View source for SS Cap Arcona

{{short description|German ship of the 1930s and 40s}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox ship
|section1={{Infobox ship/image
 |image=Cap Arcona 1.JPG
 |image_caption=''Cap Arcona'' in 1927
 }}

|section2={{Infobox ship/career
 |hide_header=
 |country=[[Germany]] ([[Weimar Republic]])
 |flag={{shipboxflag|Weimar Republic|civil}}
 |name=''S.S. Cap Arcona''
 |namesake=[[Cape Arkona]]
 |owner=
 |operator=[[Hamburg Süd|Hamburg Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft]]
 |registry=
 |route=[[Port of Hamburg]] ([[Germany]]) – [[Port of Buenos Aires]] ([[Argentina]])
 |ordered=
 |awarded=
 |builder=[[Blohm+Voss]], [[Hamburg]]{{sfn|Gröner|1988|pp=78-79}}
 |original_cost=
 |yard_number=476
 |way_number=
 |laid_down=21 July 1926
 |launched=14 May 1927{{sfn|Gröner|1988|pp=78-79}}
 |sponsor=
 |christened=
 |completed=
 |acquired=
 |commissioned=
 |recommissioned=
 |decommissioned=
 |maiden_voyage=29 October 1927
 |in_service=
 |out_of_service=
 |renamed=
 |reclassified=
 |refit=
 |struck=
 |reinstated=
 |homeport=[[Port of Hamburg]], ([[Hamburg]], [[Germany]])
 |identification=*Until 1933: [[code letters]] RGLP
                 *{{ICS|Romeo}}{{ICS|Golf}}{{ICS|Lima}}{{ICS|Papa}}
                 *From 1934: [[Maritime call sign|call sign]] DHDL
                 *{{ICS|Delta}}{{ICS|Hotel}}{{ICS|Delta}}{{ICS|Lima}}
 |motto=
 |nickname=*''Queen of the South Atlantic''
           *''The Floating Palace''
 |honours=
 |honors=
 |captured=
 |fate=Requisitioned for the ''[[Kriegsmarine]]'' ([[Nazi Germany|Nazi German]] War Navy), in November 1940
 |notes=
 |badge=
 }}

|section3={{Infobox ship/career
 |hide_header=title
 |country=[[Nazi Germany]]
 |flag={{shipboxflag|Nazi Germany|naval}}
 |name=''S.S. Cap Arcona''
 |operator=''Kriegsmarine'' ([[Nazi Germany|Nazi German]] War Navy)
 |acquired=29 November 1940{{sfn|Gröner|1988|pp=78-79}}
 |out_of_service=1940 – 14 April 1945
 |identification=
 |fate=Sunk by [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Royal Air Force]] aerial attack and bombing on 3 May 1945. Wreck dismantled / scrapped in 1949.
 |notes=
 }}

|section4={{Infobox ship/characteristics
 |hide_header=
 |header_caption={{sfn|Gröner|1988|pp=78-79}}
 |type=[[Ocean liner]]
 |tonnage=*{{GRT|27561}}{{sfn|Gröner|1988|pp=78-79}}
          *tonnage under deck 17,665
          *{{NRT|15011}}
 |length={{convert|205.90|m|ftin|abbr=on}} [[Length overall|overall]]{{sfn|Gröner|1988|pp=78-79}}
 |beam={{convert|25.78|m|ftin|abbr=on}}{{sfn|Gröner|1988|pp=78-79}}
 |height=
 |draught={{convert|8.67|m|ftin|abbr=on}}{{sfn|Gröner|1988|pp=78-79}}
 |depth={{convert|14.30|m|ftin|abbr=on}}{{sfn|Gröner|1988|pp=78-79}}
 |hold_depth=
 |decks=5{{sfn|Gröner|1988|pp=78-79}}
 |deck_clearance=
 |ice_class=
 |power={{convert|{{convert|24000|PS|shp|0|disp=number}}|shp|kW|abbr=on|lk=on}}{{sfn|Gröner|1988|pp=78-79}}
 |propulsion=eight [[Steam turbine#Marine propulsion|steam turbines]], two [[propeller]]s{{sfn|Gröner|1988|pp=78-79}}
 |speed=Service: {{convert|20|kn}}{{sfn|Gröner|1988|pp=78-79}}<ref group="note">[[Port of Hamburg]] ([[Germany]]) – [[Port of Buenos Aires]] ([[Argentina]]) in 15 days</ref>
 |range={{convert|11110|nmi|abbr=on|lk=in}} at {{convert|20|kn}}{{sfn|Gröner|1988|pp=78-79}}
 |endurance=
 |boats=26 [[Lifeboat (shipboard)|lifeboats]]
 |capacity=*'''From 1927:''' 575 1st class, 275 2nd class, 465 in dormitories; total 1,315
           *'''From 1937:''' total 850
 |troops=
 |crew=475{{sfn|Gröner|1988|pp=78-79}}
 |time_to_activate=
 |sensors=*'''By 1930:''' [[Submarine signals|submarine signalling]], wireless [[direction finding]]
          *'''From 1934:''' as before plus [[echo sounding]] device, [[gyrocompass]]
 |EW=
 |armament=
 |notes= }}
}}
'''SS ''Cap Arcona''''', named after [[Cape Arkona]] on the island of [[Rügen]], was a large German [[ocean liner]], later a requisitioned auxiliary ship of the [[Kriegsmarine]] ([[Nazi Germany|Nazi German]] War Navy), and finally a [[prison ship]] in the later months of [[World War II]] (1939–1945). A [[flagship]] of the [[Hamburg Süd|Hamburg Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft]] ("Hamburg-South America Line"), she made her maiden voyage on 29 October 1927, carrying passengers and cargo between Germany and the east coast of South America, and for a brief period of time she was the largest and fastest ship on the route,<ref name=Talbot-Booth>{{harvnb|Talbot-Booth|1936|p=410}}</ref> until one month later she was surpassed on the same Europe-South America route by the Italian liner {{ship|MS|Augustus|1926|6}}.

In 1940, the Kriegsmarine ([[Nazi Germany|Nazi German]] War Navy) requisitioned the ''S.S. Cap Arcona'' as an [[Barracks ship|accommodation ship]]. In 1942 she served as the set for the German propaganda feature film [[Titanic (1943 film)|''Titanic'']]. In 1945 she evacuated almost 26,000 German civilian refugees from [[East Prussia]] before the advance of the [[Red Army]].

''Cap Arcona''{{'}}s final use was as a prison ship. In May 1945 she was heavily laden with prisoners from [[Nazi concentration camps]] when the [[Royal Air Force]] bombed her in the western Baltic Sea, killing about 5,000 people; with more than 2,000 further casualties in the sinking of the accompanying vessels of the prison fleet, {{SS|Deutschland|1923|2}} and {{SS|Thielbek|1940|2}}.<ref>Watson, Robert, ''The Nazi Titanic: The Incredible Untold Story of a Doomed Ship in World War II'', Da Capo Press, 2016 {{ISBN|978-0-3068-2489-0}} {{p.|247}}</ref> This was one of the largest single-incident [[List of maritime disasters in World War II|maritime losses of life in the Second World War]].
{{TOC limit}}

==Building and equipment==
[[Blohm+Voss]] in [[Hamburg]] built ''Cap Arcona'', launching and completing her in 1927. She was {{GRT|27561}}, {{convert|205.90|m|ftin|abbr=on}} [[Length overall|overall]] and a [[Beam (nautical)|beam]] of {{convert|25.78|m|ftin|abbr=on}}.{{sfn|Gröner|1988|pp=78-79}}

She was driven by eight [[Steam turbine#Marine propulsion|steam turbines]], single-reduction geared to two [[propeller]] shafts.<ref name=LR30>{{cite book |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/30/30b0209.pdf |year=1930 |title=Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships |location=London |publisher=[[Lloyd's Register]] |access-date=10 January 2015}}</ref> She had three funnels, and her passenger comforts included a full-size tennis court [[Glossary of nautical terms (A-L)#abaft|abaft]] her third funnel.<ref name=Talbot-Booth/> The ship had at least 26 [[Lifeboat (shipboard)|lifeboats]], most of which were mounted in two tiers (see image).

''Cap Arcona'' had modern navigation and communication equipment. She was equipped for [[Submarine signals|submarine signalling]] which allowed a ship to hear acoustic signals from aids to navigation. She also had wireless [[direction finding]] equipment,<ref name=LR30/> and from 1934 she had an [[echo sounding]] device and a [[gyrocompass]].<ref>{{cite book |url= https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/34/34b0158.pdf |year=1934 |title=Lloyd's Register, Steamers & Motorships |location=London |publisher=[[Lloyd's Register]] |access-date=10 January 2015}}</ref>{{clear left}}

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Cap Arcona.JPG|Plans of ''Cap Arcona''.
File:Cap Arcona launching.jpg|Launching of German ocean liner ''Cap Arcona'', 14 May 1927.
File:2010 03 31 Cap Arcona 1b k.jpg|Scale model of ''Cap Arcona''.
</gallery>

==Peacetime service==
''Cap Arcona'' entered service in 1927, commencing her maiden voyage on Hamburg Süd's route to Buenos Aires 29 October. She joined the older liner {{SS|Cap Polonio||2}} on the route, which had been Hamburg Süd's flagship until ''Cap Arcona''{{'}}s completion. ''Cap Polonio'' was laid up in 1931 and scrapped in 1935,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.schiffe-maxim.de/Polonio.htm |title=Cap Polonio (1914–1935) |work=Hamburg-Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft (H.S.D.G.) |publisher=schiff-maxim.de |language=de |access-date=22 May 2017}}</ref> leaving ''Cap Arcona'' as Hamburg Süd's sole prestige ship on its South American route.

On 6 October 1932 ''Cap Arcona'' collided with the French [[cargo ship]] {{SS|Agen||2}} in the [[North Sea]] off the [[Elbe 4 Lightship]]. ''Agen'' was beached, but later was refloated and escorted into [[Hamburg]], Germany.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Fire in a British motor-vessel |date=7 October 1932 |page=23 |issue=46258 |column=C }}</ref>

==Accommodation ship==
In 1940 the [[Kriegsmarine]] (German Navy) requisitioned ''Cap Arcona'', had her painted overall grey and used her in the [[Baltic Sea]] as an [[accommodation ship]] in Gotenhafen (now [[Gdynia]]).

In 1942 ''Cap Arcona'' was used as a stand-in for {{RMS|Titanic}}, supplying exterior locations for the filming of the [[Titanic (1943 film)|Nazi film version of the disaster]] in the harbour of [[Gdynia|Gotenhafen]].<ref name="Marszal">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9124111/The-strange-sinking-of-the-Nazi-Titanic.html |title=The strange sinking of the Nazi Titanic |first1=Andrew |last1=Marszal |date=5 March 2012 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|location=London |access-date=15 November 2015}}</ref><ref name="Zendran">{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrnRTL4bYsY |publisher=[[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]] |title=Nazi Titanic Revealed |first1=David |last1=Zendran |format=Video |date=21 May 2012}} [[YouTube]]</ref> The production partially repainted the ship's funnels and hull in [[White Star Line]] colors for filming. The film was completed, but the original director, [[Herbert Selpin]], was arrested for disparaging remarks he made about Kriegsmarine sailors. His later self-destructive interrogation at the hands of propaganda minister [[Joseph Goebbels]] all but sealed his fate. He was found the next day hanged in his cell by his suspenders.

==Evacuation of East Prussia==
On 31 January 1945, the Kriegsmarine reactivated her for [[Operation Hannibal]], where she was used to transport 25,795 German soldiers and civilians from [[East Prussia]] to safer areas in western Germany.<ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |first=David |year=1997 |title=Wartime Disasters at Sea |place=Yeovil |publisher=Patrick Stephens Ltd |pages=235–236}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Koberger |first=Charles W Jr. |year=1989 |title=Steel Ships, Iron Crosses, and Refugees |place=New York |publisher=Praeger |page=87}}</ref> By then these trips were made very dangerous by [[Naval mine|mines]] and [[Soviet Navy#World War II: The Great Patriotic War|Soviet Navy]] submarines. On 30 January {{MV|Wilhelm Gustloff||2}}, carrying around 10,000 passengers and crew, was torpedoed by the {{ship|Soviet submarine|S-13}} and sank in 40 minutes. An estimated 9,400 people died. Early on the morning of 11 February, the same submarine torpedoed the {{GRT|14666}} {{SS|General von Steuben||2}} on its way to [[Copenhagen]] with wounded and bed-ridden soldiers and civilian passengers, killing over 4,000 people. On 20 February, ''Cap Arcona''{{'}}s captain, Johannes Gertz, shot himself in his cabin while berthed in Copenhagen rather than face another trip back to Gotenhafen.{{sfn|Jacobs|Pool|2004|p=32}}

On 30 March 1945, ''Cap Arcona'' finished her third and last trip between Gdynia and Copenhagen, carrying 9,000 soldiers and refugees. However, her turbines were completely worn out. They could only be partially repaired and her days of long-distance travel were over. She was decommissioned, returned to her owners Hamburg-Süd and ordered out of Copenhagen Harbour to Neustadt Bay.{{sfn|Jacobs|Pool|2004|pp=44–45}}

[[File:An ID', cap bevo and POW letter used by a former crew member of the SS Cap Ancona Ship.jpg|thumb|An ID', cap bevo and POW letter used by a former crew member of the SS ''Cap Arcona'']]

== Prison ship and sinking==
During March and April 1945, concentration camp prisoners from [[Scandinavia]]n countries had been transported from all over the German Reich to the [[Neuengamme concentration camp]] near Hamburg, in the [[White Buses|White Bus]] programme coordinated through the [[Swedish Red Cross]]{{snd}}with prisoners of other nationalities displaced to make room for them. Eventually [[Heinrich Himmler]] agreed that these Scandinavians, and selected others regarded as less harmful to Germany, could be transported through German-occupied [[Denmark]], north to freedom in neutral [[Sweden]]. Then between 16 and 28 April 1945, the Neuengamme camp was systematically emptied of all its remaining prisoners, together with other groups of concentration camp inmates and Soviet P.O.W.s; with the intention that they would be relocated to a secret new camp, either on the [[Baltic Sea]] island of [[Fehmarn]]; or at [[Mysen]] in German-occupied [[Norway]] where preparations were put in hand to house them under the control of concentration camp guards evacuated from [[Sachsenhausen concentration camp|Sachsenhausen]].<ref name="Wachsmann 2015 584">{{cite book|last=Wachsmann|first=Nikolaus|title=KL; A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps|year=2015|publisher=Little, Brown|pages=584}}</ref> In the interim, they were to be concealed from the advancing [[British Army|British]] and [[Canadian Army|Canadian]] military forces from liberated [[Netherlands]], along the [[North Sea]] coast, across northern Germany towards Denmark and the Baltic; and for this purpose the ''[[Schutzstaffel|SS]]'' assembled a prison flotilla of decommissioned ships in the [[Bay of Lübeck]], consisting of the requisitioned  former civilian passenger ocean liners ''S.S. Cap Arcona'' and {{SS|Deutschland|1923|2}}, the freighter {{SS|Thielbek|1940|2}}, and the motor launch <!--{{SS|Athen|1936|2}} –  redlink converted to interlanguage link --> {{Interlanguage link|1=SS Athen (1936)|lt=''Athen''|2=de|3=Athen (Schiff, 1936)}}. Since the steering motors were out of use in the ''S.S. Thielbek'' and the turbines were out of use on the ''S.S. Cap Arcona'', so then the smaller ''S.S. Athen'' was used to transfer prisoners from [[Lübeck]] to the larger vessels and in between ships;{{sfn|Jacobs|Pool|2004|p=162}} they were locked below decks and in the holds, and denied food and medical attention.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}

On 30 April 1945 the two Swedish ships ''Magdalena'' and ''Lillie Matthiessen'', previously employed as support vessels for the White Bus evacuations, made a final rescue trip to the Bay of Lübeck and back.  Amongst the prisoners rescued were some transferred from the prison flotilla. On the evening of 2 May 1945 more prisoners, mainly women and children from the [[Stutthof concentration camp|Stutthof]] and [[Mittelbau-Dora]] camps were loaded onto barges and brought out to the anchored vessels; although, as the ''Cap Arcona'' refused to accept any more prisoners, over eight hundred were returned to the beach at Neustadt in the morning of 3 May, where around five hundred were killed in their barges by machine-gunning, or beaten to death on the beach, their German SS guards then seeking to make their escape unencumbered by "excess baggage".<ref name="Jones 2015 111">{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Michael|title=After Hitler: The Last Days of the Second World War in Europe|year=2015|publisher=John Murray|pages=111}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Gilbert|first=Martin|title=The Second World War; a complete history|year=1989|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|pages=683–684}}</ref>

The order to transfer the prisoners to the prison ships had come from [[Gauleiter]] [[Karl Kaufmann]] in Hamburg. Marc Buggeln has challenged Kaufmann's subsequent claim that he had been acting on orders from SS Headquarters in [[Berlin]], arguing that the decision in fact resulted from political and business pressures from leading industrialists in Hamburg, who were already at this stage plotting with Kaufmann to hand the city over to approaching British forces undefended and unharmed, and who consequently wished to whitewash away (literally so in the case of the Neuengamme concentration camp)<ref name="Wachsmann 2015 584"/> all evidence for the prisoners' former presence within the city and its industries.<ref>{{cite book|last=Buggeln|first=Marc|title=Slave Labour in Nazi Concentration Camps|year=2014|publisher=OUP|pages=274}}</ref>

By early May however, any relocation plans had been scotched by the rapid British military advance to the Baltic; so the SS leadership, which had moved to [[Flensburg Government|Flensburg]] on 28 April,<ref name="Wachsmann 2015 584"/> discussed scuttling the ships with the prisoners still captive aboard.<ref name="Jones 2015 111"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Bond |first=DG |title=German history and German identity: Uwe Johnson's Jahrestage |url=https://archive.org/details/germanhistoryger0000bond |url-access=registration |publisher=Rodopi |year=1993 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/germanhistoryger0000bond/page/150 150–151] |isbn=90-5183-459-4}}</ref> Later, at a war crimes tribunal, Gauleiter Kaufmann claimed that the prisoners were intended to be sent to Sweden, although, as none of the ships carried any exterior [[Hospital ship|Red Cross hospital ship markings]], nor were they even seaworthy, this was scarcely credible.<ref name="Jones 2015 111"/> [[Georg-Henning Graf von Bassewitz-Behr]], Hamburg's last [[SS and Police Leader|Higher SS and Police Leader]] (HSSPF), testified at the same trial that the prisoners were in fact to be killed "in compliance with Himmler's orders".<ref name=vaughan>{{harvnb|Vaughan|2004|pp=154–156.}}</ref> Kurt Rickert, who had worked for Bassewitz-Behr, testified at the Hamburg War Crimes Trial that he believed the ships were to be sunk by [[Kriegsmarine]]  submarine U-boats or [[Luftwaffe]] aircraft.{{sfn|Vaughan|2004|p=148}} Eva Neurath, who was present in Neustadt, and whose husband survived the disaster, said she was told by a police officer that the ships held convicts and were going to be blown up.{{sfn|Vaughan|2004|pp=156–157}}

On 2 May 1945, the British [[Second Army (United Kingdom)|Second Army]] discovered the empty camp at Neuengamme, and reached the coastal towns of Lübeck and [[Wismar]]. [[No. 6 Commando]], [[British 1st Special Service Brigade|1st Special Service Brigade]] commanded by [[Brigadier general (United Kingdom)|Brigadier]] [[Derek Mills-Roberts]], and the [[British 11th Armoured Division|11th Armoured Division]], commanded by Major-General [[Philip Roberts (British Army officer)|Philip Roberts]], entered Lübeck without resistance. Lübeck contained a permanent [[International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement|International Red Cross]] and [[Red Crescent]] offices in its function as a [[Bombing of Lübeck in World War II|Red Cross port]], and Mr. De Blonay of the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] informed Major-General Roberts that 7,000 to 8,000 prisoners were aboard ships off-shore in the Bay of Lübeck.{{sfn|Till|1945}}<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/raf-pilots-tricked-into-killing-10000-camp-survivors-at-end-of-war-634445.html |title=RAF pilots tricked into killing 10,000 camp survivors at end of war – Home News, UK |work=[[The Independent]] |date=16 October 2000 |access-date=25 February 2009 |place=London |first=Max |last=Arthur}}</ref>
In the afternoon of 3 May 1945, the British 5th reconnaissance regiment advanced northwards to Neustadt, witnessing the ships burning off-shore in the bay and rescuing some severely emaciated prisoners on the beach at Neustadt, but otherwise finding mostly the bodies of women and children who had died that morning.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Michael|title=After Hitler: The Last Days of the Second World War in Europe|year=2015|publisher=John Murray|pages=111–112}}</ref>

==Gallery==

<gallery widths="200px" heights="160px">
File:Hawker Typhoon ExCC.jpg|Hawker Typhoon fighter warplane, armed with 60lb [[RP-3]] rockets and cannon.
File:Cap Arcona 10.86422E 54.04183N.jpg|Bay of Lübeck, {{convert|3|km|0}} from [[Neustadt in Holstein]] (left at the top): position of the sinking of the ''S.S. Cap Arcona''.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/4505-bilder/neuengamme.htm |title=Die Tragödie in der Neustädter Bucht |publisher= Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart |access-date=25 February 2009}}</ref>
File:2015 08 13 Prisonschiffe April 1945 IMG 1058 S k.JPG|[[Bay of Lübeck]] ([[Baltic Sea]]): positions of ''S.S. Cap Arcona'', ''S.S. Thielbek'', and ''S.S. Deutschland'' prison ships, April 1945.
File:Cap Arcona burning.jpg|''S.S. Cap Arcona'' burning shortly after the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Royal Air Force]] aerial attacks and bombings.
File:161st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron North American F-6D-10-NA Mustang 44-14200.jpg|[[United States Army Air Forces]] (U.S.A.A.F.) North American F-6A Mustang (reconnaissance version of [[North American P-51 Mustang variants|P-51D Mustang]], American military fighter warplane).
</gallery>

==Locations==
*''Cap Arcona'': {{coord|54|3.9|N|10|50.45|E|type:landmark|display=inline, title}}
*''Thielbek'': {{coord|54|4.3|N|10|50.40|E|type:landmark|display=inline}}
*''Deutschland'': {{coord|54|7.5|N|10|48.25|E|type:landmark|display=inline}}
*''Athen''
*''Elmenhorst''

==Sinking==
On 3 May 1945, three days after [[Nazi Germany|Nazi German]] dictator [[Death of Adolf Hitler|Hitler's suicide]] in [[Berlin]], and only one day before the [[German surrender at Lüneburg Heath|unconditional surrender of the German troops]] in northwestern Germany at [[Lüneburg Heath]] to [[British Army]] commander [[Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein|Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery]] (1887–1976), ''S.S. Cap Arcona'', ''S.S. Thielbek'', and the passenger liner ''S.S. Deutschland'' were attacked as part of general strikes on shipping in the [[Baltic Sea]] by [[Royal Air Force]] (R.A.F.) [[Hawker Typhoon]] fighter warplanes of [[No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group (United Kingdom)|No. 83 Expeditionary Air  Group]] of the [[2nd Tactical Air Force]]. Through secret code-breaking of [[Ultra (cryptography)|Ultra]] Intelligence, the [[Allies of World War II|Western Allies]] had become aware that most of the Nazi German SS leadership and former concentration camp commandants had gathered with [[Heinrich Himmler]] in [[Flensburg]],  hoping to contrive an escape northward to remaining German-occupied [[Norway]].<ref name="Wachsmann 2015 584"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Michael|title=After Hitler: The Last Days of the Second World War in Europe|year=2015|publisher=John Murray|pages=112}}</ref> The western allies had intercepted orders from Hitler's designated successor with the rump Grand Admiral [[Karl Dönitz]] government, also at [[Flensburg Government|Flensburg]], that the SS leadership were to be facilitated in escaping Allied capture{{snd}}or otherwise issued with false Kriegsmarine naval uniforms to conceal their identities<ref>{{cite book|last=Hastings|first=Max|title=Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944–45 |year=2004 |publisher=Macmillan|pages=567–568}}</ref>{{snd}}as Admiral Dönitz sought, while surrendering, to maintain the fiction that his administration had been free from involvement in the concentration camps, or in Hitler's policies of genocide and the revealing Holocaust.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kershaw|first=Ian|title=The End: Germany 1944–45 |year=2011 |publisher=Allen Lane|pages=359}}</ref>

The British R.A.F. military aircraft were from the units of [[No. 184 Squadron RAF|No. 184 Squadron]], [[No. 193 Squadron RAF|No. 193 Squadron]], [[No. 263 Squadron RAF|No. 263 Squadron]], [[No. 197 Squadron RAF]], and [[No. 198 Squadron RAF|No. 198 Squadron]]. Besides four [[Hispano-Suiza HS.404|20 mm cannon]], these [[Hawker Typhoon#Specifications .28Typhoon Mk Ib.29|Hawker Typhoon Mark 1B]] fighter-bombers carried either eight [[High Explosive|HE]] [[RP-3|"60-lb" RP-3 unguided rockets]] or two {{convert|500|lb|kg|abbr=on}} bombs.

None of the prison flotilla were painted / marked with Red Cross symbols (although the ''Deutschland'' had previously been intended as a hospital ship, and retained one white painted funnel with a red cross), and all prisoners were concealed below deck, so the pilots in the attacking force were unaware that they were laden with concentration camp survivors. Although Swedish and Swiss Red Cross officials had informed British intelligence on 2 May 1945 of the presence of large numbers of prisoners on ships at anchor in Lübeck Bay, this vital information was not passed on.<ref group="note">From the Till report of June 1945:

"The Intelligence Officer with the 83 Air Group of the R.A.F. has admitted on two occasions; first to Lt H. F. Ansell of this Team (when it was confirmed by a [[Wing commander (rank)|Wing Commander]] present), and on a second occasion to the Investigating Officer when he was accompanied by Lt. H. F. Ansell, that a message was received on 2 May 1945 that these ships were loaded with [[Konzentrationslager]] (KZ) prisoners, but that, although there was ample time to warn the pilots of the military planes who attacked these ships on the following day, by some oversight the message was never passed on...

From the facts and from the statement volunteered by the R.A.F, Intelligence Officer, it appears that the primary responsibility for this great loss of life must fall on the British R.A.F. command personnel who failed to pass to the fighter pilots the message they received concerning the presence of KZ prisoners on board these ships." See:  Jacobs and Pool, 2004 and Till, 1945.</ref> The R.A.F. commanders ordering the strike believed that a flotilla of ships was being prepared in Lübeck Bay, to accommodate leading SS personnel fleeing to [[German occupation of Norway|German-controlled Norway]] in accordance with Admiral Dönitz's orders.{{sfn|Jacobs|Pool|2004|loc=inside front cover}}<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/4505-bilder/cap-ohne-bug.jpg |title=''Cap Arcona'', May 1945 |publisher=Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart}}</ref> "The ships are gathering in the area of Lübeck and Kiel. At S.H.A.E.F. (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, commanded by Gen. [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]), it is believed that important Nazis who have escaped from Berlin to Flensburg are onboard, and are fleeing to Norway or neutral countries".<ref name="Jones 2015 111"/>

Equipped with lifejackets from locked storage compartments, most of the SS guards managed to jump overboard from ''S.S. Cap Arcona''. German trawlers sent to rescue ''Cap Arcona''{{'}}s crew members and guards managed to save 16 sailors, 400 German SS men, and 20 SS women. Only 350 of the 5,000 former concentration camp inmates aboard ''Cap Arcona'' survived.<ref name=vaughan/> From 2,800 prisoners on board the ''S.S. Thielbek'' only 50 were saved; whereas all 2,000 prisoners on the ''[[SS Deutschland (1923)|S.S. Deutschland]]'' were safely taken off onto the ''S.S. Athen'', before the ''Deutschland'' capsized.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gilbert|first=Martin|title=The Second World War; a complete history|year=1989|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|pages=684}}</ref>

R.A.F. Pilot Allan Wyse of No. 193 Squadron recalled, "We used our cannon fire at the chaps in the water... we shot them up with 20 mm cannons in the water. Horrible thing, but we were told to do it and we did it. That's war."<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/history/00-03-07/f02-uk.html |work=Shanghai Star |date=7 March 2000 |title=British error killed WW2 camp inmates |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151107011021/http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/history/00-03-07/f02-uk.html |archive-date=7 November 2015 }}</ref>

Severely damaged and set on fire, the ''Cap Arcona'' eventually capsized. Photos of the burning ships, listed as ''Deutschland'', ''Thielbek'', and ''Cap Arcona'', and of the emaciated prisoner survivors swimming in the very cold Baltic Sea waters, around {{convert|7|C|F}}, were taken on a reconnaissance mission over the Bay of Lübeck by [[North American P-51 Mustang|F-6 Mustang]] (the photo-[[reconnaissance]] version of the P-51) of the Allied  [[United States Army Air Forces]] (USAAF)'s [[18th Reconnaissance Squadron|18th / 161st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron]] around 1700 hrs, shortly after the attack.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www1.uni-hamburg.de/rz3a035//arcona.html |title=The Sinking of the Thielbek |publisher=.uni-hamburg.de |access-date=25 February 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717073335/http://www1.uni-hamburg.de/rz3a035//arcona.html |archive-date=17 July 2012 }}</ref>

On 4 May 1945, a British reconnaissance plane also took photos of the two wrecks, ''Thielbek'' and ''Cap Arcona.''<ref>No. 19 German magazine ''Schiffe Menschen Schicksale'', ''Schnelldampfer "Cap Arcona"'', p. 37.</ref> With the Bay of Neustadt being shallow, the capsized hulk of ''Cap Arcona'' later drifted ashore, and the remains of the beached wreck was finally broken up and scrapped four years later in 1949. For weeks after the attack, bodies of victims washed ashore, where they were collected and buried in mass graves at [[Neustadt in Holstein]], [[Scharbeutz]] and [[Timmendorfer Strand]].<ref>{{citation |title=Ik was 20 in 1944 | year=1995 |first=Raymond |last=van Pée |url=http://www.getuigen.be/Getuigenis/Van-Pee-Raymond/tkst.htm |language=nl}}</ref> Parts of skeletons washed ashore occasionally over the next 30 years, with the last casualty find occurring in 1971.<ref name=Schwarberg>{{harvnb|Schwarberg|1998|p=}}</ref>

The prisoners aboard the ships were of at least 30 different nationalities: American, Belarrussian, Belgian, Canadian, Czechoslovakian, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Luxembourger, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, Swiss, Ukrainian, and possibly others.<ref name=Schwarberg/>

===Survivors===
* Francis Akos (1922–2016), born Weinman Akos Ferencz in Budapest, Hungary; Chicago Symphony Orchestra violinist
*Heinrich Bertram (1897–1956), captain of ''Cap Arcona''<ref>{{in lang|de}}
* [[Günther Schwarberg]], ''Angriffsziel "Cap Arcona"'', Steidl Verlag, Göttingen 1998, {{ISBN|3-88243-590-9}}</ref>
* [[Emil František Burian]] (1904–1959), musician and theatrical director, founder of Theatre D, a leading avant-garde theatre in inter-war Europe
* [[Erwin Geschonneck]] (1906–2008), who later became a German actor, and whose story was made into a feature film in 1982<ref>* [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/12/arts/EU-A-E-MOV-Germany-Obit-Geschonneck.php International Herald Tribune: Famed East German actor, jailed by Nazi Germans for Communist sympathies, dies at 101]</ref>
* [[Ernst Goldenbaum]] (1898–1990), [[German Democratic Republic]] (D.D.R./G.D.R.) - [[East Germany|East German]] ([[Communist]]) politician
* [[Benjamin Jacobs (dentist)|Benjamin Jacobs]] (1919–2004) born Berek Jakubowicz in [[Dobra, Poland]]; dentist, Holocaust speaker and author{{sfn|Jacobs|Pool|2004}}
* [[Philip Jackson (deportee)|Philip Jackson]] (1928–2016), son of an American medical doctor / surgeon, Sumner Jackson, killed in the attacks{{sfn|Vaughan|2004|pp=154–156}}
* [[Hans van Ketwich Verschuur]] (1905–1995), Dutch [[Red Cross]] and [[Scouting|Boy Scouting]] official.
*[[Heinz Lord]] (1917–1961), German-American surgeon
* {{interlanguage link|André Migdal|lt=Migdal, André|de||fr}} (1924–2007), French [[French Resistance|resistant]], Holocaust speaker and author, poet, survivor of ''Athen''<ref>{{in lang|fr}}
* Migdal, André, ''Les plages de sable rouge. La tragédie de Lübeck, 3 mai 1945.'' NM7 éditions, Paris 2001, {{ISBN|2-913973-20-5}}.
</ref>

* [[Sam Pivnik]] (1926–2017), art dealer and lecturer on [[The Holocaust]]<ref>{{in lang|de}} Lange, Wilhelm ''Cap Arcona: Das tragische Ende der KZ-Häftlings-Flotte am 3. Mai 1945'' Helmut Kaun, Eutin (1992).</ref>
*[[Josef Štěrba]] (1905–1977), (Communist) Czech politician
* [[Gustaaf Van Essche]] (1923–1979), [[Belgium|Belgian]] politician<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.seniorennet.be/wereldoorlog2_concentratiekampen5/archief.php?startaantal=10|title=Overleden in Concentratiekampen, U tot Z|website=blog.seniorennet.be}}</ref>

===Monuments and memorials===
<gallery class="center" mode="packed">
File:Neustadt Holstein Cap Arcona.jpg|Monument to the ''Cap Arcona'' and {{SS|Thielbek|1940|2}} victims at [[Neustadt in Holstein]]
File:Timmendorfer-Strand-Waldfriedhof-Cap-Arcona-Gedenkstätte.JPG|Monument in the Waldfriedhof at [[Timmendorfer Strand]] to 810 victims of ''Cap Arcona''
File:Neustadt-in-holstein-jüdischer-friedhof-kz-nummern.JPG|Jewish cemetery in Neustadt in Holstein for 100 Jewish victims of ''Cap Arcona''
File:Grömitz-st.-nicolaikirche-kirchenfriedhof-cap-arcona-gedenkstele.JPG|Monument to 91 victims of ''Cap Arcona'' in the cemetery of St Nicolas' church in [[Grömitz]]
File:Grevesmühlen-cap-arcona-friedhof-umfriedung.JPG|Cemetery and monument in [[Grevesmühlen]] for 407 victims of ''Cap Arcona''
File:Cenoteph of Cap Arcona.JPG|Monument to victims of ''Cap Arcona'' in [[Klütz]]
</gallery><gallery class="center" mode="packed" heights="225px">
File:Cap-Arcona-Opfer-Gedenkstein-Timmendorfer-Strand-Niendorf.JPG|Monument in the cemetery of Niendorf in [[Timmendorfer Strand]] to 113 victims of ''Cap Arcona''
File:Scharbeutz Ehrenfriedhof Cap-Arcona Uebersicht zentral.JPG|Memorial plaque in the "honour cemetery" near [[Haffkrug]]
File:Mahnmal Poel.JPG|Monument to victims of ''Cap Arcona'' on [[Poel]] Island
File:Gedenkstätte Cap Arcona Groß Schwansee.jpg|Monument to victims of ''Cap Arcona'' at Groß Schwansee near [[Kalkhorst]]
File:Hrdlicka Gegendenkmal Detail.jpg|Detail of the memorial against the war (1985/86) by [[Alfred Hrdlicka]], a counter-monument to the Memorial of the Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 76 (1936) by [[Richard Kuöhl]] in [[Hamburg]]
</gallery>

==In popular culture==
[[File:Stolperstein Spreestr 1 (Niesw) Otto Dunkel.jpg|thumb|Example of "Stolperstein" (stumbling block) in [[Berlin-Niederschöneweide]], Germany]]
*''Typhoons' Last Storm'', Lawrence Bond, 2000.
*''The Cap Arcona case'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cap-arcona.com/flashsite/cap_arcona.html|title=The Cap Arcona Case|website=cap-arcona.com|access-date=25 January 2005|archive-date=14 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514040106/http://www.cap-arcona.com/flashsite/cap_arcona.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Günther Klaucke, Karl Hermann, 1995.
*''Der Mann von der Cap Arcona'', GDR TV movie, [[Erwin Geschonneck]]'s account of the sinking of ''Cap Arcona'', 1981/82.
*''De ramp met de Cap Arcona'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://anderetijden.nl/aflevering/214/De-ramp-met-de-Cap-Arcona|title=De ramp met de Cap Arcona|last=NTR|website=Andere Tijden}}</ref> 2011.
*''Sonny Boy'', Dutch film, 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1138481/|title=Sonny Boy|website=[[IMDb]] |date=27 January 2011}}</ref>
*''Nazi Titanic: Revealed'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.channel5.com/show/revealed|title=Revealed}}</ref> Channel 5 Documentary, 2012.
*''Mussche'', Kirmen Uribe, 2012.
<!-- purpose of this section unclear : Like the ''Wilhelm Gustloff'' ship article -->

==See also==
{{Portal|Germany}}
*{{MV|Wilhelm Gustloff}}
*[[Titanic (1943 film)|''Titanic'' (1943 film)]]
*[[List of maritime disasters]]
*[[List of maritime disasters in World War II]]
*[[List of shipwrecks]]
*[[List of sealed archives]]

==References==
=== Explanatory notes ===
{{Reflist| group=note}}

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== General sources ===
==== In English ====
*{{cite book |last=Jacobs |first=Benjamin |year=2001 |title=The Dentist of Auschwitz |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=0-8131-9012-6 |url= http://www.nizkor.org/features/dentist/ |chapter=17, 18 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Jacobs |first1=Benjamin |last2=Pool |first2=Eugene |year=2004 |title=The 100-Year Secret: Britain's Hidden World War II Massacre |place=Guildford, CT |publisher=The Lyons Press |isbn=1-59228-532-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/100yearsecretbri00jaco }}
*{{cite journal |last=Nesbit |first=Roy | date=June 1984 |title=Cap Arcona: atrocity or accident? |journal=[[Aeroplane Monthly]] }}
*{{cite book |last=Pivnik |first=Sam |author-link=Sam Pivnik |year=2012 |title=Survivor: Auschwitz, the Death March and My Fight for Freedom |place=London |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |isbn=978-1444758382}}
*{{cite book |last=Talbot-Booth |first=E.C. |year=1936 |title=Ships and the Sea |edition=Third |place=London |publisher=Sampson Low, Marston & Co. |page=410 }}
*{{cite book |last=Till |first=Major Noel O | date=September 1945 |title=Report on Investigations, WO 309/1592 |series=No. 2 War Crimes Investigation Team }}
*{{cite book |last=Vaughan |first=Hal |year=2004 |title=Doctor to the Resistance: The Heroic True Story of an American Surgeon and His Family in Occupied Paris |place=Washington, D.C. |publisher= Potomac Books |pages= 154–156 |isbn=1-57488-773-4 }}
*{{cite book |last=Watson |first=Robert P. |year=2016 |title=The Nazi Titanic: The Incredible Untold Story of a Doomed Ship in World War II |place=Cambridge, Mass. |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn= 978-0306824890}}

==== Non-English sources ====
* {{interlanguage link|Herbert Diercks|lt=Diercks, Herbert|de}}; Grill, Michael, ''Die Evakuierung des KZ Neuengamme und die Katastrophe am 3. Mai 1845 in der Lübecker Bucht.'' In : ''Kriegsende und Befreiung.'' Bremen 1995 {{ISBN|3-86108-266-7}}
* {{interlanguage link|Rudi Goguel|lt=Goguel, Rudi|ca||de||fr}}, ''Cap Arcona. Report über den Untergang der Häftlingsflotte in der Lübecker Bucht am 3. Mai 1945.'' Frankfurt/M 1972, {{ISBN|3-87682-756-6}}
*{{cite book
|last=Gröner
|first=Erich
|author-link=Erich Gröner
|title=Hilfsschiffe II: Lazarettschiffe, Wohnschiffe, Schulschiffe, Forschungsfahrzeuge, Hafenbetriebsfahrzeuge (I)
|work=Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe 1815–1945
|volume=V
|publisher=[[Bernard & Graefe]]
|location=Koblenz
|year=1988
|isbn=3-7637-4804-0
|language=de
}}
* {{cite book |last=Schwarberg |first=Günther |author-link=Günther Schwarberg |title=Angriffsziel "Cap Arcona" |publisher=Steidl Verlag |location=Göttingen |year=1998 |isbn=3-88243-590-9 }}
* Lange, Wilhelm, ''Cap Arcona'', Struves Buchdruckerei u. Verlag, Eutin 1988, {{ISBN|3-923457-08-1}}
* Lange, Wilhelm, ''Mythos und Wirklichkeit'' – ''Eine "publikumswirksame" Präsentation der Cap-Arcona-Katastrophe vom 3. Mai 1945'', page 27, 2/2000, in Schiff und Zeit, Panorama maritim N° 52
* Lange, Wilhelm, ''Neueste Erkenntnisse zur Bombardierung der KZ Schiffe in der Neustädter Bucht am 3. Mai 1945: Vorgeschichte, Verlauf und Verantwortlichkeiten.'' In: Detlef Garbe: ''Häftlinge zwischen Vernichtung und Befreiung. Die Auflösung des KZ Neuengamme und seiner Außenlager durch die SS im Frühjahr 1945''. Bremen 2005, {{ISBN|3-86108-799-5}}
* [[Karin Orth|Orth, Karin]], ''Planungen und Befehle der SS Führung zur Räumung des KZ-Systems.'' In: Detlef Garbe: ''Häftlinge zwischen Vernichtung und Befreiung. Die Auflösung des KZ Neuengamme und seiner Außenlager durch die SS im Frühjahr 1945''. Bremen 2005, {{ISBN|3-86108-799-5}}
* Rothe, Claus, ''Deutsche Ozean-Passagierschiffe 1919–1985'', VEB Verlag for Verkehrswesen Berlin 1987 transpress
* Schiffner, Sven, ''Cap-Arcona-Gedenken in der DDR: Gedenken, Volkssport, Propaganda.'' In: Garbe, Detlef and Lange, Carmen: ''Häftlinge zwischen Vernichtung und Befreiung.'' Bremen 2005
* Migdal, André, ''Les plages de sable rouge. La tragédie de Lübeck, 3 mai 1945.'' NM7 éditions, Paris 2001, {{ISBN|2-913973-20-5}}.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Cap Arcona (ship, 1927)}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040612083151/http://www.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/rz3a035/arcona.html The Cap Arcona, the Thielbek and the Athen] via Archive.org
*[http://www.nizkor.org/features/dentist/chapter-17.html Disaster on the Baltic Sea] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610061717/http://www.nizkor.org/features/dentist/chapter-17.html |date=10 June 2007 }}
*[http://www.nizkor.org/features/dentist/chapter-18.html Inferno] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610061850/http://www.nizkor.org/features/dentist/chapter-18.html |date=10 June 2007 }}
*[http://www.nizkor.org/features/dentist/appendix-a.html Appendix A] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610061602/http://www.nizkor.org/features/dentist/appendix-a.html |date=10 June 2007 }}
*[http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?30712 ''Cap Arcona'' at Wrecksite]
*[http://clioweb.free.fr/camps/revert/revert.htm Lucien Revert {{in lang|fr}}]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100117002509/http://divernetxtra.com/travel/germ798.htm Scuba diving around the wreck]

===Images===
*[http://www.hamburgmuseum.de/image_d_e/sonder-hafen38/38-cap-arcona.jpg Photo of ''Cap Arcona'' (1938)]
*[http://www.compunews.com/gus/arcona2.htm Photos of ''Cap Arcona'']
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20031223044454/http://perso.club-internet.fr/dstef/dstef/Album_photos/Pmgc/PMGCeng.htm Album photos]
*[http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/4505-bilder/neuengamme.htm Die Tragödie in der Neustädter Bucht (The tragedy in the Bay of Neustadt) (1940–1945)]
*[http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/4505-bilder/cap-ohne-bug.jpg Photo of ''Cap Arcona'' (1945)]
*[http://www.lostliners.de/schiffe/c/cap_arcona/geschichte/images/32.jpg Photo of ''Cap Arcona'' (1949)]
*[https://www.ansichtskarten-center.de/webshop/shop/ProdukteBilder/14041/AK_12020329_kl_1.jpg Postcard of the Memorial]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110720014209/http://tle.northwestern.edu/museum/catalog/cgi/search.cgi?DB=1&QUERY=1995.88.3&REGION=IDNUMBER& ''Cap Arcona'', etching, Alfred Hrdlicka (1986)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110721174240/http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-neuengamme.de/typo3temp/pics/834fab9775.jpg Drawing of the burning ships. Unknown artist.]

===Videos===
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHIup1719bk Launch of the liner ''Cap Arcona'' (Hamburg, 1927) + 1938]. Video {{in lang|nl}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021}}
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU7ehmD-BFk ''Titanic'' (1943) Part 8]. Video {{in lang|de|en}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021}}
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BovPTc1KISc&hl=fr ''Cap Arcona'' (1946)]. Video {{in lang|de}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021}}
*{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrnRTL4bYsY |publisher=[[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]] |title=Nazi Titanic Revealed |first1=David |last1=Zendran |date=21 May 2012}} [[YouTube]]
*[http://www.channel5.com/shows/revealed/episodes/nazi-titanic-revealed ''Nazi Titanic: Revealed'', Channel 5 Documentary (United Kingdom, 2012)]

{{Blohm + Voss}}
{{1932 shipwrecks}}
{{May 1945 shipwrecks}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cap Arcona}}
[[Category:1927 ships]]
[[Category:1945 in Germany]]
[[Category:Cruise ships of Germany]]
[[Category:Deportation]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1932]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in May 1945]]
[[Category:Massacres in Germany]]
[[Category:British military scandals]]
[[Category:Neuengamme concentration camp]]
[[Category:Ocean liners]]
[[Category:Prison ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Hamburg]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by British aircraft]]
[[Category:Steamships of Germany]]
[[Category:The Holocaust in Germany]]
[[Category:Troop ships of Germany]]
[[Category:World War II passenger ships of Germany]]
[[Category:World War II prisoner of war massacres]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea]]
[[Category:Bay of Lübeck]]