The story of the worst shipwreck in history, (The Sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff)
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- čas přidán 29. 01. 2021
- In this video we talk about the mostly forgotten and worst shipwreck in History. This one ship had the greatest loss of life of any shipwreck in history. Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff
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Movie clips are from the film (Die Gustloff)
My Grandfather nearly entered that ship when he and his family were fleeing from their home near Kaleningrad (named Königsberg back then)
They were on the gangway when they were told that the ship was full.
They were so lucky to have "bad luck" that day.
That's enough luck for one lifetime
He's a lucky guy also im curious to what ship he ended up boarding to escape poland
@@jesse8381 I will ask him when I see him next time
.
#Luck
This is the first time I've ever heard of this disaster. God, 9400 people! What a horror!
Likely a lot of things from that era and area that were lost from us. There’s been an enormous anti-nazi media blitz that started before the war. Just want to be clear that I’m not pro-nazi, I just understand that the anti-nazi media campaign that has spanned generations was more important to those in charge than properly preserving history.
A film was made, German language of the same name. Footage was shown in this video.
@@headfirst6227 1945 wasn't exactly a slow news year
It was a Very BIG news year for several reasons...
The victorious don't face punishment tribunals.
To put the scale of this disaster: a German soldier who went into Stalingrad had a higher chance of seeing Germany again than the people who sailed in the Wilhelm gustloffs final voyage
How exactly does that describe the scale of the disaster?
People who jump of the Empire State Building without a parachute die at a higher rate as well. Doesn’t mean it’s a large scale issue.
@@mikemck4796 i think he meant scale as in statistics
if 10,000 people were on board and 9400 died thats a ridiculous 94% death rate
i believe the death rate for German soldiers in the final stage of the battle for Stalingrad was somewhere between 60% and 75%
@@mikemck4796 is there a reason why you have to be a troll bully?
@@fullofbullets58 so apparently now if you have an opinion on CZcams. You are apparently a "BuLlY"
🙄 howdiddlyho triggerinos
This ship was packed so tight, even with help, too many never had a chance to reach top decks
Even if there was a orderly evacuation and the ship didnt list, it would most likely have taken many many hours to evacuate everybody, the people in the bottom decks were just doomed immediately, there was nothing they could have done to escape.
Jürgen Koks..let's put ourselves in lower level? Try climbing the packed stairwells or wait patiently for water to drown. 5 minute horror show
You should also make a video about "the Soviet Wilhelm Gustloff" - The hospital ship Armenia, where many thousands people died too. Especially, it's was finally found just in 2020.
The wreck?
@@starrsmith3810 Yes, the wreck of "Armenia" was found in 2020, before that the location of her wrech had been unknown.
@@superdingo9741 wow. Gotta try and find a picture of that.
I think the MV Goya would be a better comparison for the Armenia
It sank in about the same way just that the Goya was hit by a sub and there were slightly more survivors from the Goya due to it being accompanied by a convoy but the overall feeling of the situation was the same
@@Peter_Schluss-Mit-Lustig I think the Armenia was overcrowded.
Though my god the lost of life is HORRIBLE. Even worst then the Wilhelm Gustloff if it was even possible.
A friend of mine is pretty much a WWII buff, she was the one who told me about this tragedy just two years ago. Until she told me about it, I had never heard about it. To say it's forgotten is an understatement.
She😲⁉️
Yeah, and that's no accident. Another thing that almost no one is aware of: "terrrorism" was official Ally policy. Some are aware of Dresden, largely thanks to Vonnegut I think. But Dresden was no exception: it was the rule. The Allies indiscriminatly killed civilians to the best of their ability wherever they fought.
@@macedindu829Can’t compromise the false image that they were the good guys.
Swept under the carpet like most allied atrocities.
@@macedindu829Oh boy the Nazis are out here to tell us why bombing a rail hub is just as a bad as gassing millions of Jews lol.
I appreciate your unbiased coverage of this terrible maritime disaster. What happened that night was unconscionable. We have a large Polish community where I live. I've heard stories from the parents and grandparents of some of my friends about the atrocities committed by the Red Army as the headed West. Due to people's hatred of the Nazi party, incidents like this and other atrocities and denigration committed against the German people from the late 19th century until now has been quite largely - and quite purposefully - ignored and thus, forgotten.
Just picture yourself in the Captain's shoes you have a significantly over crowded ship, 3 people telling you how to do your job and than out of nowhere you are presented with a loose loose situation. Do you turn on the lights and get shot? Or do you leave them off and risk getting crashed into? What a terrible position to be put into.
The latter choice would have been better still.
*lose lose
@@historywatchdog2923 you gotta remember that these collisions were not as rare as one might think. In the misty baltic see German vessels were crashing into each other like autoscooters
anythings better than a torpedo, i say. crash vs violent explosion= no contest.
Obviously you leave the lights off.. shouldn’t even be up for debate.. how someone so absolutely stupid was even a captain in the first place doesn’t make sense.
I actually shed a tear no joke. The more I think about this situation and really try to put myself there, the more I understand how absolutely horrific this would be:( rip to all those to lost their lives.
Toxic WhatsAntiLogic wannabe:
“y ArE yOu HuMaNiZiNg AdOlF hItLeR bY pAyInG rEsPeCtS tO tHe NaZi CiViLiAnS wHo DiEd?1?1?1?1”
@@henrythef1guy768 those people are the worst type of people and their faux moralism makes me sick
personally I would not shed not one microstrain of sadness for the kkk or their families
@@scottpuryear2810 ok edgelord
Eric Braeden, the actor that plays John Jacob Astor IV in Titanic, is a survivor of the sinking of the MV Wilhelm Gustloff.
Under his birth name Hans Jorge Gudegast
plays Victor Newman on the Young and the Restless
Interesting
His last name is my first name! I love Titanic!
Survived a sinking ship only to play a role of a man that died on a sinking ship
Imagine the piles of people buried under other people inside the ship when it rolled over. Absolutely horrifying!
Such a tragic, sad and terrifying event. Thank you for telling the story. We should never forget.
No, but we do.
believe me the gustloff is not forgotten in germany
It kinda is. Many know her name, but most don't even know just how horrible the sinking was.
@@leDespicable Nah. We remember. We just dont talk about it too much because we really were and still are, in no position to complain about war crimes. Not after what we did
@@christophermuller4802 When I was in Australia my German friends didn't know anything at all about WW2. They said no one ever talked about it and they didn't learn about it in school it was kind of weird. They were from a city called Ulm.
@@christophermuller4802 To be fair, this was not the German military that was attacked. And Russia refused to sign treaties. They probably committed far more war crimes than all the Axis countries combined, just not a horrifically as Germany's.
@@jadsmvs8651 Wrong, as much as I do agree with you...sadly the Gustlow was a Military Vehicle because there were 300 Submariner ans Wounded Sodiers abort, aswell as 3 Captians from the Kriegsmarine. It made the Gustlow a military target.
Im personally related to this ship. My grandma was about to board this ship as a little child, but fortunatly they werent able to get on the ship.
Man war sucks and the worst is that humans dont learn from it...
I haven't heard of this ship before...
That is becausr for years every allied country tried to wipe it from history. "It where just germans"'
Russia even bombed the wreck with deptcharges trying to completely destroy it.
History class in germany 8th grade...
@@mightress I'm sure there is some truth to the "they were just Germans" thing but I would have to think that it had more so to do with the Soviet's covering it up for years and years. With no Western diver's being allowed near the wreck there was simply no way for the public to be captivated by the Wilhelm Gustloff like they were the Titanic. Just imagine for a second if back in 1985 the soviet union was non existent (Without putting to much thought into that) We could probably presume that the Titanic wouldn't have been found as the USA wouldn't have had a need to find the USS Thresher and Scorpion meaning there probably never would have been funding or a need to ever find Titanic at least not in the 80s. So without a Soviet Union and without a Titanic I would have to think that the Gustloff would likely take Titanics place.
@@Rangerman69420 yes that may be...
@@Rangerman69420 The idea that the Wilhelm Gustloff war crime hasn't been heard of in the West is nothing to do with it being covered up by the Soviets. SS Cap Arcona, SS Thielbek and SS Deutschland were all sunk by the RAF on 3 May 45 with the loss of 5000 lives in the Cap Arcona, and 2800 on the Thielbek. As a side note, the SS General von Steuben was sunk on 10/2/45 by the Soviets with the loss of 4000 deaths, and the MV Goya was sunk on April 16th 1945 with the loss of 7000 lives. It's more about covering up the war crimes of the victors. All of these war crimes were committed in the very latest stages of the war, when those orchestrating the combined Allies Forces were well aware that victory was a matter of WHEN, not 'if'. It's a VERY myopic view to assume that only the vanquished committed war crimes, especially in the Second World War.
Eric Braeden, the German-born actor, who's best-known roles include the '60s TV-series 'Rat Patrol', and since 1980, Victor Newman on 'The Young and the Restless', also played John Jacob Astor in the 1997 movie 'Titanic'. He said of his role on Titanic, "the drowning scene was the scariest moment" of his acting career.
At three years of age, he was a one of the lucky survivors of the Wilhelm Gustloff!
Man, I love coming home from school seeing you posted a new history video.
Yes
Same. God I love being a history buff so damn much.
Where do you live that you guys are still doing in-person classes?
@@Harun-cd6jz I was a graduate in 2019
Where do you live I wanna move there I hate online school
The first time I heard of this disaster was while reading the book "Salt to the Sea", which was historical fiction, but still a great view into the incident and what it was like for the passengers and survivors. If you read this book, tears are imminent.
Excellent book.
You finally featured the Wilhelm Gustloff. I am wondering if you can cover the so-called "Asia's Titanic" - the MV Doña Paz. If I am not mistaken, it is also considered as the worst maritime disaster during peacetime.
yes, can we get mv Dona Paz.
CZcams channel side projects did a small video yesterday
Ironically, “Petersen” was also the name of the fictional heroic German Officer in the 1943 Nazi “Titanic” film, which was mostly film in Gdynia.
Petersen is a really common North German Family name. If you look at citizen registers of North German towns and cities you're guaranteed to find that name among the top 5.
That movie was actually filmed onboard the Wilhelm Gustloff.
@@Ozymandias1 WRONG. Try the Cap Arcona.
There's a director named Wolfgang Petersen, the guy who made Air Force One, The Never Ending Story, Das Boot, and Poseidon
My grandmother stands in front of the Wilhelm Gustloff and nearly embarked. But an officer of the Kriegsmarine said, the ship is already overloaded and she has to leave the gangway.
So she escaped from East prussia by train to Cuxhaven and survived.
Oh wow! I'd never ever heard of this ship until I found your video!! Absolutely love how you are so respectful while addressing the loss of lives. Thoroughly enjoying the educational factor your channel provides too, definitely subscribing! ❤️
I love your channel. I’ve been fascinated by ships and ocean liners for over 10 years, and I’ve gathered a great deal of information from watching these videos. Thank you.
Great Video! My mother was born in the Free City of Danzig to a Jewish mother & German/Kaschubian father. The tremendous author Günter Grass was a cousin (he wrote "Crabwalk" - a novel about the Gustloff), and I heard many stories from him. Some of my mum's Aryan family took pleasure cruises on the Gustloff with the SMF Org. When my grandfather was killed on the Eastern Front, my grandmum & their kids were deported to Theresienstadt - amazingly, several Aryan relatives sent them parcels, but she lost all contact when she was sent to Auschwitz. After the war, she returned to Danzig (alone, only 1 of her 12 brothers/sisters had survived). When she got there & sought out her Aryan family, she found that nearly 30 had managed to board the Gustloff... and none had survived.
what a sad tragedy.
I remember reading about this ship back in my very early 20's, it broke my heart then. I'm in my 30's now and have studied it over the years and still breaks my heart still today. Good work on bringing this nearly forgotten tragedy back into the light for those of us that follow your channel, Sam!
Recommendation: since you’re doing videos on other sinkings I recommend doing a video on the sinking of the RMS Atlantic.
already on the list :)
@@HistoricTravels Hell yeah brother
Yey 👍
Was just watching your video on the Lusitania and I wondered what was the deadliest ship wreck and found this one on the internet and said to my self, I hope he made a video on this ship wreck. Not disappointed!
Thank you so much for teaching me about this important event in war history. I especially appreciate that you bring up the issue of civilians being caught in the horrors of wars they might have had no part in.
Thank you for giving a non biased record of this. So sick of idiots thinking its not a big deal because these peoples nationality was German. They were innocent people. End of.
There's literally a guy in the comments trying to defend this as not a war crime or a massive tragedy.
@@DevilSurvivor69 I mean, it wasnt a war crime, tragedy yes, war crime no.
The Germans played a risky game loading civilians onto a Navy ship, and they paid the price, whats the submarine captain supposed to do? Use his X-ray vision to check inside the ship?
@@connorbranscombe6819As if a Soviet military officer would give two sh*ts about the occupants of any vessel under the German flag in 1945.
@@Ultimaton100 Probably not, but then again, that's kinda on the Germans too isn't it?
@@connorbranscombe6819 Even then , the X-ray vision would also show the guns on top of the ship, so he's still in a pickle
I love your channel! I’ve been binge watching all your videos the past few weeks. Keep it up!
Suggestion: Do a video on the Andrea Doria
There is a video where he talks a fair bit about the Andrea Doria. I believe it's the video about what if the Titanic hit the iceberg head-on. A full video on the Andrea Doria would be great though.
or eastland!
NO COMPARISON!!!
Or estonia
And the Andrea doria was not an big disaster
I'm 46 years old. Have a degree in History. And this is the first I've heard of this. Thanks for the video.
what
How?
Can confirm. My Great Grandmother and 3 kids were given 5 minutes by the Red Army to pack what they could and get out. They lived homeless for a while and eventually made their way to the United States once they got a cousin to sponsor them.
my god this is unbelievable, thank you for spreading awareness.
this is the second video I have seen on this ship allmost no one talks about this one
Oh My how very sad 😥 & horrific. I've never heard of this ship's existence before or this horrific tragedy. Thank you for this information, your presentation was spot on.
Thank you for this! I have a great interest in ship wrecks, and when I found out about this, and how little is known and/or discussed about it is honestly an injustice to those who went down with ship or perished in the Arctic waters of the Baltic Sea. So again, I say thank you Sir!
Love your videos I learn so much
WOW. I had NEVER heard of this ship before. Thank you so much for the video!
Great videos. Keep up the good work.
Thank you for the information. I love history and I remember a little bit of this wreck, but not in this detail. Great job.
War is hell, and you are doing a great job with your channel. Keep up the great work.
Great history dude! Thanks so much for providing this for us to remember.
Respect that you did a video about Gustloff!
I have not heard of this before. What a truly horrific thing to happen. So many people gone so quickly. Absolutely heartbreaking.
Thank you for bringing this to public notice. I've looked for a while for something sensible on this incident.
Just subscribed this story brought tears to my eyes great video and other videos I've seen keep them up I love the history !
congratulations on 7k subs,
you deserve it
I had not heard of this ship! My God this is tragic! Thank you again for your information.
Amazing Story! So Sad. You did a great job as always.
Dude I absolutely love your channel!
Another very interesting story/ship that is sadly located in the worst chapter of German History around WW II 😥 Thank God, these times are over 🙌🏻
Great Channel, always fun to watch and to learn about those great ships and their story 👍🏻
Are they?
Last time I was this early, the Titanic left port.
not the video for this
@@cinnamondafox for....what?
You explain the story so well! I love this!
This is gonna be a good one!
Wow, I really love your content. And yeah.. the Wilhelm Gustloff... quite horrific... I could not imagine the horrors faced by those onboard.. At the start of the video, you did mention a few other shipwrecks, I would like to suggest perhaps a video on the MV Dona Paz, Asia's Titanic. It sank on December 20, 1987, so not too long ago. According to the website, Maritime Executive, an estimated 4,386 people perished, whilst only 24 survived.
Great video man keep up the great content!
Thanks for this!
The first I heard of this incident was in 2019. I need to know more. Cheers for the video.
I never heard of this ship before. Thanks for this very informative video.
Thanks for these videos, Sam.
I wake up insanely early in the morning, and they're an important part of my "Tea, historical videos and wonder why I'm awake so insanely early" ritual.
As always a good video, keep up the good work! grtz from the Netherlands!
4:24 "Just let that number sink in". Not exactly the best choice of words for this kind of content, i guess. :D I am just kidding, of course. Great video, mate! I've recently came accross your channel and honestly now I am a huge fan of everything that has to do with naval incidents. Keep the good work going. Amazing content!
My respect and thank you for upload and preparing this theme So objectively but careful . I found you Channel coincidence , Now i am waiting impatient for next Video. With greetings in a very bad englisch, a viewer from northgermany.
Your English is fine, believe me. 👍 There are people born in this country who can’t spell their own name. God bless you, sir 🌺
This was fantastic thank you for expanding your range
I just found your channel and love it! I have been obsessed with Titanic since I was a kid. i
I am now 52. I remember seeing the news when it was found and dont get me started about after seeing James Camerons Titanic while living in NyC AND running into Leo Dicaprio. I have been to all the landmarks and every exhibit in the country. My puppies names are Jack and Rose (love your Rosie) the only things I have t done YET is visit Harland amd Wolff in Ireland or the massive unmarked graves in Nova Scotia. I also wanted to go on the 100th Anniversary cruise but wasnt able too. Long story longer... love the channel! I thought I knew every fact there was to know about the Titanic but have already learned some things, so thank you very much! Also many other shipwrecks I was unaware of. This is my new fav channel keep up the good work. Another ship and her crew I have researched and am obsessed with is the Andrea Gail out of Gloucester. I keep praying one day she will be found as well. Not sure if you have done a video on her but many stories to tell regarding her and her crew and the city from which she came. I hope to see one soon. If I were still on the east coast I would meet you up there in MA. Still on my bucket list to visit where she called home. Keep great vids coming!
As I mentioned in a reply below, now that the shipwreck wuith the highest death toll is covered (MV Wilhelm Gustloff), I believe that the deadliest peacetime maritime disaster should be covered when the opportunity arises:
MV Doña Paz - commonly described as "Asia's Titanic, which sank on 20 December 1987.
Having watched the documentary and reading the news reports, I note that MV Doña Paz shares one aggravating factor with MV Gustloff: Both passenger vessels are dangerously over-occupied far beyond their normal maximum passenger capacities.
Compound it with more factors like crew complacency and safety being an afterthought, and all the ingredients of a maritime disaster are set.
I’ve never heard of this before. Really interesting!
And the story of the German sailors dragging their families into their cabins to kill them, I don't consider that murder, I see it more of a mercy killing
Love these videos! Keep up the great work mate, so interesting 👍🙌
Found this channel by accident.. I subbed pretty quickly after watching one video. Good stuff! Keep it up!!
Thanks for the shoutout to my hometown Halifax. The collision of mont Blanc and Imo would be a interesting video
When I saw this video I literally cried. The amount of people that die is ridiculous, I hope this does not happen again. (But sadly it probably will)
Great work
Ive wanted to learn about the Wilhelm Gustloff, And there aren't really any fact videos of it on CZcams. Now There is a really good fact video! You make it easy to learn in a 12 minute video! Great job, keep up the amazing work on your channel!
Thanks!! This was the hardest video I have made to date.
On a smaller scale this reminds me of S/S Hansa, on route to Visby Gotland, torpedoed by Soviets in 1944. 84 died, 2 survivors.
I need to see a video on the Empress of Ireland, the wreck is also somewhat intact laying on its starboard side.
Good video man 😊👍🏻
And, when the lines broke and the lifeboat spilled the passengers, like you said, the water was freezing and that same thing is also what killed the people on the Titanic.
For future reference “Wilhelm” is pronounced “Vil-helm” with a “V” in German
He not German so....
Thank you for posting this.. This shipwreck is more severe than titanic...
Weird part is, I never heard of this shipwreck until a month ago.....
So tragic :(
Awesome video!!!
it's nice to finally see something about this ship on CZcams, I came across the story of this sinking on Wikipedia a couple of years while just playing around looking at sinkings and somesuch (hey we all have our hobbies) and it has always interested me in the way it's mentioned as this huge tragedy sinking-wise but it seems to have been forgotten because it was during the war (general attitude=thousands were dying everyday what's a few thousand more) and it involved Nazi Germany which never gets good press, there maybe other factors such as not having stories of brave men saving people and stories like that. The point is it's nice to see it being highlighted.
I remember reading “Salt to the Sea” as an independent project in high school, it was a very good read about the Wilhelm Gustoff and explained what the people went through on the ship.
And to think the Russians praised the sinking of this ship and still remember the submarine captain as a hero.
And to think the Russians praised the sinking of this ship and still remember the submarine captain as a hero.
1. It was a war. A horrible one with lots of dead.
2. The Russians (and others living in the former USSR) saw *a lot* of brutality on their civilians during the nazi occupation so it's understandable they felt nothing but pure hate for all Germans and wanted "blood for blood".
3. War on civilians is always wrong but it was *Nazi Germany* who began targeting civilians in the countries they occupied and in some - like in Poland and the former USSR - they literally had plans to exterminate and drive out the majority while keeping the rest as either cannon fodder or a slave class. The nazis had something they called Generalplan Ost (East) - which was a huge plan of genocide - they intended on implementing during stages, and the first two stages were already in place during the war. No such plan existed for other occupied countries so they never saw such brutality.
My point is given the ruthless treatment of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarus, Lithuanians etc at the hand of the nazi occupation it's not hard at all to understand how anybody who killed more Germans would be considered a hero among the locals, especially since they had been on the receiving end for 3 long years.
4. The allied firebombing of Dresden killed more German civilians and they were literally roasted in their bomb shelters. Why was Dresden and its population targeted by the allies? Well, it was discovered that allied bombing enough did little to stop the German industrial production and factories were repaired and some even operated without roofs. But you can't replace your workforce as easily can you?? No German industrial workers no German industrial production... That was the plan. That also meant targeting the civilian population specifically. I don't even have to mention the Hiroshima bombing in which mostly civilians payed a horrible price. Like I said it was a horrible war and *all sides* committed atrocities and hated their enemies (civilians included) with a passion.
So I don't want to see any pointing of fingers some 75 odd years later and no "And to think the Russians praised the sinking of this ship and still remember the submarine captain as a hero." nonsense. You didn't see what they did during the nazi occupation.
@@yewisemountaingoat528 Total nonsense.
1) is a facile and spineless excuse.
2) The 'Russians' (i think you mean the Soviets - Russians made up only a part of the Soviet Union, and not the majority of it's leadership, either) had set the tone with their swallowing up of the Baltic states and their barbaric war against the Finns. Unlike the situation between Germany and Poland, their was no ethnic or geopolitical grievance between the Soviet Union and the nations it swallowed up that required a definite resolution. The Soviets became increasingly belligerent and bellicose towards the Third Reich, even though the Third Reich and the USSR had concluded a non-Aggression Pact. Eventually, it become apparent, via perfectly well-grounded intelligence, that the Soviet Union was planning an invasion of Germany and Western Europe . Hitler pre-empted the Soviets and neutralised the threat.
3)The notion that the Third Reich had "plans to exterminate and drive out the majority" is total and utter drivel. In fact, it's pure unsubstantiated lies. Generalplan Ost was NOTHING to do with any genocidal intentions - that is the product of febrile and demented minds (just as the Wannsee Protocols have no mention whatsoever of any intention to kill, murder or exterminate anyone at all). Generalplan Ost was a plan to deal with the practical management of the territories won following victory over the Soviet Union. Stalin's SCORCHED EARTH policy was the main reason that civilians in the Russian and Ukrainian territories suffered. Villages, crops, infrastructure was all destroyed by the Bolshevik forces led by the commissars in order to leave the combined forces of the Reich and it's allies with nothing to gain in their new territories. The simple fact, backed by forensic research, is that far more citizens of the Soviet Union died on account of the governance by the Bolsheviks than by the soldiers of the Third Reich. And then, you must speak of PARTISAN activity, which was strictly AGAINST the international laws of warfare. The soldiers of the Reich's forces (not all Germans, volunteers came from most European nations in their many thousands) meted out harsh retribution towards partisans when caught, in order to prevent any recurrence.
4)To excuse the terror-bombing of Dresden, a city with ZERO military significance whatsoever, an act organised and carried out with sole intention of murdering as many non-combatants as possible, is a a disgusting attitude, and frankly sounds like the ravings of someone who speaks of something they are not mentally capable of comprehending. I suggest you read the recent book 'Hellstorm: The Death of Nazi Germany' by Thomas Goodrich', available on Amazon, filled with findings from the latest research. - but importantly, it's NON-PARTISAN, something that can't be said for you. You speak of the Germans as if they were not even people. They were people, ALL OF THEM.
@@yewisemountaingoat528 Thank you.
@@ministryofanti-feminism1493 maybe actually try to read some different books, some of your knowledge is a little bit mixed up. Maybe better do some real research instead of reading propaganda. Ask the civilians who got invaded by the nazis on the borders of former ussr when they first invaded... You'll get some interesting stories.. Like my grandmother, who was a little girl then, living their usual life on the country... In the night the nazis came, they showed the whole family in the cold and wet cellar, without food, water or light, they sat there in total darkness... Sometimes they let out my grandmother and her mother to cook and wash their clothes, and the men to do some outside work. They occupied the small village, and other villages around, some of the villagers got killed or inslaved, luckily some of mine survived, sadly some were killed... And yes Germans are also people, we all are but that does not justify what the nazis did.
@@ministryofanti-feminism1493 While the first three points you said could be argued about, the Dresden part is total bs.
Dresden was 7th largest industrial city of the Reich and a major railway and communication center. Some of the more important industries were: Zeis-Ikon, an ammo and optics factory, Radio Mende- a radio factory, Seidel and Naumann which produced typewriters for Wehrmacht, Richard Gäbel & Co- torpedo factory, J. C. Müller Universelle-Werk which produced searchlights, torpedoes, machineguns and aircraft parts, Bernsdorf & Co.- a bullet manufacturer, Deutsche Werkstätte which made V1 and V2 parts (that were still bombing Britain at the time) and so on. The directory listed 127 separate businesses or manufacturers in Dresden working for the Wehrmacht. There were probably many more in Dresden since the directory did not include many component and part manufacturers. The Allies had recently begun targeting German transportation and communications on the theory this would be more effective than bombing industrial facilities. Dresden had both. This change in strategy proved to be highly effective in crippling the Nazi war machine. Because of the cloud cover bombers were not able to see the targets clearly and many went astray inadvertently bombing civilians areas. This was a common problem in WWII.
It was a terrible calamity, around 35000 dead, but after the war the figure became an urban myth, inflated to as much as 320,000 by Goebels' propaganda. It has suited critics to exaggerate the truth to demonise the attackers. and so, the myth of Dresden bombing was born. It was horrible, as was the rest of the war, but it wasn't a warcrime.
And Karima is right about one thing: Germany established the rules of engagement during Blitzkrieg and what is the acceptable standard for strategic bombing during their Blitzkrieg campaign on Rotterdam, Warsaw, London, Stalingrad, Leningrad, Kharkov, etc. - and had those rules in turn used on themselves.
Hi Historic Travels,
I´m following your Videos of Titanic and other maritime disasters for a few months now. Since I´m from Germany (and yes, there are Titanic-Buffs too in Germany, take me for an example), this video is very interresting for me. Here in Germany you only hear about the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, when you want to know more of the History of World War Two or talk with elder people, who lived during those times. For example: when I was a young kid (ca. five or six years old), I was all about Ships like Titanic and so on. Around this time I was also spending a lot lot of time with my grandparents from my mothers side. Both had experienced the war in their late teens and early twenties and both had to flee from their former home country in 1945 (my grandfather came from Dobšiná in today Slovakia and my grandmother came from Cheb in today Czech Republic). As I can remember, one day I told my grandfather about Titanic and he said to me: "Schnapperle (his nickname for me), we once had an disaster here in Germany, that was far worse than Titanic". He then showed me some newspaper articles he collected about the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff and told me the story. Because as a former german refugee himself he was very interested in the german refugee crisis after World War Two, which also included the Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff. I´m also very interested in this topic and for that reason I want to thank you, Historic Travels, for this video. It helps to bring this topic to a broader, non-german speaking audience. But for further reading in this topic I can recommend you the books of the former assistant purser officer of the Wilhelm Gustloff, Heinz Schön (if there´s an english translation; as a second english source I can also recommend "Battleground Prussia" from Prit Buttar). Still I´m looking forward for your next video.
Greetings from Germany/ Bavaria
Thank you so much for the comment! I am trying my best to accurately tell this story. The story of the Gustloff is sad story of innocent people who had to suffer do to the horrible crimes committed by those in power. This story is largely forgotten to this day and I wanted to pay respects to the innocent people who lost their lives on that horrible night. I really wanted to get it up in time for the anniversary, that was my goal. Thanks for the kind words :) Made my day :)
This is insane wow I had no idea . How horrific thanks so your channel and sharing!
Great videos
Good summation of this sad episode. It might also be mentioned that if the Gustloff is the #1 shipwreck in number of victims, the second and third places were also taken by German ships sunk by Soviet submarines during the flight from East Prussia in early 1945: the Goya, with almost 7000 victims and the General von Steuben, with about 4500 fatalities. One final clarification: even though the Gustloff was based in Gdynia (then named Gotenhafen), the ship actually sailed from Danzig (current Gdansk). To say that she sailed from Poland might be a bit misleading, since all the Baltic coast as far east as Lithuania had been German for several centuries, and was awarded to Poland after WW2. Keep up the good work!!
Well said.
Second Polish Republic (1918-1939) had small access to the Baltic Sea. Gdynia was located in Poland before WWII.
Also I'd like to see you cover the General Slocum disaster, I think you could do it justice.
Or the Sultana, the worst in US history
Love your videos!
Another great video 💙
How about a video about the Queen Anne’s Revenge. I’ve always found that ship fascinating, along with its infamous captain of course.
Good video. And it was a war crime to sink that ship but as they say history is written by the victor. I understand due to the poor visibility and rough seas that the soviets weren't thinking too hard about what's on board that ship. It was german and the easiest target so therefore the one to blast out of the water. That is definitely up there as one of the worst tragedies in maritime history.
"It was a war crime to sink that ship".
Codswallop.
And how were the Soviets to know that there was a single civilian on board? Was it marked a refugee ship? No. Was it marked a hospital ship? No. Was it armed? Yes. Did it have armed escort? Yes. Did it have military personnel on board? Yes. Was it actually meant to evacuate military and Nazi party members? Yes. Were the civilians extra load who were not planned to be aboard at first? Yes. Was the sinking legitimate? 100000000000% yes.
Saying it was a war crime exposes a brain the size of a peanut, marinated in bigotry.
@@BillPurkayasthaThe Soviets knew about Operation Hannibal and the evacuation of civilian refugees from the eastern front thanks to Allied codebreaking. And you can’t honestly say the Soviets wouldn’t have targeted this ship if they knew most of the passengers were civilians. They committed a plethora of atrocities against noncombatants on their march to Berlin.
Marinesko knew what he was doing. Nobody thinking about this objectively can conclude otherwise.
this is my new favorite channel. even though the story made me sick to my stomach.
I love ur videos
You should cover the Laconia incident, it's an interesting war crime story.
As for the stories of Soviet revenge atrocities (rape etc). Yes they are true. The USSR had lost over 10M people to the war and propaganda officers (every Soviet unit had one) were feeding crassly exaggerated reports of what were (without exaggeration) already unspeakable atrocities committed by the german Wehrmacht. Example: Everybody would agree, shooting pregnant women is unspeakable, but soviet soldiers were told the Germans slit open the wombs of pregnant women and ripped the unborn child out. That meant that soviet soldiers were beside themselves and acted accordingly. To the soviets defense though. They did crack down hard on such revenge crimes comitted by own troops after the war as such crimes were counter-productive to their efforts of converting their occupation zone - east Germany - to Communism.
I knew of the sinking itself. However I never knew all the brutal details of it. Really great video
Awesome video. Such a little known disaster was a great topic to choose.
It was a tragedy by all means, but she was fair game for allied submarines; that’s why nobody considered a war crime, much less in the Soviet Union. The Wilhelm Gustloff was an armed Navy transport ship, after serving as “barracks ship” for a submarine training flotilla. Around 1.500 of those on board were military personnel, including her crew of 173. Many ships with civilians were sunk in WW2 by the Axis and the Allies. Like the Soviet hospital ship Armenia and a German hospital ship too, MV Goya, respectively. The latter was sunk few months after the Gustloff with circa 6,500 dead.
I would call it a war crime