escort force, lack of (Wilhelm Gustloff), 127–8, 173
Essen, Germany, 15, 135, 197
Estonia, 22–3
euthanasia, 139
ethnic Germans, 14, 22–4, 27–8, 69, 72
Evi, See Evelyn Krachmanow
extermination camp, 29, 43, 172
See concentration camp
fan method, and torpedoes, 98
fascism, 39–40
Feinde (enemy) sign, 30
Felsch, Karl, 12, 141
Felsch, Rosalie, 12, 141
Fick, Werner, 159
Fieggen, Ian, 196
Finland, 87, 90, 94–5, 98, 101, 106, 108–9, 127, 187
First Submarine Training Division, 59
First Ukrainian Front, 43–4
First White Russian Front, 43
flares, 135–138, 148
Focke-Wulf airplane factory, 30
food shortages, 30, 50–1, 70, 79, 192
forgotten story (Wilhelm Gustloff’s), 169–81, 183
Franco, Francisco, 58
Frankfurter, David, 51–2
freezing weather, 61–7, 72, 78–9, 115, 119, 126, 128, 132, 137–49
Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, 177
Frisches Haff (Vistula Lagoon), 46, 64–6, 78–9
Frisches Nehrung, 79
fuel, 50–1, 70, 76
gas chamber, 29, 84
gau (province), 42
gauleiters, 27–8, 41–2, 73, 114, 119, 177
General Steuben, 62, 172, 187
German Army, See Wehrmacht
German Fourth Army, 74–5, 77
German Imperial Navy, 102
German Labor Front, See Deutsche Arbeitsfront
German language, 17–18, 22, 33, 35
German Navy, See Kriegsmarine
German Navy Women’s Auxiliary, 10, 114–15
German police, 28
German Sixth Army, 40
German wartime living standard, 40
Germanic ideals, 42
Germanization, 21–35
Germany, postwar, 180–1
Gestapo, 25, 32, 42, 45, 109
gleichschaltung (bringing into line), 35
Goebbels, Joseph, 6, 41–2, 45, 52, 57, 103
Goldap, 44
Gorbachev, Mikhail, 188, 199–200
Gotenhafen (Gdynia), 6–7, 10–15, 17, 20–1, 24–5, 28–9, 33, 35, 41, 43, 46, 48–51, 59–61, 64–5, 68, 72, 79–82, 84–5, 96, 102, 111–12, 113, 115–17, 120, 123, 126, 128, 136, 151, 154–5, 163–4, 170–1, 179, 186, 192, 195, 203
Goths, 6
Goya, 62
Great Depression, 11
gulag, 27, 39, 88–9, 185, 190–1
Gulf of Finland, 90, 101, 106, 108, 127
Gumbinnen, 8–10, 44, 203
Gustloff, Hedwig, 51–2, 56
Gustloff, Wilhelm, 51–3
Halle (Saale), 11, 37, 115, 166, 200
Hamburg, 55–7, 62, 121, 196, 199–200
Hamburg, 62
Hanko, Finland, 87, 95, 108–9
Hansa, 59–60, 62, 112, 123, 127–8
Hanseatic League, 64
Hausen, Christa, 15, 198
“Heil Hitler” salutes, 34, 41, 52
Helsingfors, 109
Hering, Robert, 152, 165, 174, 200–1
“heroic death” (heldentod), 42
Heydrich, Reinhard, 26
Himmler, Heinrich, 26, 28, 42–3, 52–4, 74
Hindenburg, Paul Von, 52
Hiroshima, 181
Hitler, Adolf, 5–6, 19, 22–9, 31, 34–7, 40–4, 47–8, 50–6, 58, 61, 64, 73, 77, 101–2, 104, 106–7, 119, 130–1, 161, 171–3, 179–80, 184, 189
twelfth anniversary speech, 130–1
Hitler Youth, 2, 5, 16, 24–36, 42, 63, 68–9, 179, 195
HNoMS Gyller, 114
Holocaust, 180–1
See concentration camps
“Home to the Reich” campaign, 23–4
hospital rooms (Wilhelm Gustloff), 130, 142
Hospital ship D, 58–9
Hull, Cordell, 107–8, 190
”ice situation,” and Russian navy, 105–7
IG Farben, 53
international rules of the sea, 97–8, 102–4, 187–9
Iron Cross, 102, 164
Isle of Ruegen, 161, 167, 189, 194, 200
Jaskolski, Stanislaw, 28–30, 83–4
Jews/Jewish culture, 24–8, 30, 32, 37, 51–3, 57, 76, 83, 103, 172, 179, 200, 207n17
and anti-Semitism, 52
of Haale (Saale), 37
and Nazi Germany, See concentration camps
and resistance to Nazism, 51–3
Jodl, Alfred, 105
Katyn Forest massacre, 180
KdF, See Kraft durch Freude
Keitel, Wilhelm, 105
Kent, Ruth Weintraub, 27, 30, 83
Kiel, Germany, 6, 41, 49, 50–1, 62, 84, 102, 108, 112, 114, 155
Kinderlandverschickung (KLV) (“Save the Children in the Country”), 15–16
KLV, See Kinderlandverschickung
Knickerbocker, David, 25
Knickerbocker, Helga Reuter, 2, 19–20, 21–2, 25–6, 30–2, 41, 45, 64, 67, 69–71, 73, 75–80, 84, 116–17, 120, 122, 131, 144– 7, 151–4, 164–5, 170, 186, 192–4
and boarding of ship, 19–20, 116
childhood of, 25–6, 30–2, 70–1, 75
and emigration to U.S., 193–4
escape of, 144–7
and food shortages, 30
and Hitler Youth, 31–2, 69–70
and irrational military orders, 73–4
and life as shipwreck survivor, 164–5, 192–4
and Nazi ideology, 25–6, 31–2
rescue of, 151–4
and silence, 192–4
and sister’s death, 145–6, 153, 164
and trek to ship, 67, 75–80
Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross, 103
Koch, Erich, 41–2, 60, 73–4, 114, 119, 177
Köhler, Karl-Heinz, 118
Kolyma gulag, 88
Königsberg, 2, 8, 13–14, 19–20, 21, 22, 25, 29–30, 32, 40, 42–3, 45–6, 61, 66, 69–71, 74–8, 80, 85, 124, 131, 164–5, 171–2, 177, 192–3, 203
Konzentrationslager (KZ Stutthof concentration camp), 28–30, 171–2
Korzh, Victor, 91
Krachmanow, Evelyn (“Evi”), 17, 21, 24–5, 65, 81–2, 123, 133, 143–4, 161, 164, 166–8, 185–6
Krachmanow, Irene, 167–8
Krachmanow, Wilhelm, 24–5
Kraft durch Freude (KdF) (“Strength Through Joy”), 53–6, 97, 112, 114, 119, 123, 128, 129, 161, 171–2, 178
cruise liners of, 54–5, 129
and “Enjoy your Lives!” campaign (1936), 54
Krantz, Wilhelm, 77
Kriegsmarine, 15, 35, 102
Kronstadt, 95, 108
Krynica Morska resort, 28
KZ Stutthof concentration camp, See Konzentrationslager
labor camps, 2, 18, 30, 40, 88, 193
Las Vegas, Nevada, 2, 25, 186
Latvia, 17–18, 22–4, 33, 35, 49, 184, 186, 199
Latvian language, 17–18
lebensraum (living space), 24
Leipzig, 11, 40
Lemp, Fritz-Julius, 103
Lenin, Vladimir, 105
Leningrad, Russia, 22, 41, 90–1, 94–5, 98
Leningrad, siege of (1941–1944), 90–1
Leterschelling Light, 57
Ley, Robert, 53–4
“Lieber ein Ende mit Schrecken als ein Schrecken ohne Ende” (“An end with horror is better than a horror without end”), 84
Lieven, Felix von, 185–6
Lieven, Otti von, 185–6
Life magazine, 57
lifeboats, and Wilhelm Gustloff, 115–18, 122–4, 130, 132–49, 151–8
and heroism, 155–8
and life “rafts,” 130, 144–7, 149, 151–4, 156
and safety exercises, 115–16
Lincoln, Nebra
ska, 10
listing of Wilhelm Gustloff, 132, 134–43
Lithuania, 6, 14, 19–20, 22
location of passengers and survival, 55, 58, 117, 129, 134–8, 141, 144–5
London Treaty (1935), 104
“lone wolf” submarine strategy, 110–12
Love, Dora, 43
Löwe, 114, 127–8, 135, 156–9
Lübbe, Karl, 56
Luftwaffe, 58, 77, 91–2, 101, 108, 110, 164
Lusitania (RMS), 103, 169
Lutheranism, 25, 70
M–96, 93–4
Madeira Islands, Portugal, 56
Majdanke concentration camp, 180
Malantyenko, Pavel, 93–5
Marinehelferinnen, See Women’s Naval Auxiliary
Marinesko, Alexander Ivanovich, 87–99, 102–3, 105, 109–10, 112, 128, 131–2, 152, 155, 157, 170–2, 187–9
and alcohol, 87–8, 94
career of, 93–9, 102–3, 187–9
character of, 87–99
childhood of, 91–2, 109–10
and embellishment, 95–6
and Ukrainian heritage, 91–2, 109–10
and Wilhelm Gustloff torpedoing, 96–7, 187–9
Marinesko, Tatania, 188
Maybee, Ellen Tschinkur, 17–19, 21, 24–5, 33, 35, 46, 65, 67, 80–2, 117, 120, 123, 133, 143, 161–4, 166–8, 183–5, 191
boarding of, 17–19, 123–4
and childhood, 81
and education, 33
escape of, 143–4
evacuation of, 46, 65, 67
and life after shipwreck, 183–6, 191–2
rescue of, 160–3
and trek to ship, 81–2
media, 31, 40, 44, 72, 169–72
Mein Kampf (Hitler), 25
Melbourne, Australia, 195–6
Memel, 14
merchant marines, 22, 49, 59, 61, 85, 90, 93, 118
Merchant Navy, 56
military use of Wilhelm Gustloff, 6, 57–9, 61
and merchant marine crew, 59–60
and rescue mission, 56–7
and U-boat trainees, 57–61
mines/minefields, 44, 51, 61, 95–9, 101, 107–11, 113–14, 116, 125–8, 129, 136, 147, 155
minesweeper, 113–14, 125–8, 155, 187
Minkevics, Voldemars, 9–10
Minkevics, Zelma, 9–10
Mogilev, 38
Molotov, Vyacheslav, 22
Molotov-Ribbentrop pact (1939), 17, 22–3, 26–7, 37, 89, 105, 107–8
Monte Rosa, 62
munitions factories, See Deutsche Auskustungswerke (DAW)
Nadendal, 109
National Socialist German Workers Party, 130
National Socialist party, 53
navigation lights (Wilhelm Gustloff), 126
Nazi Germany, 2, 5–7, 13, 21–37, 40, 42, 45, 48, 51–5, 57, 65, 68–70, 72–4, 78, 80, 82–4, 95, 103–4, 108–9, 119–20, 171, 175, 179–81, 189
and atrocities, 26–30, 44
and colonization, 24, 27–8
and crematoriums, 29–30, 84
and dehumanization, 37–8
and education, 25–38 See Hitler Youth
and informers, 33–4
and Jews, See Jews/Jewish culture
and propaganda, 5–6, 40–2, 45, 51–7, 60, 64, 103, 169–70
and raw material shortage, 69–70
and rendering human fat, 29–30
and “right to a vacation,” 54
and the Wilhelm Gustloff, 51–7
and “will,” 43
See concentration camps
Nazi resistance, 31, 38, 41, 51–3, 80
Nemmersdorf massacre (1944), 44–6
New York Times, 57–8, 170
NKVD (Soviet secret police), 24, 87–8, 91, 180, 187
Nobel Peace Prize (1954), 183–4
North Bukovina, 22
Northern fleet (Soviet Navy), 90
Norway, 50, 54, 58, 102, 114, 199
invasion of (1938), 114
Nuremberg Trials, 97
occupation zones, 184, 189–92
Oceana, 56–8
Odessa, 91–2, 99, 103, 109–10, 131
Office of Strategic Service (OSS), 73, 111, 178
Ontario, Canada, 184–6, 191
Operation Bagration (June 22, 1944), 38
Operation Barbarossa (June 22, 1941), 43–4, 37–8, 107
Operation Hannibal (1945), 5–14, 42, 47–62, 63–85, 96, 113–14, 169, 172–6, 179, 189
casualties, statistics of, 62
challenges to, 50–1
defined, 6–7
demographic of, 13–14
fine-tuning of, 84–5
and freezing weather, 61–7, 72, 78–9, 115, 119
and housing, 79–80
and hunger, 7, 79
and lawlessness, 113–14
planning stages of, 49–50
and sanitation, 76, 79
and the sea, 48–9
size of, 49, 80, 96, 179
and transportation, 76, 79
Order of the Red Star, 187
Osha, 38
Pacific fleet (Soviet Navy), 90
Palestine, 37
Pape, Fernande (“Nanni”), 194–5
Pearl Harbor (1941), 103, 181
Pegaway, 56–7
perestroika, 199–200
Peter the Great, 22, 177
Petersen, Friedrich, 6, 56, 117–18, 124–5, 148, 173
Petrus, Rose Rezas, 14–15, 117–18, 120, 134–5, 137, 141–2, 160, 183, 186
boarding of, 14–15, 117–18
escape of, 141–2
and life after shipwreck, 183
rescue of, 160
and torpedo hits, 134–5
Pillau, 42, 48–50, 61, 66–8, 71, 78–80, 114, 151, 154, 177
Poland, invasion of (1939), 6, 21–7, 56, 58
Potsdam, 62
Potsdam Conference (1945), 184, 219n3
Poznan, 24–5, 43, 81–2, 167
Pretoria, 62
prisoners of war (POWs), 30–1, 41–5, 53, 65–6, 74
promenade deck (Wilhelm Gustloff), 55, 58, 117, 134–5, 141, 144–5
propaganda, 5–6, 40–2, 45, 51–7, 60, 64, 73, 80–1, 103, 169–70, 180
Protestantism, 14
Prüfe, Paul, 135
“Prussian Nights” (Solzhenitsyn), 39
purser (Wilhelm Gustloff), 12–13, 120, 130, 174
Puttkamer, Karl von, 105
Raeder, Erich, 102, 104
rape, 39, 41, 60, 190
Red Army (Soviet), 5–10, 14, 17, 38–47, 60–1, 65, 72, 74–5, 77, 85, 89–90, 109–10, 165, 179–80, 197
and atrocities, 39–42, 44–5, 60, 180
and looting, 40
Red Cross, 161–2, 164, 166, 175, 189, 194, 199
Regina, Ontario, 184
Reichsgaue, 27–8
Reitsch, Wilhelmina, 49, 119, 163–4
rescues from the Wilhelm Gustloff, 151–68
Reuter, Erick, 75
Reuter, Helga, See Helga Reuter Knickerbocker
Reuter, Ingeborg (“Inge”), 19–20, 21, 25, 32, 69, 75–80, 84, 120, 122, 144–5, 153, 164
Reuter, Jurgen, 41
Reuter, Kurt, 2, 30–2, 69, 75, 77, 193
Reuter, Marta Walloch, 2, 30–1, 69–70, 77, 193
Reuter, Ursula, 25, 69–70, 75
Rezas, Rose, See Rose Rezas Petrus
Rezas, Ursula, 14, 134–5, 141–2, 160
Ribbentrop, Joachim von, 22
Riga, Latvia, 17–18, 23–4, 91, 184
“right to a vacation,” 54
right to occupy one’s home country, 183–4
Robert Ley, 58, 62, 114
Roedecker, Inge Bendrich, 11–13, 71–2, 124, 133–4, 139, 141, 163, 179, 195–6
Royal Air Force bombs, 171
Rommel, Erwin, 19
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 19, 23
Rothschild, Eva Dorn, 2, 10–11, 36–7, 40–1, 82, 113–15, 119–20, 142–3, 1
65–6, 187, 200–1
background of, 11
and boarding the ship, 10–11
brothers of, 37
drafting of, 40–1
escape of, 142–3
and Hitler Youth, 36–7
and life after the shipwreck, 166, 200–1
rescue of, 165–6
and Women’s Naval Auxiliary, 41, 82, 113–14, 119–20
route of Wilhelm Gustloff, 124–8, 131–2, 172–4
Route No. 58, 127
Royal Norwegian Navy, 114
rules of engagement, WWII, 97–8, 102–4, 187–9
Russian Baltic Fleet, 90–1, 93–4, 107–8, 188
Russian battleships, 105
Russian Front, 9, 43
Russian language, 17–18
Russian Orthodox Church, 14
S-class submarines, See Stalinet
S–13, 93–6, 98–9, 102–3, 128, 131–2, 149, 151, 156, 170–3, 189
S.S. Athenia, 103
St. Petersburg, 177–8, 188
Salk, Erwin, 15–16
Salk, Hedwig, 15–16, 51, 56, 197–9
Salk, Inge, 11–12, 15–16, 197–8
Salk, Maat Walter, 198
Salk, Walter, 15–17, 135, 197–9
background of, 15
boarding of, 15
fate of, 197–9
and letters home, 16–17
and torpedo hits, 135
Salk, Willi, 15–16, 198–9
salvo firing, and torpedoes, 98
“Save the Children in the Country,” See Kinderlandverschickung
Schirmack, Erich, 154
Schön, Heinz, 120–1, 174, 203
Schutzstaffel (SS), 26, 29, 34, 37, 52, 75–6, 78, 83–4
Schwarzort, East Prussia, 14
Schweitzer, Albert, 183–4
Schwerer Artillerie-Träger (SAT–4) (“Helena”), 94
Schwerin, 8, 52, 68, 189
SD, See Sicherheitsdienst intelligence service
Second Submarine Training Division, 59–60
Second U-Boat Training Division, 124–5
Second White Russian Front, 43
Sevastopol, Ukraine, 91
shipwreck site of Wilhelm Gustloff, 175–8
dives to, 177–8
and secret military weapons, 178
Siberia, 18, 27, 40, 88, 97–9, 185, 190–1, 195
Siberian gulags, 27
Sicherheitsdienst (SD) intelligence service, 26
Siegel, Peter, 114, 151
Siegfried, 95
Sierra Cordoba, 56–8
sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff (January 30, 1945), 1–3, 62, 98–9, 125–6, 129–49, 151–4, 170–5
and Adolf Hitler speech, 130–1
and alarm sirens, 134–5, 157
casualties, statistics on, 1, 170, 175
coordinates of, 151
and crew, 125–6, 132, 136–7, 147–9
and euthanasia, 139
and flares, 135 138, 148
and freezing weather, 126, 128, 132, 137–49
and listing, 132, 134–43