On May 5, 1937, the National Socialists christened a cruise ship for the masses with the "Wilhelm Gustloff". Eight years later, a submarine sinks the Nazi ship with thousands of refugees on board.
Gleaming white, more than 208 meters long and luxuriously equipped with a swimming pool and sun deck:When the "Wilhelm Gustloff" was launched in Hamburg on May 5, 1937, it was the largest cruise ship in the world at the time. The giant steamer is a National Socialist prestige object:the organizers of the NS leisure organization "Kraft durch Freude" (KdF) consciously keep the prices for the vacation trips low so that they remain affordable for workers too. A five-day cruise to Norway on the NS "Dream Ship" costs just 50 Reichsmarks, around 200 euros according to today's purchasing power.
"Gustloff" attracts with a swimming pool, theatre, bars and salons
Solid equipment, low travel price:view of a saloon on board the ship.Travelers do not have to do without comfort. In addition to the swimming pool and sun deck, there is a theater and music hall, a smoking room, seven bars, a cinema and two promenade decks, one of which is fully glazed. All cabins are on the outside and are furnished in the same way. There are no different classes. Only the "leader's cab" reserved for Adolf Hitler, which he never uses, is larger. A total of 1,463 holidaymakers can take part in one of the coveted trips to Scandinavia or the Mediterranean at the same time, 417 crew members are on board.
Ship data of the "Wilhelm Gustloff"
Launched :May 5, 1937
Commissioned :March 15, 1938
Building Yard :Blohm + Voss
home port :Hamburg
Total length :208.50 meters
Width :25 meters
GRT :25,484
Permitted number of passengers :1,463
Building costs :approx. 25 million Reichsmark
Owner :German Labor Front (DAF)
Sunk: January 30, 1945
Named after Swiss national group leader Wilhelm Gustloff
On August 4, 1936, the German Labor Front, the National Socialist union of employees and employers, commissioned the ship from the Hamburg shipyard Blohm + Voss. It should actually be called "Adolf Hitler", but he doesn't want to risk a ship with his name going under. Instead, he had the holiday steamer named after the Nazi Wilhelm Gustloff. The head of the NSDAP national group in Switzerland was shot by a Jewish student on February 4, 1936. Since then, the National Socialists have honored him as a "martyr of the movement".
"So that the German worker keeps his nerve"
Accompanied by Robert Ley (2nd from left, next to Hitler) and Blohm junior (right), Adolf Hitler makes his way to the christening of the "Wilhelm Gustloff".When she was launched on May 5, 1937, the widow Hedwig Gustloff christened the ship in her husband's name. Robert Ley, head of the German Labor Front, explains in his speech what Hitler ordered:"Make sure, that was his order, that the German worker gets his vacation so that he can keep his nerve. It is important that that German people is strong enough to understand my thoughts."
Cruise and propaganda
Just under a year later, the "Wilhelm Gustloff" was ready and set off on March 23, 1938 for its maiden voyage. The ship's first regular voyage will be to London in early April for a propaganda campaign. There, the Germans and Austrians living in England on board the "Gustloff" can vote on Austria's annexation to the German Reich - which, however, has already taken place at this point in time. The result is not surprising:according to official figures, 99 percent of those who come to the ship to vote vote for the connection. In May 1939, the cruise ship again traveled outside of the normal KdF holiday program:It brought German soldiers from the "Condor" legion, who had fought on Franco's side in the Spanish Civil War, back to Hamburg.
Start of war:"Gustloff" becomes a floating hospital
With the outbreak of war, vacation trips came to an end. The "Gustloff" served as a hospital ship from 1939.Shortly after the start of the Second World War, the "Gustloff" ended her career as a pleasure liner after a total of 44 cruises. The Kriegsmarine took over the ship in September 1939 and used it as a floating hospital. In accordance with international regulations, the KdF ship will have a horizontal green stripe on the hull and a red cross on the funnel to be easily recognizable as a hospital ship. From November 1940, the "Wilhelm Gustloff" served as a residential ship for prospective U-boat sailors. A navy gray camouflage coat replaces the white with the green stripe - making the former holiday steamer a legitimate military target from now on. Until 1945 the ship was anchored in Gotenhafen in the Bay of Danzig.
More than 9,000 people die when the "Gustloff" sinks
On January 30, 1945, the "Wilhelm Gustloff" cast off from Gotenhafen in the direction of Kiel to take part in the evacuation of East Prussia. There are 10,582 people on board the completely overcrowded ship. About 8,800 of them are refugees, mostly women and children, fleeing the advancing Red Army.
It is the last voyage of the "Wilhelm Gustloff". At 9:16 p.m., three torpedoes from a Soviet submarine hit the refugee ship. The "Wilhelm Gustloff" sinks in the icy Baltic Sea. 9,343 people die - half of them are children. The sinking of the "Wilhelm Gustloff" is considered the world's greatest ship disaster.