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Was Wilhelm Gustloff A War Crime

They said the tragedy of Wilhelm Gustloff was a war crime. It wasn’t. It was terrible, but it was a result of war, a terrible result of war.” About 1,000 German naval officers and men were aboard and died in the sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff.

Are there any Wilhelm Gustloff survivors still alive?

The child Fick rescued that morning was the last official survivor of the Wilhelm Gustloff; and sometime later the officer and his wife adopted the baby. Robert Underbrink is a Jacksonville resident.

Was the Wilhelm Gustloff deadlier than the Titanic?

While the Titanic is the most famous maritime disaster, it’s not the deadliest. The Wilhelm Gustloff is the deadliest in history, killing 9,000 people when it sank in 1945.

What was the Wilhelm Gustloff used for?

Before the war, the 25,000-ton Wilhelm Gustloff had been used “to give vacationing Nazis ocean-going luxury,” the Associated Press noted shortly after its 1937 christening, part of the “Strength Through Joy” movement meant to reward loyal workers.

Has the Wilhelm Gustloff ship been found?

A decomposing body has been discovered off the Baltic cost 40 km from u0141eba, in the sunken wreck of WWII transport cruiser the Wilhelm Gustloff.

How many survivors were on the Wilhelm Gustloff?

Choose either number, in fact, and the result is the same: even with 1,200 survivors picked up by rescue vessels, the sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff was the worst disaster in maritime history, at least four times bigger, in terms of human life, than the sinking of the Titanic.

Who survived the Wilhelm Gustloff?

One survivor of this unspeakable tragedy, Heinz Schxf6n, who at the time of the sinking was a 19 year old assistant purser aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, dedicated his whole life in piecing together the tragedy.

What was the deadliest shipwreck ever?

1. The Wilhelm Gustloff (1945): The deadliest shipwreck in history. On January 30, 1945, some 9,000 people perished aboard this German ocean liner after it was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine and sank in the frigid waters of the Baltic Sea.

What was the greatest loss of life at sea?

The loss of the Wilhelm Gustloff, a German military transport ship which was sunk on January 30, 1945, has become infamous as the largest loss of life on a single ship.

How many people died when Wilhelm Gustloff sank?

Wilhelm Gustloff, in full Motor Vessel Wilhelm Gustloff, German ocean liner that was sunk by a Soviet submarine on January 30, 1945. An estimated 9,000 passengers were killed in the sinking, making it the greatest maritime disaster in history.

How many people survived on the Wilhelm Gustloff?

Thirteen survivors died later. All four captains on Wilhelm Gustloff survived her sinking, but an official naval inquiry was only initiated against Lieutenant Commander Zahn. His degree of responsibility was never resolved, however, because of Nazi Germany’s collapse in 1945.

Why did the Wilhelm Gustloff sink?

Lying in wait in the dark waters of the Baltic Sea was the Soviet submarine S-13 under Captain Alexander Marinesko. As Wilhelm Gustloff steamed slowly to the west, Marinesko shadowed it, then, at 9 pm, fired a spread of four torpedoes. Three of them hit home, striking Wilhelm Gustloff on the bow, stern, and amidships.

Has the Wilhelm Gustloff been found?

A decomposing body has been discovered off the Baltic cost 40 km from u0141eba, in the sunken wreck of WWII transport cruiser the Wilhelm Gustloff.

More Answers On Was Wilhelm Gustloff A War Crime

Wilhelm Gustloff | History, Casualties, & Facts | Britannica

Wilhelm Gustloff, in full Motor Vessel Wilhelm Gustloff, German ocean liner that was sunk by a Soviet submarine on January 30, 1945. An estimated 9,000 passengers were killed in the sinking, making it the greatest maritime disaster in history. MV Wilhelm Gustloff The MV Wilhelm Gustloff in port at Oslo, Norway, c. 1940.

The Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff – The National WWII Museum

Was it a war crime? Charges that Marinesko had violated the laws of war have arisen from time to time, but they’ve been difficult to sustain. He didn’t know he was looking at a refugee ship, and at any rate the presence on board of some 1,000 naval personnel, along with a couple of quad anti-aircraft guns, made Wilhelm Gustloff a legitimate target.

The Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff – A War Crime

The Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff – A War Crime By John 26th October 2018 On the 30 th January 1945, with the murderous, rampaging Red Army bearing down on them, the German civilians of East Prussia, desperate to escape, fled to the Baltic ports hoping to be evacuated by sea.

MV Wilhelm Gustloff – Wikipedia

MV Wilhelm Gustloff was a German military transport ship which was sunk on 30 January 1945 by Soviet submarine … They said the tragedy of Wilhelm Gustloff was a war crime. It wasn’t. It was terrible, but it was a result of war, a terrible result of war.”

Wilhelm Gustloff – Wikipedia

Gustloff was proclaimed a Blutzeuge of the Nazi cause and his murder became part of the propaganda that served as pretext for the 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom. His wife Hedwig, who had been Hitler’s secretary, received from Hitler personally a monthly “honorary pay” of 400 Reichsmark, the equivalent of some $13,000 today.

The Wilhelm Gustloff – the Worst Maritime Disaster In History

30 January 1945 – nine hours after leaving port and seventy minutes after being hit, the huge liner, the Wilhelm Gustloff, slipped under the waves and sunk. A small fleet of ships and boats arrived on the scene and managed to pluck a few survivors from the icy waters and rescued many of those on the lifeboats.

75 years on, little known about the Wilhelm Gustloff sinking

Over 9,000 people died in the Baltic Sea on January 30, 1945, in an attempt to evade the Red Army. The Wilhelm Gustloff was the most lethal shipwreck in history, but some details of the sinking…

Sinking the Wilhelm Gustloff – Warfare History Network

Over the years since the sinking, historians have argued about whether the Gustloff was a legitimate war target and whether her sinking should be classified as a war crime. Despite the wounded men on board, the Gustloff was not legally a hospital ship.

The Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff: Soviet Murder … – World War 2 Truth

The Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff By January of 1945, Germany’s days are numbered. General Patton wants to take Berlin but Allied Commander Eisenhower won’t allow it. Eisenhower’s deliberate delaying tactics in the Western front allow Stalin’s raping and murdering Soviet hordes to push eastward into Germany.

The Sinking of the MV Wilhelm Gustloff Is The … – WAR HISTORY ONLINE

Wilhelm Gustloff’s next, and final major action came in January 1945. The war was all but over for Germany, and it was now a case of trying to escape from the claws of the rapidly approaching Red Army. Operation Hannibal was a major German operation that evacuated around 1 million German civilians and soldiers across the Baltic Sea to the …

Wilhelm Gustloff: The colossal disaster that has been forgotten

Co-incidentally, almost like a cruel irony, it was the birthday of Wilhelm Gustloff, born 30 January 1895 while the ship sank on 30 January 1945. The following reasons have been put forward on why this disaster has not gathered much attention from the world: The incident involved German people and post world war 2, not a lot of people were …

The Wilhelm Gustloff: a forgotten tragedy

Everyone knows about the Titanic, or the Lusitania; both are famous sea catastrophes that have reached celebrity status. However, the deadliest maritime disaster by far was one that even now little is known about: the MV Wilhelm Gustloff. Picture this: January 30, 1945 in Germany, the Russians are advancing. Thousands of civilians desperate to be evacuated. It’s not just Germans crowding up …

The Nameless War Crime….The Sinking of the “The Wilhelm Gustloff”

The Nameless War Crime….The Sinking of the “The Wilhelm Gustloff” Apathy and willful ignorance…in a way, they are much the same thing. There is a willingness in many to see *only* what we are directed to see, to be led, and not consider the source…Sometimes we even lose sight of titanic ships…ships that carried European women and …

’The worst maritime disaster ever’: the Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff …

On the night of 30 January 1945, the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff was steaming through the Baltic when three Russian torpedoes slammed into her, sending her to the bottom in a matter of minutes. Nothing remarkable there. It was wartime and the Russians and Germans had been killing each other since 1941.

MV Wilhelm Gustloff – The City that was Königsberg

He was 18 years old at the time, onboard the Gustloff as an aspiring naval pay clerk. Although he was one of the very few survivors, he is reticent to call the sinking of the Gustloff a war crime. It was ultimately carrying soldiers, sailing under enemy colors and armed. The firing of the torpedoes in no way contravened martial law.

Wilhelm Gustloff: 9000 died (5000 were children) when the Soviets …

It was terrible, but it was a result of war, a terrible result of war.” Today, the Wilhelm Gustloff is a protected war-grave. It lies in 44 meters of water, off the northwest coast of Poland. About 1,000 German naval officers and men were aboard during, and died in, the sinking of the Gustloff.

A Memorial for the Victims of the Wilhelm Gustloff sinking, Jan. 30th …

This was an ALLIED WAR CRIME, a HATE CRIME, and a CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY! The sinking of MV Wilhelm Gustloff was a “war crime” and indeed a “hate crime” of epic proportions, which the world media, court historians and justice officials have ignored, like so many others committed against Germans. Why? Because of blatant Anti-German propaganda.

Wilhelm Gustloff: The greatest maritime catastrophe in history

the soviet s-13 launched four torpedoes that sentenced the gustloff “the latest investigations say that (regardless of official figures) 8,956 were piled aboard the gustloff refugees, 918 officers and sailors of the 2nd submarine division, 373 women of the auxiliary female corps of the navy, 173 auxiliaries and 162 seriously wounded, making a …

The Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff | National Vanguard

The Wilhelm Gustloff, like the Titanic, was a big passenger liner and was reasonably new and luxurious. But it was a German passenger liner. It was sunk in the Baltic Sea on the night of January 30, 1945, by a Soviet submarine. It was packed with nearly 8,000 Germans, most of them women and children escaping from the advancing Soviet Army.

Should sinking the Wilhelm Gustloff ship be counted as an … – Quora

Answer (1 of 7): What’s a war crime? As others have said, the Wilhelm Gustloff was a vessel under military command, not marked as a hospital ship, had military personnel on board, and was technically armed. It was at least not unreasonable to assume she was a combatant ship. Furthermore, regard …

9,000+ Lives Lost at Sea: The Sinking of the Wilhlem Gustloff

In less than one hour, the Gustloff completely submerged in the Baltic. Out of the estimated 9,000+ passengers, only 1,239 passengers survived. There is no debate that this is the biggest maritime disaster and a hidden tragedy in WWII.

The Wilhelm Gustloff Museum

The museum serves as a vast informational source as well as a physical collection for those who are interested in the Wilhelm Gustloff for research, educational purposes, and from a historical aspect of World War II. Her name was the Wilhelm Gustloff. Welcome to the Wilhelm Gustloff Museum. At an early age in 1991, I was introduced to the RMS …

Wilhelm Gustloff: A forgotten ’war loss’ of over 9,000 people

From September 1939 to November 1940, Wilhelm Gustloff served as a hospital ship, officially designated Lazarettschiff D. However, the realities of war meant that the Gustloff was soon used as a barracks, so medical equipment was removed, and the ship was painted in naval grey. Wilhelm Gustloff sat in dock at Gdynia, Poland, for over four years …

The Worst Maritime Disaster in History: The Sinking of the Gustloff

The sinking of Nazi ship the Wilhelm Gustloff in 1945 was the worst maritime disaster in history – but it is also an incident that most of us have never heard of, not least because it doesn’t really fit the conventional western narrative of World War Two. The Gustloff started out life in 1937 as the first ever purpose-built cruise ship of …

Timeline of Humanity | Sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff (Ship)

Forgotten victims of the war. In contrast to the sinking of the “Titanic”, the ship disaster of the “Wilhelm Gustloff” was a taboo subject for many years. In war they say that people die like flies. Their victims are not remembered in the same way. Hardly anyone knows today that the same captain sunk the “SS Steuben” on February 9, 1945.

Wilhelm Gustloff sinking | SpaceBattles Forums

Do you feel the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff in 1945 was a legitimate military act or could it be considered a war crime?

The Sinking of the MV Wilhelm Gustloff Is The … – WAR HISTORY ONLINE

Wilhelm Gustloff’s next, and final major action came in January 1945. The war was all but over for Germany, and it was now a case of trying to escape from the claws of the rapidly approaching Red Army. Operation Hannibal was a major German operation that evacuated around 1 million German civilians and soldiers across the Baltic Sea to the …

Wilhelm Gustloff: The colossal disaster that has been forgotten

Co-incidentally, almost like a cruel irony, it was the birthday of Wilhelm Gustloff, born 30 January 1895 while the ship sank on 30 January 1945. The following reasons have been put forward on why this disaster has not gathered much attention from the world: The incident involved German people and post world war 2, not a lot of people were …

Salt to the Sea: How the Wilhelm Gustloff Was Sunk | Time

The Wilhelm Gustloff was torpedoed on Jan. 30, 1945, killing thousands of people—many of them refugees. … 1945, killing 9,343 people—most of them war refugees, …

THE MS WILHELM GUSTLOFF – Review by Mark Barnes – WAR HISTORY ONLINE

The Wilhelm Gustloff was not a hospital ship and was armed with anti-aircraft guns making her fair game within the rules of war. Three torpedoes did the trick and the liner took around forty minutes to go down. … families and communities took place even without including the despicable crimes of the Nazis.

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