Tragedy at the end of the war:the sinking of Cap Arcona

Shortly before the end of the war, on May 3, 1945, the British sink the "Cap Arcona" and the "Thielbek" in the Bay of Lübeck. You suspect German troops on the ships - a mistake:there are 7,500 concentration camp prisoners on board.

by Imke Andersen and Britta Probol

One of the greatest ship disasters in history occurs in the last days of the Second World War in the Bay of Lübeck. More than 7,000 people lost their lives on May 3, 1945. They are the victims of a fatal error:British bombers sink the German passenger ship "Cap Arcona" and the freighter "Thielbek" off Neustadt in Holstein. The ships lying three kilometers off the coast had been caught in the cross hairs rather accidentally. With the major attack over the Baltic Sea, the Royal Air Force wants to prevent German troops and SS sizes from possibly settling into neutral Norway. On board three ships, however, are mainly prisoners who have been evacuated from the Neuengamme concentration camp in Hamburg.

Concentration camp evacuation before the arrival of the British

Spring 1945:SS chief Heinrich Himmler ordered that no concentration camp inmate should fall into the hands of the Allies. The British are already advancing on Hamburg. In order to cover up the crimes of the Nazi regime, hasty evacuation work begins on April 19 in the Neuengamme concentration camp. The Allied units are said to find the camp swept empty without a trace. Hamburg's Gauleiter Karl Kaufmann - who was also the Reich Commissioner for Maritime Shipping - and Hamburg's SS leader, Count Bassewitz-Beer, jointly decide to take the concentration camp prisoners to two ships anchored in Lübeck Bay. The fact that the British Air Force might mistake the ships for troop transports is probably part of the calculation.

Luxury liner becomes a floating concentration camp

Around 10,000 prisoners are driven to Lübeck on foot and in freight trains in the last few days of April. There they have to change to the "Athen" and other confiscated feeder ships in the Vorwerker industrial port, which will transport them to the "Cap Arcona".

The 330-metre-long luxury liner, built by Blohm &Voss in Hamburg in 1927, has been stranded in front of Neustadt since April 14 due to engine damage. Before it was assigned to the Navy at the end of August 1939, it was one of the most sophisticated passenger ships of its time. In 1942, UFA shot the film "The Sinking of the Titanic" on board. During the war, the "Cap Arcona" served as a floating barracks for a long time, was anchored in Gotenhafen together with the "Wilhelm Gustloff" and finally evacuated civilians and soldiers from East Prussia. After the turbine damage, the Navy returned it to the Hamburg-Süd shipping company. This puts her under Karl Kaufmann's sphere of influence.

With the beginning of the concentration camp evacuation, the SS informed the captains of the "Cap Arcona" and the freighter "Thielbek", Bertram and Jacobsen, that their ships were needed for a special operation. Both resolutely refuse to make their ships available as floating concentration camps, but finally bow to the pressure and massive threats of violence.

The ship is being prepared - with calculation?

While the first prisoners arrive on the "Cap Arcona", the SS dismantle all means of escape and block the lifeboats. Together with the further measures, this could indicate that it was planned to sink the "Cap Arcona" by explosives:the automatic bulkheads are destroyed and the ship is refueled with a small amount of fuel, which is sufficient as a fire accelerator. However, the refueling can also be justified with the operational security of the emergency power generators. According to some historians, it is conceivable that the ships were intended as floating concentration camps for an indefinite period of time, in order to keep the prisoners under control until further negotiations or for possible work assignments. Almost 500 crew members - supervisors and air defense - are also on board.

The Royal Air Force Attack

On May 3, 1945, the "Thielbek" and the "Cap Arcona" were bobbing in the Bay of Lübeck with a total of around 7,500 prisoners on board. At this point, the Allies knew about what was happening in the Baltic Sea:the Swedish and Swiss Red Cross informed the British ground forces in Lübeck about the ships. But the information does not reach the pilots of the Royal Air Force - and the waving prisoners are not recognized during the reconnaissance flights that morning. This is the fateful order no. 73 on May 3, 1945:"Destruction of the enemy ship accumulation in the Bay of Lübeck west of the island of Poel and to the north towards the border of the security zone".

"Cap Arcona" burns out and falls on its side

In the early afternoon, the British bombers of the 2nd Tactical Air Fleet began their last major attack over the Baltic Sea, sinking a total of 23 ships and damaging more than 100. Typhoon fighter jets of the 198 Squadron fired first on the German passenger ship "Cap Arcona" and an hour later on the freighter "Thielbek". The "Cap Arcona" is hit by 64 rockets and in no time at all is in flames from bow to stern. The SS tried to keep the prisoners below deck while the few functioning lifeboats were lowered into the water. The ship burns out and falls on its side.

Around 7,000 prisoners die

The Baltic Sea water is barely eight degrees. Of the 4,500 concentration camp prisoners on board, 350 survived by accident, not through German or Allied rescue assistance. About 80 percent of the crew - guards, SS personnel and crew - were able to get to safety, including Captain Bertram. The "Thielbek" sinks within 20 minutes after the air raid. British fighter planes even fired at the lifeboats on their way to the Neustadt shore. Of the 2,800 prisoners, only 50 reach the country alive. Captain Jacobsen and most of the sailors are also among the dead.

At the time of the attack, the "Athen" was in Neustädter Hafen - this fact alone saved the lives of the almost 2,000 prisoners on board.

Victims buried in mass graves along the coast

Many of the victims are buried in mass graves along the coast between Neustadt and Pelzerhaken. Today there is one campsite after the other. However, around a dozen cemeteries in Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania still bear witness to the "Cap Arcona" disaster. The most important memorial sites are in Gronenburg-Neukupplung and in Neustadt/Holstein itself. Among the dead who are commemorated there are around 200 prisoners of the Stutthof concentration camp who came to Neustadt via the Baltic Sea and died there on the morning of May 3, 1945 SS men - supported by marines - were shot.

"The main responsibility for one of the worst shipping disasters in history appears to lie on the German side," writes Wilhelm Lange, city archivist from Neustadt, because they "set an insidious trap for the Allies." On the other hand, the British made serious mistakes in passing on the information. According to British reports from June 1945, compiled at the time by the War Crimes Investigation Team (WCIT), "for some accident" the message from the Red Cross about the presence of concentration camp prisoners on board the ships was never passed on. The archival material is incomplete. No court has yet dealt with the responsibility of German and British participants in the tragedy near Neustadt.