MS Wilhelm Gustloff - the flagship of Hitler’s ‘Strength through Joy’ (KdF -Kraft duerch Freude) fleet from 1937 to 1945. She was built by the Blohm & Voss shipyards and spent the majority of the war years as a floating barracks for naval personnel in the Baltic naval base of Gotenhafen. The Wilhelm Gustloff’s final voyage was on the 30th January 1945 during Operational Hannibal, the evacuation of over 5 million civilians and personnel who were surrounded by the Red Army in East Prussia in early 1945. She sank after being hit by three torpedoes fired by a Russian submarine while participating in the evacuation. With the death toll estimated at about 9,500 – this is one of the highest loss of life in a maritime sinking in history.
MS Stuttgart- freight and passenger liner built in 1923. 167 metres long, displacement 13,325 gross tons. She spent the war years as a hospital ship in East Prussia, firstly in Pillau, then in Danzig and finally in Wersermuende. From 1941 onwards she was stationed in the Bay of Danzig at the naval base of Gotenhafen. On 9th October 1943, she was heavily damaged during the first big allied bombing raid on Gotenhafen and set on fire. The burnt out hulk was towed out of the harbour and may have sunk en-route to Hamburg on the Stolpebank.
MS Cap Arcona - was a large German luxury ocean liner, formerly of the Hamburg-South America line, 206 m long with a displacement of 27,561 gross tons. She was also involved in Operation Hannibal. On 3 May 1945, only one day before the unconditional surrender of the German troops in Northwestern Germany to Field Marshal Montgomery, and heavily-laden with prisoners from Nazi concentration camps, she was sunk by the Royal Air Force, with the loss of many lives.
Admiral Hipper - a heavy cruiser of approximately 18,000 gross tons was commissioned by the German Kriegsmmarine in April 1939. She was destroyed in Kiel during the very last days of WWII on 3 May 1945. The Admiral Hipper left the naval base of Gotenhafen several hours behind the Gustloff on 30 January 1945 and was due to pass on a parallel course later that night. The Admiral Hipper was carrying around 1,400 refugees and was escorted by the motor torpedo boat T-36, which also took part in the rescue operation.
MS Albatros - a coastal motor vessel of around 25 metres in length, was built in the early twentieth century (date unknown). In 1945 she played an active role in Operation Hannibal, evacuating refugees from the coastal ports along the southern Baltic Sea. After the war, when she was decommissioned, she was pulled ashore onto the beach in the town of Damp, a small town on the Baltic Sea, then converted into a museum ship for the ‘Evacuation across the Sea Remembrance Society’. Two portholes from the MS Wilhelm Gustloff salvaged by Phil Sayers and his team in 1988 were presented by Phil and Rudi Lange (a survivor and team member) to the museum ship later that same year.
Motor torpedoboat Löwe - The official and sole escort to the Wilhelm Gustloff on the night she was torpedoed. The Löwe received the weak SOS call from radio operator Rudi Lange on the Wilhelm Gustloff as she was sinking, and re-transmitted it to the mainland and to other ships. Löwe managed to rescue 472 people from the sinking ship and returned the survivors, including Rudi Lange, to the port of Kolberg.
MS Goya - a German transport ship (145 meters long, with a displacement of 5,230 Gross tons), carrying wounded troops and civilians from Gotenhafen who were fleeing the Red Army advance. She was sunk by a Soviet submarine on 16 April 1945. Of the roughly 7,000 passengers, only 183 survived. She now lies at a depth of 76-82 metres, not far from the wreck of the Wilhelm Gustloff.
MS Steuben - a German passenger liner. She was launched as the München, renamed the General von Steuben in 1930, and then renamed again in 1938 as Steuben. On the 9 February 1945, the liner left Pilau in the Bay of Danzig, heading for Schweinemuende, but was torpedoed a day later by a Soviet submarine during Operation Hannibal. She sank with a loss of over 4000 lives, although nobody knows the exact number of passengers who were on board at the time. She now lies on her side at a depth of about 65 metres to the west of the Wilhelm Gustloff.
Rudi Lange - 17 year old radio technician / operator on duty on the bridge at the time of the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff. Rudi sent out the SOS, which was picked up by the motor torpedo boat Löwe. He spent several hours in the water before being rescued and taken to the port of Kolberg. During the last days of the war he worked as a radio operator at Admiral Doenitz’s Flensburg headquarters.
In May 1988 he accompanied the author on an expedition to the wreck of the Wilhelm Gustloff, where a plaque in rememberance of the victims of the disaster, was laid on the wreck by divers.
Erich Koch - Gauleiter (Area commander)of the Nazi party (NSDAP) and then Reichscommissioner for East Prussia and the Ukraine from 1941 to 1943
After the war, Koch stood trial in Poland and was convicted in 1959 of war crimes and sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment a year later as the Russians thought that he knew the whereabouts of the Amber Room, and wanted to keep him alive for possible interrogation.
Wilhelm Gustloff - Obergruppenfuehrer and founder of the Nazi (NSDAP) party in Switzerland. He was murdered in 1936 by a Jewish activist. A host of the most powerful Nazi leaders, including Hitler and Boremann, attended his funeral. The ’Strength through Joy’ (KdF) cruise liner MS Wilhelm Gustloff was named after him and was christened by his widow in the attendance of Adolf Hitler.
