Wilhelm Gustloff: Deadliest Shipwreck

Safely docked in the harbor at Gotenhafen (known today as Gdynia) the Wilhelm Gustloff was only 19 kilometers from Danzig (known today as Gdansk.) A strategically important and historically significant city at the mouth of the Vistula River, Gdansk is now part of Poland. So is Gdynia.

During World War II, Danzig was part of the German-controlled territory called East Prussia. Today, as Gdansk (which was 1,000 years old in 1997), the city is famous for its shipyards and politics. It was the birthplace of "Solidarity," the Polish freedom movement.

By January 30, 1945 the Gustloff was no longer safe in Gotenhafen/Gdynia. Nor were German people who lived in Danzig/Gdansk. The Red Army, mightily upset about the suffering inflicted on the Soviet people by the Nazi war machine, was liberating territory from German control. The Reds were not far from East Prussia. All Germans needed to flee. Thousands of displaced families traveled over treacherous ice and snow to reach a safer place or a fleeing ship.

Words written by Ilya Ehrenburg, the Soviet propagandist, highlighted what would be done to Germans if they were captured:

Kill! Kill! In the German race there is nothing but evil; not one among the living, not one among the yet unborn but is evil! Follow the precepts of Comrade Stalin. Stamp out the fascist beast once and for all in its lair! Use force and break the racial pride of these German women. Take them as your lawful booty. Kill! As you storm onward, kill, you gallant soldiers of the Red Army.

German women and children knew the Red Army would not spare them. The Gustloff would provide their means of escape.