Plitt, Henry G (1918-1993)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 1556 WL 1282
Held at	: Wiener Library   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.wienerlibrary.co.uk/ ›
Full title	: Plitt, Henry G (1918-1993)
Date(s)	: nd
Level of description	: Collection level
Extent	: 1 file
Name of creator(s)	: Plitt | Henry G | 1918-1993 | Jewish US Major

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Henry G Plitt [1918-1993] was born in New York City, and graduated from Staunton Military Academy, Virginia; Syracuse University and obtained a law degree from Saint Lawrence University. He practised law for a brief period before volunteering for military service.

He was in the first group of 101st Airborne Division soldiers to jump into Normandy on the night before the invasion to set flares marking landing strips for British glider pilots, and is officially credited with being the first American soldier to touch French ground.

After the war he organized a small group of volunteers, pressed several former Waffen SS officers into service and went around southern Germany and Austria looking for high ranking Nazis. According to him he brought in dozens of men but only Streicher and Ley were noteworthy.

Plitt went to work for Paramount Motion Picture Theater Chain, and in the 1960s and 1970s purchased part of Paramount and other theatre chains to become, for a time, chief executive of the largest theatre chain in the US, Plitt Theaters Inc.. He was also very active in charity work, raising large amounts of money for United Cerebral Palsy, Bar-Ilan University and The Friends of Israeli Defence Forces. Having re-joined the US Army reserves in 1962, he died with the rank of Brigadier General.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Copy of a script for a documentary (which was never produced) about Plitt's capture of Julius Streicher, containing the transcript of an interview with Plitt; various copies of photographs including of Plitt with the captured Robert Ley and Julius Streicher and copy of a New York Times article on the capture of Julius Streicher.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

N/A

Conditions governing access:

Open

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.

Finding aids:

Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Frank M. Halpern

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Entry compiled by Howard Falksohn.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
February 2008