Cape Garded

The Cape Arcona was a German Paquebot of great luxury, whose history is related to the one of both larger maritime tragedies of the Second world war, therefore of the Histoire: the May 3rd 1945, it is cast with two other ships by the British aviation whereas it transports thousands of off-set S left the Concentration camp of Neuengamme.

Pride of the German navy

This fast steamer belonged to HSDG , Hamburg-Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts Gesellschaft (undertaken cruisings between Hamburg and the South America). Built by the building sites Blohm und Voss of Hamburg, the Cape Arcona was launched the May 14th 1927. Of a 206 meters length, of a tonnage of 27.500 tons and equipped with deep holds, he was regarded as one of the most beautiful ships of his time. Its name, Cape Garded , comes from the Kap Arkona on the German island of Rügen (Mecklembourg-Poméranie Western). This vapor was used as well for cruisings of luxury as to the emigration, mainly towards the South America. The December 3rd 1928, Rio de Janeiro, a Seaplane transporting the intellectual elite Brazil ienne and charged to accommodate Santos-Dumont, which was on board the Cape Arcona , was failed close to the ship.

Requisition by Kriegsmarine

The ship was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine the August 25th 1939. It remained with quay in the port of Gotenhafen, bay of Danzig (the Baltic), Eastern Prussia, being used as housing floating with the troops of Kriegsmarine.

A cinematographic interlude

In 1942 -43, a propaganda film Nazi was turned there, Titanic (film of 1943).

In 1944, it accepted the order to transport civilians and soldiers between Gotenhafen and Copenhagen, but its turbines breaking down, it was towed and repaired in a Scandinavian shipyard. It was restored in bad condition with the company Hamburg-South the April 14th 1945.

Floating prisons

The same day of April 14th, Heinrich Himmler gives the order to make disappear the deportees before the arrival from the Allies.

The May 4th, the Allies thus release a camp of Neuengamme vacuum, although it received 106 000 deportees starting from 1938. It is the Gauleiter, chief S of the district of Hamburg, Karl Kaufmann which made direct the deportees towards Lübeck, where were the Cape Arcona and two ships smaller, the Thielbek and the Athen , as well as the Deutschland .

The captains of the Cape Garded , Heinrich Bertram, and of the Thielbek , John Jacobsen, are informed of the Nazis projects on April 18th. Jacobsen is deposed of its command 19. As of the 20 the loading starts on the ships of 11 000 deportees made at Lübeck enters the April 19th and 26th, in spite of the protests of the Swedish Croix-Rouge. The officer S Gehrig orders to the captain of Athen, Fritz Nobmann, to take on board 2300 deportees accompanied by 280 S and Kapo S and to transfer them to the Cape Arcona, anchored to 4 km with the broad one. Nobmann refuses, then death threat, is carried out. But the commander Bertram refuses the transshipment and the Athen must set out again with the port. They are only the 26 pennies the threat of a summary judgment which Bertram must be solved with the transfer.

Under the command of the S Kirstein, the life jackets are removed, whereas benches and benches (possible rafts) are stored in the holds, which does not leave any doubt about the German projects run the ship with its occupants. On several journeys until April 30th, 6500 deportees and 600 guards are brought on the Cape Arcona , where they survive under atrocious conditions. One counts several tens of dead each day. The 30, from the prisoners are removed ship so much overpopulation exasperates even the S and because of an agreement with the Red Cross for exfiltrer the French deportees towards the Swedish hospitals. But arrived of the concentration camp of Stutthof, 500 new deportees arrive at Lübeck.

May 3rd, whereas German submarines prepare to torpedo the ship-prisons, of the British tanks arrive in the city and a reconnaissance aircraft locates the ships. Two British officers listen to the terrifying report/ratio of the Red Cross and promise to act, but it is too late to divert the attack launched by RAF.

The tragedy of Lübeck

The May 3rd 1945 with 14:30, four days after the suicide of Hitler, the Cape Garded , the Liner of German luxury of pre-war period of 27 561 tons and 206 meters length, the Thielbek (a cargo liner of 2.815 tons) the Athen and the Deutschland (liner of 21.046 tons), anchored in the Bay of Lübeck to broad of Neustadt (the Schleswig-Holstein) and Scharbeutz were bombarded and run by fighter-bombers Typhoon S 1B of Group 83 of Second Tactical Air Force of RAF ordered by the captain Martin Scott Rumbold. Approximately 7 000 with 8 000 deportees perished drowned, the survivors swam in the the Baltic icy then were grapeshots by the S on the beach.

On board the first two boats, more than 7.500 Off-set S of the concentration camps of Neuengamme close to Hamburg and Stutthof close to Danzig, of which a half were prisoners of war Russian and Polish and other French (resistant, refractory with STO, old STO, etc), German (common right), Danish, etc, were quickly evacuated of these camps opposite the fast projection of the British troops. Arriving in the port of Lübeck, they were forced to go up on board the Athen (a cargo liner of 1.936 tons) to be transferred in the Cape Arcona whose captain, Heinrich Bertram, refused to take them on board while protesting that its boat could contain only 700 of them. Threatened of shut-down and summary execution, he obeys and let 7 thousand deportees be piled up by some 600 S in the deep holds of his ship. These boats were to be left on the open sea then scuttled, drowning all those which were on board according to the order of Himmler indicating to all the commanders concentration camps which no deportee was to fall alive between the hands from the enemy. When L Athen had finished its work of transshipment, a group of deportees was retransferé Cape Arcona (which was now too over-populated) with the Athen . The captain of this last then accosted his ship against the quay of Neustadt and deployed a white flag, which saved 1.998 people. To a short distance from there, the liner Deutschland was anchored and was being converted into ship-hôpital.
Firing their rockets, the Typhoon S of the 184 Squadron based with Hustedt attacked initially, concerning the three boats. The captains of the Cape Garded and of the Thielbek made deploy a flag blanc.
The second attack came from the 198 Squadron based to Plantlünne directed by Group Captain Johnny Baldwin.
The third came from the 263 Squadron based to Ahlhorn, the flotilla tackled the Deutschland and the fourth attack carried out by the 197 Squadron also based with Ahlhorn.
The Deutschland , blazed up quickly, the skittle with the air and ran four hours later. Fortunately, there was no deportee on board and the crew had deserted the ship after the first attaque.
The Cape Garded , with 4.650 deportees trapped in lower part in the deep holds suffocated in smoke and the flames, the ship was inclined on a side, was partly submerged and blazed up. Some of the deportees succeeded in being extracted some and to stud itself with the hull of the ship, others jumped in the the Baltic icy. 316 survivors were counted.
The Thielbek was transformed into wreck where the fire brooded and ran forty-five minutes later. Thielbek , on 2.800 deportees only 50 were sauvés.
The Athen having hoisted the white flag, the 1.998 passengers were épargnés.
Many survivors, trying to swim until the beach, were cut down in water by the machine-guns the Typhoon S skimming the ground and turning around the boats, others by the units of the S, of the Jeunesses hitlériennes, the Marines stationed on the beach. The S in the boats saved only those in uniform S, at least 400. Photographs (of the ships in flame; capsizing Deutschland , of the Thielbek , the Cape Garded , of survivors swimming in the the Baltic) were taken at the time of a reconnaissance mission above the Baie Lübeck by a plane F-6 the 161ème Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron USAAF around 5 p.m.

In all, approximately 8.000 people died in this tragedy (7 300 deportees and 600 S), 314 deportees and 2 team members were saved. The victims were buried in common graves dug between Lübeck and Pelzerhaken. The survivors made build a Cénotaphe on which is registered: " With the eternal memory of the deportees of the concentration camp of Neuengamme. They perished at the time of the shipwreck of the Cape Arcona on May 3rd, 1945 .
The pilots of RAF did not know that there were deportees on board and it is only much of years later, in fact in 1975, that some learned that they had massacred deportees of the concentration camps. During weeks after the shipwreck, the bodies of the victims were brought back by the current on the beach, they were gathered and buried in simple common graves to Neustadt in Holstein. And during almost three decades, of the skeletons and the pieces of skeletons were recovered on the beach, the last was found by a twelve years old small boy in 1971. The history of this tragedy is depicted in the museum of the Cape Arcona town of Neustadt in open Holstein in 1990.

These deportees were of 28 different nationalities: German, American, Belgian, Canadian, Danish, Spanish, Estonia nne, French, Greek, Swiss, Hungarian, Italy nne, Latvia nne, Lithuania nne, Luxembourg, Dutchwoman, Norwegian, Polish, Rumanian, Russian, Czechoslovakian, Ukrainian, Yugoslav, etc

The 4, the British press titrated on the " brilliant attaque" of RAF.
This shipwreck forms part, with those of the Wilhelm Gustloff and of the Goya , which also took place in 1945 in the the Baltic, of the three greater losses in human lives of the history of the mer.
The officers S of Neuengamme were judged by British military tribunals, but none the persons in charge of the transfer to the Cape Arcona was it. The question remains posed to know so of the British could be informed of the presence of deportees on these ships the day before attack, as claims it the German historian Wilhelm Lange. The British military files will be consultable only in 2045.

As for the ship Cape Garded , its wreck remained failed in bay until in 1950, then was dismantled to be reduced in scrap. The Rolls-Royce firm photographed these remainders in detail to evaluate the effectiveness of its bombs.

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