:24:37,410 --> 00:24:41,330 - After the Kinder Action, any child who remained, 363 00:24:41,330 --> 00:24:44,090 had to be hidden from view, 364 00:24:44,090 --> 00:24:48,090 they couldn't let them be seen by any Germans, 365 00:24:48,090 --> 00:24:50,630 because there were supposed to be no children 366 00:24:50,630 --> 00:24:52,090 in the camp anymore. 367 00:25:20,830 --> 00:25:24,340 - Karl Plagge felt guilty that he was in Darmstadt 368 00:25:24,340 --> 00:25:28,360 at the time when the Kinder Action took place there. 369 00:25:28,360 --> 00:25:30,510 And he thought that if he had been there, 370 00:25:30,510 --> 00:25:33,060 he could have done something. 371 00:25:33,060 --> 00:25:34,100 He did not know what, 372 00:25:34,100 --> 00:25:37,373 but he thought he could have done something. 373 00:25:38,630 --> 00:25:41,100 - [Narrator] Plagge returned to HKP 374 00:25:41,100 --> 00:25:44,163 where the situation continued to unravel. 375 00:25:48,030 --> 00:25:51,710 With the SS gaining ground it was apparent that the malinas 376 00:25:51,710 --> 00:25:55,173 would be the last resort for the Jews of HKP. 377 00:25:57,510 --> 00:25:59,660 Paul and Alister continue to search 378 00:25:59,660 --> 00:26:01,340 for these hiding places. 379 00:26:01,340 --> 00:26:03,990 This time they're looking at the basement 380 00:26:03,990 --> 00:26:05,723 underneath the old buildings. 381 00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:08,543 - That's old newspapers. 382 00:26:09,470 --> 00:26:12,790 - [Narrator] Using a micro CA-25 inspection camera, 383 00:26:12,790 --> 00:26:15,340 commonly called plumber's camera 384 00:26:15,340 --> 00:26:18,143 Paul can see through cracks in the basement walls. 385 00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:20,800 - Anything behind the walls? 386 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:24,130 - Not yet, it's pretty constant temperatures. 387 00:26:25,470 --> 00:26:28,070 - [Narrator] Alastair uses a thermal imaging camera 388 00:26:28,070 --> 00:26:30,823 in an attempt to detect voids behind the walls. 389 00:26:31,940 --> 00:26:34,470 If there is a malina in there, it will show up 390 00:26:34,470 --> 00:26:36,793 as a different color on the device. 391 00:26:39,379 --> 00:26:42,050 - I got a gap in the wall here Paul. 392 00:26:42,050 --> 00:26:43,350 Drops a couple of degrees. 393 00:26:46,540 --> 00:26:48,030 - Look at that. - Oh, it's a bolt. 394 00:26:48,030 --> 00:26:49,490 - It's a bolt just sitting on the floor, 395 00:26:49,490 --> 00:26:52,019 but that's brickwork in there. 396 00:26:52,019 --> 00:26:53,980 I think it's the real thing. 397 00:26:53,980 --> 00:26:57,000 Yes. I think there's a whole lot of room back there. 398 00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:58,320 Seriously. Look. 399 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:00,663 It keeps going way back and you can see brickwork. 400 00:27:01,630 --> 00:27:03,300 So this is really interesting. 401 00:27:03,300 --> 00:27:05,050 There's no entrance into this room. 402 00:27:08,017 --> 00:27:09,783 Oh, so I think we found a malina. 403 00:27:14,490 --> 00:27:17,191 - I can't believe I'm going up to the attic. 404 00:27:17,191 --> 00:27:22,191 I haven't been there since '44. 405 00:27:24,871 --> 00:27:27,371 (tense music) 406 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:32,470 - The beginning of the end started on July 1st. 407 00:27:32,470 --> 00:27:34,831 The Soviets were coming in and it was clear 408 00:27:34,831 --> 00:27:39,410 that the battle for Vilnius was going to take place. 409 00:27:39,410 --> 00:27:42,590 And the Nazis had to leave as little evidence 410 00:27:42,590 --> 00:27:43,690 of what happened here. 411 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:49,880 - The SS tightened the guards around the camp. 412 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:52,550 And at a certain point, none of the men were allowed 413 00:27:52,550 --> 00:27:54,550 to leave the camp to go to work anymore. 414 00:27:54,550 --> 00:27:57,060 Everybody was just trapped in the camp. 415 00:27:57,060 --> 00:27:59,220 So they knew that they were penned up, 416 00:27:59,220 --> 00:28:01,023 like animals awaiting slaughter. 417 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:05,600 - In the end with Germany losing the war, 418 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:08,080 with the front coming closer and closer, 419 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:10,960 whatever efforts Plagge has put into this environment 420 00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:14,120 and into this site are going to be lost anyway. 421 00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:16,560 All he can hope for is that some of the people 422 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:18,400 that are still sheltering in these buildings 423 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:21,500 somehow find a way to stay out of the hands of the SS 424 00:28:21,500 --> 00:28:24,013 for long enough to be liberated by the red army. 425 00:28:27,490 --> 00:28:30,250 - [Narrator] Under the watchful eye of the SS, 426 00:28:30,250 --> 00:28:33,810 Plagge now told the inmates that he was being sent away 427 00:28:33,810 --> 00:28:38,260 and that the SS was going to take over the camp. 428 00:28:38,260 --> 00:28:41,190 - And he says, well, we had wanted to take you 429 00:28:41,190 --> 00:28:43,910 our very skilled workers with us, 430 00:28:43,910 --> 00:28:46,620 but unfortunately this is not possible, 431 00:28:46,620 --> 00:28:50,980 but you shouldn't worry because you too will be evacuated. 432 00:28:50,980 --> 00:28:55,450 And during your relocation, you will be escorted by the SS, 433 00:28:55,450 --> 00:28:57,800 which as you know, is an organization devoted 434 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:00,310 to the protection of refugees. 435 00:29:00,310 --> 00:29:04,810 When the Jews heard this, they understood the coded message. 436 00:29:04,810 --> 00:29:08,040 The SS was coming for them on Monday. 437 00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:11,273 And the time to go into hiding was now. 438 00:29:17,750 --> 00:29:20,200 - [Narrator] About half of the 1000 prisoners 439 00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:23,073 that were left, went into their hiding places. 440 00:29:24,210 --> 00:29:27,180 The other half showed up for roll call, 441 00:29:27,180 --> 00:29:29,880 hoping the SS wouldn't murder them 442 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:33,720 with the red army about to roll into Vilna. 443 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:36,980 But everyone who showed up was executed 444 00:29:36,980 --> 00:29:41,100 in the Ponary forest, where the Nazis were in the process 445 00:29:41,100 --> 00:29:46,100 of murdering the last of the 100,000 Jews of Vilna. 446 00:29:46,410 --> 00:29:48,640 - [Michael] Now 500 prisoners were missing. 447 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:53,470 And so the SS began to search and tear apart the camp 448 00:29:53,470 --> 00:29:56,320 looking for their missing Jews so they could murder them. 449 00:30:10,950 --> 00:30:14,513 - Michael, it hasn't changed in 73 years. 450 00:30:15,660 --> 00:30:17,040 - So where were you guys hiding? 451 00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:20,670 - We were hiding underneath the floor. 452 00:30:20,670 --> 00:30:23,213 There were floorboards here. 453 00:30:24,230 --> 00:30:25,630 - There was a space under the floorboards- 454 00:30:25,630 --> 00:30:28,320 - There was space that was cut out. 455 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:31,410 It was about this high and we'd just lay there. 456 00:30:31,410 --> 00:30:34,580 The door was open. When we heard anybody come up here, 457 00:30:34,580 --> 00:30:37,330 we'd just lift up the boards and put them over us. 458 00:30:37,330 --> 00:30:41,423 Other than that, we just lay there and lay there for days. 459 00:32:07,620 --> 00:32:09,350 - In the attic it was hot as hell. 460 00:32:09,350 --> 00:32:12,093 Must have been 110, 145 degrees. 461 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:17,397 I recommended we uncover the boards with wood 462 00:32:17,397 --> 00:32:18,993 just to get the fresh air. 463 00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:20,753 - What could you hear? 464 00:32:20,753 --> 00:32:22,028 What was going on? 465 00:32:22,028 --> 00:32:24,170 - We could hear everything that was going on downstairs. 466 00:32:24,170 --> 00:32:25,950 Don't forget the door was open. 467 00:32:25,950 --> 00:32:27,620 We could hear people speaking. 468 00:32:27,620 --> 00:32:30,140 We could hear what was going on in the courtyard. 469 00:32:30,140 --> 00:32:32,040 Mostly what we heard in the courtyard 470 00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:35,290 was the machine gun being fired constantly. 471 00:32:35,290 --> 00:32:38,000 - It sounds like as they discovered people 472 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:41,010 in their hiding place, they would haul them out. 473 00:32:41,010 --> 00:32:46,010 - That's all we could hear was crying, screaming, 474 00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:49,344 machine gun, silence. 475 00:32:49,344 --> 00:32:51,927 (somber music) 476 00:32:53,590 --> 00:32:55,573 We heard somebody running up the steps. 477 00:32:56,530 --> 00:32:59,980 Guy ran up. We had no idea who it was. 478 00:32:59,980 --> 00:33:03,067 Looked out the window and he got a bullet hole 479 00:33:03,067 --> 00:33:06,383 right in his head. Dropped down right here. 480 00:33:07,334 --> 00:33:09,320 We heard again, the steps. 481 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:12,493 Now, these were boots running up the stairs, 482 00:33:14,710 --> 00:33:18,453 we covered up again with the wood. 483 00:33:19,850 --> 00:33:22,023 We could see it was a German soldier. 484 00:33:27,623 --> 00:33:30,260 We could see the guy's boots. 485 00:33:30,260 --> 00:33:34,000 Came up, ran up here, looked at the body. 486 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:37,873 Looked around. Nobody else was here, left. 487 00:33:41,010 --> 00:33:43,933 We could smell the body for days afterwards. 488 00:34:10,695 --> 00:34:12,660 - I remember these, excuse my language, 489 00:34:12,660 --> 00:34:15,413 I remember these fucking stairs everyday. 490 00:34:16,723 --> 00:34:20,825 Every fucking day I remember these stairs. 491 00:34:20,825 --> 00:34:22,654 I'm in the car alone. I think about it. 492 00:34:22,654 --> 00:34:25,230 I'm in the shower, I think about it. 493 00:34:25,230 --> 00:34:26,723 It just goes on and on and on. 494 00:34:31,782 --> 00:34:33,365 There's no closure. 495 00:34:34,630 --> 00:34:37,480 That's a word invented by people 496 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:39,723 that never experienced bad times. 497 00:34:50,969 --> 00:34:52,019 The Russians came in. 498 00:34:54,507 --> 00:34:56,830 We were in a shock. 499 00:34:56,830 --> 00:35:00,310 I mean, absolutely in a shock, you didn't know what to do. 500 00:35:00,310 --> 00:35:03,520 You didn't know where to turn, what to do. 501 00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:04,723 Just shocked. 502 00:35:07,430 --> 00:35:09,220 - When the Jews did emerge, 503 00:35:09,220 --> 00:35:12,080 they found that there was a trench that was filled with dead 504 00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:15,830 bodies and had a very thin layer of dirt on them. 505 00:35:15,830 --> 00:35:18,470 But you could actually see arms and legs sticking out 506 00:35:18,470 --> 00:35:21,040 and people could recognize some of their friends 507 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:22,680 and relatives in that trench. 508 00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:25,330 And then there were bodies and corpses 509 00:35:25,330 --> 00:35:27,513 just strewn throughout the courtyard. 510 00:35:29,220 --> 00:35:32,763 - The tremors didn't have enough time to dig a deep grave. 511 00:35:33,730 --> 00:35:35,850 So after the Russians came in, 512 00:35:35,850 --> 00:35:39,613 we came back here to rebury them. 513 00:35:41,750 --> 00:35:45,150 The bodies were swollen from the heat. 514 00:35:45,150 --> 00:35:48,583 Pulled them out, dug a deeper grave and pulled them back in. 515 00:35:51,710 --> 00:35:52,713 I was 10 years old. 516 00:35:54,070 --> 00:35:57,973 I've seen more dead people than you can imagine. 517 00:36:09,190 --> 00:36:10,190 - Hello. 518 00:36:10,190 --> 00:36:13,620 - [Narrator] Michael, now gets his son Jonathan to join him. 519 00:36:13,620 --> 00:36:16,130 Maybe they can find the actual hiding place 520 00:36:16,130 --> 00:36:17,947 of Michael's mother, Pearl. 521 00:36:18,950 --> 00:36:22,400 Armed with homemade sketches based on the memory of family 522 00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:26,343 members, they now embark on their own personal search. 523 00:36:28,950 --> 00:36:30,860 - [Michael] This is building number two. 524 00:36:30,860 --> 00:36:32,830 The memoir say that grandma's apartment 525 00:36:32,830 --> 00:36:34,410 was on the first floor, 526 00:36:34,410 --> 00:36:36,770 which for Europeans means the first floor 527 00:36:36,770 --> 00:36:37,890 above the ground floor. 528 00:36:37,890 --> 00:36:41,720 - So if we want to find mom's malina entrance, 529 00:36:41,720 --> 00:36:44,070 that's underneath the stairs. 530 00:36:44,070 --> 00:36:45,773 Well, let's go find the staircase. 531 00:36:49,770 --> 00:36:52,170 - [Jonathan] Alright. This is all new down here. 532 00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:02,360 That's not new. 533 00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:03,690 - Holy shit. 534 00:37:03,690 --> 00:37:05,790 It looks like there's a light switch here. 535 00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:08,710 Watch your step, Johnny. 536 00:37:08,710 --> 00:37:10,110 - [Jonathan] Thank you, Pop. 537 00:37:18,607 --> 00:37:21,873 - Alright. let's try to figure out what's going on here. 538 00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:24,640 - Well, I mean, it might've been this, 539 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:26,483 if this pipe wasn't here. 540 00:37:29,330 --> 00:37:31,830 - This could be it. This is like a space. 541 00:37:31,830 --> 00:37:35,870 So according to the drawing, this wall was solid. 542 00:37:35,870 --> 00:37:38,500 Read to me what grandpa had to say. 543 00:37:38,500 --> 00:37:41,190 - Working diligently we blocked off the farthest room 544 00:37:41,190 --> 00:37:44,750 in the basement by a brick wall and excavated an underground 545 00:37:44,750 --> 00:37:48,210 passage to gain access to this isolated space. 546 00:37:48,210 --> 00:37:50,240 For this we had to chisel a large hole 547 00:37:50,240 --> 00:37:52,340 through the stone foundation of the house. 548 00:37:54,030 --> 00:37:56,020 Well, is it hollow? 549 00:37:56,020 --> 00:37:56,853 - Let's see. 550 00:37:57,788 --> 00:37:59,120 (thudding) 551 00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:00,250 Listen to that. 552 00:38:02,660 --> 00:38:05,350 This could be where the hole was that extended 553 00:38:05,350 --> 00:38:09,210 down under the foundation and into this space. 554 00:38:09,210 --> 00:38:11,960 So let's go take a walk and see what we find down here. 555 00:38:36,540 --> 00:38:37,390 - How's this way. 556 00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:43,533 - This is like Indiana Jones and son. 557 00:38:45,690 --> 00:38:49,730 So this whole space in here must've been the malina. 558 00:38:49,730 --> 00:38:51,180 - Keep the light right there. 559 00:38:59,630 --> 00:39:00,463 Move the light. 560 00:39:03,730 --> 00:39:05,403 Oh yeah, yeah, that's totally it. 561 00:39:14,330 --> 00:39:17,810 - So if we imagine that this is a solid wall, 562 00:39:17,810 --> 00:39:20,490 how was an SS man going to ever get in there right? 563 00:39:20,490 --> 00:39:23,490 So the key was the trap door. 564 00:39:23,490 --> 00:39:24,670 - Yeah. This is a good target. 565 00:39:24,670 --> 00:39:27,380 We could do a small localized radar survey 566 00:39:27,380 --> 00:39:30,630 to see if the remnants of the shaft are still there. 567 00:39:30,630 --> 00:39:32,973 And going through this hole to the other side. 568 00:39:38,260 --> 00:39:42,513 I think these pipes seem to carry through to the next room. 569 00:39:45,550 --> 00:39:47,090 - We're using ground penetrating radar. 570 00:39:47,090 --> 00:39:50,040 We use FM radio waves or electromagnetic waves, 571 00:39:50,040 --> 00:39:53,023 just like we have on our radios to look into the ground. 572 00:39:57,780 --> 00:40:00,460 - Using a plumbers inspection camera, 573 00:40:00,460 --> 00:40:03,390 to poke into all the little cracks and spaces 574 00:40:03,390 --> 00:40:05,530 and behind bricks and through debris 575 00:40:05,530 --> 00:40:08,073 to see what might be there, what we might find. 576 00:40:13,670 --> 00:40:17,080 - So what we're seeing is a cut coming through here. 577 00:40:17,080 --> 00:40:20,330 If layering does not connect up or gets broken, 578 00:40:20,330 --> 00:40:22,730 we can indicate that something human has caused that 579 00:40:22,730 --> 00:40:25,290 in those areas, based on the descriptions, 580 00:40:25,290 --> 00:40:26,930 this would be that site. 581 00:40:26,930 --> 00:40:28,590 It would match up to those descriptions 582 00:40:28,590 --> 00:40:31,003 of having a shaft or a hole at the site. 583 00:40:38,620 --> 00:40:41,170 - Wow. Looks like an old shoe. 584 00:40:41,170 --> 00:40:44,323 Feels like a wooden shoe, but it's a shoe mold. 585 00:40:46,490 --> 00:40:47,340 Wow. What's that? 586 00:40:50,590 --> 00:40:53,860 It's a wagon and it is so primitive. 587 00:40:53,860 --> 00:40:56,520 It's like scrap pieces of wood punched out of, 588 00:40:56,520 --> 00:41:00,550 maybe for some piping that some kid pulled together, 589 00:41:00,550 --> 00:41:03,260 a rusty nail for an axle, 590 00:41:03,260 --> 00:41:05,110 some copper wire to bind it together. 591 00:41:05,110 --> 00:41:06,943 And the wheels still spin. 592 00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:11,990 This is definitely something a kid stuck in a hole 593 00:41:11,990 --> 00:41:14,753 for a few days would have taken with him. 594 00:41:21,370 --> 00:41:23,970 - This is really a significant find. 595 00:41:23,970 --> 00:41:28,340 It really speaks to a very specific time period 596 00:41:28,340 --> 00:41:31,480 when people were making these types of carts 597 00:41:31,480 --> 00:41:32,880 for children to play with 598 00:41:34,460 --> 00:41:38,130 in a very specific place inside the malina. 599 00:41:38,130 --> 00:41:40,600 And maybe that it was actually constructed 600 00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:42,943 in this place where they had workshops. 601 00:41:44,300 --> 00:41:47,280 We have very little of the types of things 602 00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:49,710 that we call toys for children 603 00:41:49,710 --> 00:41:51,343 would play during the Holocaust, 604 00:41:52,190 --> 00:41:57,190 Their toys tell us more about their lives than any 605 00:41:57,380 --> 00:42:01,483 of the other bigger issues that we find at these sites. 606 00:42:03,210 --> 00:42:08,210 - So this is it, Jonathan, this is where they hid. 607 00:42:09,010 --> 00:42:11,910 They had originally planned to have about 35 people 608 00:42:11,910 --> 00:42:16,460 hiding in this space, but desperate neighbors 609 00:42:16,460 --> 00:42:19,889 and people looking for a hiding place forced their way in. 610 00:42:19,889 --> 00:42:24,800 And there were a hundred people packed into these footings. 611 00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:28,330 They couldn't breathe. People were hallucinating, 612 00:42:28,330 --> 00:42:30,610 people were attacking each other. 613 00:42:30,610 --> 00:42:32,323 It was just this horrible scene. 614 00:42:33,860 --> 00:42:38,230 So in the end, when the Russian army liberated Vilna 615 00:42:38,230 --> 00:42:41,280 from the Germans and occupied the town 616 00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:43,688 about 250 Jews emerged 617 00:42:43,688 --> 00:42:47,130 from their hiding places in this building. 618 00:42:47,130 --> 00:42:50,150 And they represent the single largest group of survivors 619 00:42:50,150 --> 00:42:51,573 of the Holocaust in Vilna. 620 00:42:53,100 --> 00:42:56,500 Just think, Jonathan, this hole that they managed 621 00:42:56,500 --> 00:43:00,193 to find and secure is what allowed us to live. 622 00:43:14,010 --> 00:43:16,190 - [Narrator] After days of data analysis, 623 00:43:16,190 --> 00:43:19,160 the scientists conclude their investigation 624 00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:21,970 and the search for the mass graves. 625 00:43:21,970 --> 00:43:24,980 They've combined the results from different scans 626 00:43:24,980 --> 00:43:29,340 and incorporated them into one 3D map of the area. 627 00:43:29,340 --> 00:43:33,030 First, they address the findings at the western building 628 00:43:33,030 --> 00:43:35,850 were executions reportedly took place 629 00:43:35,850 --> 00:43:39,650 along with temporary burials in shallow pits. 630 00:43:39,650 --> 00:43:44,060 Incredibly science confirms the oral history. 631 00:43:44,060 --> 00:43:47,538 - We investigated where their were rumored to be two pits 632 00:43:47,538 --> 00:43:51,090 where people were either lined up and shot into these pits 633 00:43:51,090 --> 00:43:53,610 or dead bodies were dragged into these pits. 634 00:43:53,610 --> 00:43:57,580 Here's the Keller tomography model. 635 00:43:57,580 --> 00:43:59,850 We can see the dark red areas here 636 00:43:59,850 --> 00:44:01,650 are where you have the natural sand, 637 00:44:01,650 --> 00:44:04,520 but we can see where that sand has been cut into 638 00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:07,500 to a depth of about two and a half, three meters. 639 00:44:07,500 --> 00:44:11,280 So we have two distinct pits here. 640 00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:13,720 One that's about 15 meters long here. 641 00:44:13,720 --> 00:44:15,853 And another one about 10 meters long here. 642 00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:19,783 We also have evidence that there are bullet holes there. 643 00:44:21,370 --> 00:44:22,780 - [Narrator] Alastair now addresses 644 00:44:22,780 --> 00:44:26,330 the ground penetrating radar results in the courtyard 645 00:44:26,330 --> 00:44:28,743 where they were searching for the mass grave. 646 00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:31,760 - In the area between the buildings 647 00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:35,100 we see the same features that we saw in building two. 648 00:44:35,100 --> 00:44:38,060 And that is the sand has been cut into. 649 00:44:38,060 --> 00:44:40,880 It's been back-filled with some other material. 650 00:44:40,880 --> 00:44:43,650 In the same location we have anecdotal evidence 651 00:44:43,650 --> 00:44:46,450 of bones that were uncovered during the installation 652 00:44:46,450 --> 00:44:48,593 of the heating pipes 15 years ago. 653 00:44:50,680 --> 00:44:52,860 Combine those two pieces of information we think 654 00:44:52,860 --> 00:44:55,370 we are looking at a mass grave. 655 00:44:55,370 --> 00:44:58,803 It's highly likely that there are still bodies in that area. 656 00:45:05,730 --> 00:45:10,730 - Karl Plagge came back to a totally destroyed Darnstadt. 657 00:45:14,899 --> 00:45:19,040 And he was quite sure that everybody died in Vilnius. 658 00:45:19,040 --> 00:45:24,040 And that was really on his mind and on his conscience. 659 00:45:30,210 --> 00:45:32,750 - [Narrator] After the war Plagge was tried 660 00:45:32,750 --> 00:45:35,720 as an accomplice in war crimes. 661 00:45:35,720 --> 00:45:39,450 He didn't defend himself, but some Jewish survivors 662 00:45:39,450 --> 00:45:44,450 of HKP came forward to testify on his behalf. 663 00:45:44,610 --> 00:45:46,933 As a result, he was acquitted. 664 00:45:48,010 --> 00:45:52,543 But unlike others, he did not feel absolved from guilt. 665 00:46:13,539 --> 00:46:17,307 - Plagge never spoke about what happened during the war 666 00:46:17,307 --> 00:46:19,973 and he never spoke about what he did. 667 00:46:22,570 --> 00:46:27,570 He thought it was his duty and he didn't do it well enough 668 00:46:28,440 --> 00:46:30,453 because so many died. 669 00:46:37,160 --> 00:46:39,890 - [Narrator] Konrad commemorates his godfather 670 00:46:39,890 --> 00:46:41,690 who went to his grave 671 00:46:41,690 --> 00:46:44,453 never knowing that he had saved hundreds. 672 00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:15,830 - We are always told that a single ordinary man 673 00:47:15,830 --> 00:47:19,517 cannot make any difference and of course that is true 674 00:47:19,517 --> 00:47:22,440 if you see it from the global perspective, 675 00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:25,110 but it is also true that a single person 676 00:47:25,110 --> 00:47:28,950 can make a big difference as my grand uncle Karl Plagge did 677 00:47:28,950 --> 00:47:32,323 when he saved here, the lives of over 250 people. 678 00:47:35,600 --> 00:47:38,100 - [Narrator] Investigators and survivors, 679 00:47:38,100 --> 00:47:41,698 now commemorate the hundreds buried here. 680 00:47:41,698 --> 00:47:45,615 (chanting in foreign language) 681 00:47:55,610 --> 00:47:57,503 - I want to thank my mother 682 00:47:58,363 --> 00:48:01,163 who guided me my whole life through. 683 00:48:02,620 --> 00:48:07,620 My mother got me into HKP which was a life saver. 684 00:48:08,535 --> 00:48:11,437 She saved me during the Kinder Action, 685 00:48:11,437 --> 00:48:15,160 she saved me after the Kinder Action. 686 00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:20,160 She carried me down the stairs, over here, on her shoulders 687 00:48:21,190 --> 00:48:24,015 and she got me out of Vilna 688 00:48:24,015 --> 00:48:27,053 and then we went to the United States. 689 00:48:28,110 --> 00:48:31,153 My mother survived and I survived. 690 00:48:31,153 --> 00:48:34,720 My father, brother, other members of the family. No. 691 00:48:37,810 --> 00:48:42,427 Very mixed emotion coming here after 70-odd years. 692 00:48:45,780 --> 00:48:49,883 I can't say I'm glad to be here, but I'm glad I came. 693 00:48:54,759 --> 00:48:57,250 So thank you Ma for everything. 694 00:48:57,250 --> 00:48:59,833 (somber music)