Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff

In late January of 1945,with the Allied victory imminent,nearly 10,000 German refugees attempted to flee the advancing Red Army aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a cruise liner-turned-escape ship. As the ship set sail in the dark of night, three torpedoes from a Soviet submarine struck the boat, causing catastrophic damage, and throwing women, children, the elderly, and wounded soldiers into the frigid waters of the Baltic Sea. When a few hours later first light broke,over 9,000 people had drowned in one of the worst maritime disasters of all time. For 65 years, both East and West kept this story hidden. The drowned were citizens of the future East Germany and part of the Soviet Bloc. And the German victims inspired little sympathy in the West. In Death in the Baltic, award winning author Cathryn Prince reconstructsthe story of unimaginable horror by drawing on original interviews with ten remaining survivors and newly declassified records. Weaving the personal narratives into the broader history, she finally gives this WWII tragedy its place in history.