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Showing results for tags 'nacht fiel über gotenhafen'.
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Epic film with celebrity stars, including Günther Pfitzmann, Sonja Ziemann, Erik Schumann, Brigitte Horney, Wolfgang Preiss, and many others, made 1959 The story is about the ship travelling from the Port of Gotenhafen (Gdingen or Gdynia) near Danzig with destination to the West with well over 10.000 refugees, elderly, women and children and wounded soldiers on board, the ship was so overfilled, that many were not registered. Losses have been since estimated as over 9.343. It was one of the many desperate attempts to save the refugees from the Eastern Provinces before the Red Army arrived. The ship set sail under darkness on 30th January 1945 travelling parallel to the coast and was torpedoed by a Soviet U-Boot off the coast of Stolpmünde. Thousands were lost, only a very small number survived. Apart from this, several other ships with refugees on board were also torpedoed, the "Athen" the "Goya" and the "Steuben". The "Cap Arcona" was also sunk on 3rd May 1945 by British aircraft in the Lübecker Bucht, it was a prison ship with KZ inmates onboard. Over 6.400 liveswere lost. The wreck of the Gustloff lies at a depth of 42 metres and is now protected as a war memorial (Seekriegsgrab). The ship's bell is in a Polish museum in the Danziger Krantor. Alltogether, the total loss of lives with the refugee ships may be estimated as between 25.000 to 30.000 persons. In the postwar years the Soviets plundered the wreck and made several attempts to blow it up, there are still signs of manipulation in the twisted metal wreckage, in fact the wreck is absolutely empty, there are absolutely no traces of anyone ever been on board. The Soviets were thorough in this respect. The ship is hardly recognisable as such today. It was claimed by the Soviets that the ship had been carrying pillaged treasures and possibly even the Bernstein Room from near Leningrad, there was no mention by them of refugees. Only since the fall of the Soviet Union is diving in these waters now possible. Ship's model held in Kiel-Laboe The famous Bernstein-Zimmer from Zarskoje Zelo is thought to have been lost with the ship. A simple ceremony over the waves A computer simulation of the wreck site