If you ask any of us about the greatest maritime disaster of all time and peoples, then most of us will remember the Titanic or Lusitania. But few people know that in the history of shipping there was a case when more than 9,000 passengers went to the bottom together with the vessel!
The ten-deck ship "Wilhelm Gustloff" was named after the assassinated leader of the Swiss Nazi Party.
It is noteworthy that before the murder, Gustloff was a little-known NSDAP activist. However, due to the fact that the murderer was a student of Jewish origin, the case was blown up to grandiose proportions. Wilhelm was buried with all military honors, and a wave of rallies against the "Jewish conspiracy to destroy the German people" swept across the country.
So, the ship, built with money from the Power through Joy organization, was truly colossal: its weight was 25,000 tons, length 208 m, height 56 m, and width 23.5 m. About 2000 people could simultaneously travel on board.
At first, the ship was used as a luxurious cruise liner, on which ordinary workers of Hitler's Third Reich traveled.
For passengers, spacious halls, an ornate swimming pool, a winter garden, music lounges and bars were equipped. At the same time, the cost of cruises was lowered several times, so even not the most wealthy segments of the population could afford sea travel.
By 1939, the ship performed over 50 cruises, and more than 65,000 vacationers visited it.
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The Second World War
After the outbreak of the Second World War, the ship was converted into a floating hospital, then the barracks of the school of submariners was located on board.
In 1944, Soviet troops entered East Prussia. Fearing their approach, the Germans living in this territory fled to the ports of the Baltic. "Wilhelm Gustloff", among other ships, was called to evacuate the Germans.
On January 30, 1945, the landing was completed in the port of Gotenhaven near Danzig. Contrary to calculations for 2,000 passengers, 10,582 people boarded the ship. They were mainly women, children and old people. To accommodate so many people, they drained the pool and threw out all possible furniture.
The overcrowded ship went to sea uncertainly. The captain did not immediately turn off the lights, so the "Wilhelm" was quickly spotted by a Soviet submarine.
For a couple of hours, the Soviet captain Marinesko chose a comfortable position, after which he fired three torpedoes. They all hit the mark.
After that, hell began. A terrible panic and crush broke out on board, and people who ran out onto the decks could not evacuate - some of the sailors responsible for this were dead. In addition, some of the boats were frozen firmly to the deck - it was 18 degrees Celsius outside.
Few managed to survive - only 1252 people out of 10 585 were saved. This is six times more than the number of deaths in the Titanic crash!
Ironically, the catastrophe happened on January 30, 1945, the fiftieth anniversary of Wilhelm Gustloff.
World community reaction
Oddly enough, the reaction of the world community to this case was more than calm.
Probably, after all the atrocities of the Nazis, this incident did not seem such a big tragedy. In addition, few people at that time sympathized with the Germans.
In Germany, the number of victims was kept secret for a long time, so as not to finally demoralize the people, who were already a loser in World War II.
In the late 1960s, the Soviet leadership sent an expedition to sea to find out if treasure was being transported on this evacuation vessel. And although some things were raised from the bottom, information about them was never disclosed to the media and the general public.
