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Death in the Baltic

Page 22

by Cathryn J Prince


  2.This and subsequent recollections of Eva Dorn come from author’s interview with Eva Dorn in Ascona, Switzerland April 16, 2012.

  3.Paul Vollrath, “Tragedy of the ‘Wilhelm Gustloff,” Seabreezes: the Magazine of Ships and the Sea, April 1981, vol. 55, no. 424, Liverpool, England, 228-229.

  4.Max Hastings, Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944-1945 (New York: Macmillan, 2004), 328.

  5.Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich at War (New York: Penguin Press, 2009), 455.

  6.Rose Rezas Petrus testimony included in July 10, 2007, letter to author as well as clipping of: Robert Dolgan, “30 Years Can’t Erase Vision of Ship Sinking,” Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH.

  7.Ibid.

  8.Vollrath, Seabreezes, 227.

  9.Ibid., 227-228.

  10.This and subsequent recollections from Horst Woit come from author’s interview with Horst Woit in Kimberly, Ontario, August 2007, as well as email and telephone correspondence since 2007.

  11.Eva Dorn interview with author, April 15, 2012, Ascona, Switzerland.

  12.Hastings, Armageddon, 328.

  13.Juergen Thorwald, Defeat in the East: Russia Conquers–January to May 1945 (New York: Bantam Books,1980), 7, 8, 50. Also see Michael H. Kater, Hitler Youth (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004).

  14.Heinz Schön, SOS Wilhelm Gustloff, Die größte Schiffskatastrophe der Geschichte (Stuttgart: Motor buch Verlag, 1998), 6-11.

  15.Ibid.

  16.Vollrath, Seabreezes, 228.

  17.Ibid.

  18.Ibid.

  19.This and subsequent recollections from Helga Reuter Knickerbocker are from author’s interview with Helga Reuter Knickerbocker, November 6, 2012.

  20.Author interview with Horst Woit, Kimberly, Ontario, August 2007.

  21.This and subsequent reflections from Ellen Tschinkur Maybee from author’s interview with Ellen Tschinkur Maybee, Tecumseh, Ontario, December 5-6, 2011.

  22.Cindy Lange-Kubick, “Lincoln Woman Survived Refugee Boat Sinking, Lincoln Journal Star, January 28, 2006, final ed.

  23.Testimony of Wilhelm Zahn to German naval board of inquiry, February 4, 1945, Ost-Dok, 4/64 Bundesarchiv, Beyreuth, Germany.

  24.David Ritchie, Shipwrecks: An Encyclopedia of the World’s Worst Disasters at Sea (New York: FactsOnFile, Infobase Holdings Co, 1996), 243.

  25.Wilhelm Zahn to Naval Board of Inquiry, February 4, 1945, Ost-Dok. 4/64, Bundesarchiv, Bayreuth, Germany.

  26.Testimony Harry Weller, captain and survivor, Ost-Dok 4/1, Bundesarchiv, Bayreuth, Germany.

  27.Rose Rezas Petrus testimony in July 10, 2007 letter to author.

  28.Vollrath, Seabreezes, 229.

  29.Ibid.

  30.Ibid.

  31.Robert Jackson, Battle of the Baltic: The Wars of 1918–1945 (South Yorkshire, England: Pen & Sword Maritime, Pen & Sword Books, 2007), 176.

  32.V.I. Dimitriev writing to Heinz Schön on the subject of the S-13, Ost-Dok. 4/64, 67, Bundesarchiv, Bayreuth, Germany.

  33.Vollrath, Seabreezes, 230.

  CHAPTER EIGHT: PLUMMETING TO THE SEA FLOOR

  1.This and subsequent recollections from Irene Tschinkur East from author’s interview with Irene Tschinkur East, Tecumseh, Ontario, December 5-6, 2011, as well as email correspondence from December 2011 to present.

  2.Adolf Hitler radio address to German Folk Project Muse, Johns Hopkins University Press in collaboration with Milton S. Eisenhower Library, http://muse.jhu.edu/books/9781603444415, last accessed March 7, 2012.

  3.This and subsequent recollections from Helga Reuter Knickerbocker from author’s interview with Helga Reuter Knickerbocker, Las Vegas, NV, November 6, 2011.

  4.Vollrath, Seabreezes, 231.

  5.Wilhelm Zahn to board of inquiry, February 4, 1945, Ost-Dok, 4/64 Bundesarchiv, Beyreuth, Germany.

  6.Ibid.

  7.Ibid.

  8.This and subsequent recollections from Milda Bendrich’s letter to her daughter Inge Roedecker, July 1981.

  9.Rose Rezas Petrus testimony included in July 10, 2007, letter to author as well as clipping of: Robert Dolgan, “30 Years Can’t Erase Vision of Ship Sinking,” Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH.

  10.Ibid.

  11.Vollrath, Seabreezes, 231.

  12.Ibid.

  13.Alfred Maurice de Zayas, A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans, 2nd ed. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1986).

  14.Cindy Lange-Kubick, “Lincoln Woman Survived Refugee Boat Sinking,” Lincoln Journal Star, January 28, 2006, final ed.

  15.Vollrath, Seabreezes, 232.

  16.Author interview with Inge Roedecker, March 9, 2012.

  17.Ibid.

  18.Rose Rezas Petrus testimony included in July 10, 2007 letter to author.

  19.This and subsequent recollections from Eva Dorn Rothschild from author’s interview with Eva Dorn, April 16, 2016, Ascona, Switzerland.

  20.Vollrath, Seabreezes, 231.

  21.Eva Dorn interview with author, April 16, 2012, Ascona, Switzerland.

  22.Vollrath, Seabreezes, 232.

  CHAPTER NINE: THE LITTLE RED SWEATER

  1.Paul Vollrath, “The Tragedy of the Wilhelm Gustloff,” Seabreezes: the Magazine of Ships and the Sea, April 1981, vol. 55, no. 424, 1981. 232.

  2.Excerpt from report #146 by Dr. Med. Peter Siegel, Homburg-Saar, Univ.-Franenkink, Ost-Dok. 4/1, Bundesarchiv, Bayreuth, Germany.

  3.This and subsequent recollections from Helga Reuter Knickerbocker are from author’s interview with Helga Reuter Knickerbocker, Las Vegas, NV, November 6, 2011.

  4.Capt. Heinz Vollmers of the MS Gotenland writing to Adm. Conrad Englehardt. 1945. Ost-Dok. 4/76, 124-125, Bundesarchiv, Bayreuth, Germany.

  5.Excerpt from report #146 by Dr. Med. Peter Siegel, Homburg-Saar, Univ.-Franenkink, Ost-Dok. 4/1, Bundesarchiv, Bayreuth, Germany.

  6.Letter from Maj. Erich Schirmack to Adm. Conrad Englehardt, October 27, 1965, Ost-Dok. 4/76, 127, Bundesarchiv, Bayreuth, Germany.

  7.Heinz Schön correspondence, Ost-Dok. 4/64, Bundesarchiv, Bayreuth, Germany.

  8.Paul Vollrath, Seabreezes, 234.

  9.Ibid., 234.

  10.Author interview with Horst Woit, Kimberly, Ontario, August 2007.

  11.Heinz Schön correspondence, Ost-Dok. 4/64, Bundesarchiv, Bayreuth, Germany.

  12.Rose Rezas Petrus testimony included in July 10, 2007, letter to author as well as clipping of: Robert Dolgan, “30 Years Can’t Erase Vision of Ship Sinking,” Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH.

  13.This and subsequent recollections from Irene Tschinkur East are from author’s interview with Irene Tschinkur East, Tecumseh, Ontario, December 5-6, 2011, and email correspondence thereafter.

  14.Author telephone interview with Inge Bendrich Roedecker, March 9, 2012.

  15.“Report about refugee transports out of Gotenhafen, January, February, March, 1945,” Ost-Dok. 4/21, Bundesarchiv, Bayreuth, Germany.

  16.“RAF Hits Dresden Heavy Night Blow: 1,400 Planes Also Attack Oil Plant Near Leipzig and Targets in Magdeburg, New York Times, February 14, 1945, final ed.

  17.This and subsequent recollections from Eva Dorn Rothschild are from author’s interview with Eva Dorn Rothschild, Ascona, Switzerland, April 16, 2012.

  CHAPTER TEN: THE FORGOTTEN STORY

  1.Adm. Karl Dönitz, “Uber die Teilnalme des Ob.d.M. an der Führerlage,” Jan. 31, 1945, 4 pm., Ost-Dok. 4/3, 149-150, Bundesarchiv, Bayreuth, Germany.

  2.Heinz Schön addresses the problem of the numbers in his book SOS Wilhelm Gustloff Die größte Schiffskatastrophe der Geschichte (Stuttgart: Motor buch Verlag, 1998).

  3.“German Liner Seen Sunk: Finnish Radio Says Only 1,000 of 8,700 Aboard Were Saved,” New York Times, February 19, 1945, final ed.

  4.“6,000 Died in Wartime Sinking,” New York Times, January 31, 1955, final ed.

  5.“Nachricthen Für Die Truppe,” February 19, 1945, seite 4.

  6.Ibid.

  7.Karl Dönitz, Memoirs: Ten Years and Twenty Days, trans. R.H. Stevens, David Woodward (N
ew York: Da Capo Press, 1997), 466.

  8.Karl Dönitz, “Uber die Teilnalme des Ob.d.M. an der Führerlage,” Bundesarchiv, Bayreuth, Germany.

  9.Dönitz, Memoirs, 153.

  10.Wilhelm Zahn testimony before the board of inquiry, February 4, 1945, Ost-Dok. F-64, Bundesarchiv, Beyreuth, Germany.

  11.Englehardt to Hering, November 24, 1964, Ost-Dok. 4/64, Bundesarchiv, Bayreuth, Germany.

  12.Englehardt to Hering, November 17, 1965, Ost-Dok. 4/64, Bundesarchiv, Bayreuth, Germany.

  13.Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin (New York: Basic Books, 2010), 318.

  14.Felice Fey, email correspondence with author, October 17, 2011.

  15.Alfred Maurice de Zayas, Nemesis at Potsdam: The Anglo-Americans and the Expulsion of the Germans, Background, Execution, Consequences (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1977), 13.

  16.“‘World’s Oldest’ Shipwreck found in the Baltic Sea,” Baltic News Network, July 16, 2011, http://bnn-news.com/world’s-oldest-shipwreck-baltic-sea-32412, last accessed March 14, 2012.

  17.Author interview with Mike Boring, telephone, January 17, 2012.

  18.Ibid.

  19.Christian Caryl, “Not Forever Amber: Treasure Hunters Seek a Golden Room,” US News & World Report, July 4, 2000, http://www.usnews.com/usnews/doubleissue/mysteries/amber.htm, last accessed March 8, 2012.

  20.Record Group 226 OSS E125 Box 135 Folder 216 Stockholm-SO-INT-2, October 26, 1944, NARA, Washington, DC.

  21.Record Group 226 OSS E125, Box 13, Folder 212, Stockholm-SO-INT-2, To – Digit London, dispatched 16.40, January 15, 1945. NARA, Washington, DC.

  22.Battle Cry, July 8, 1958.

  23.Elisabeth Noelle Neumann, The Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion, Our Social Skin (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984), 27.

  24.Ibid., 29.

  25.Henrik Eberle, Henrik and Matthias Uhl, eds., The Hitler Book: The Secret Dossier Prepared for Stalin from the Interrogations of Hitler’s Personal Aides (New York: Public Affairs, 2005), xv.

  26.Gertrud Mackprang Baer, “Germans Wrestle with the Culture of Memory,” The Toronto Star, April 29, 2005, A25.

  27.Ursula Mahlendorf, The Shame of Survival, Working Through a Nazi Childhood (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009), 10.

  28.As quoted in Neumann, The Spiral of Silence, 77.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN: “WE HAD TO GET OVER IT”

  1.Rose Rezas Petrus testimony included in July 10, 2007, letter to author as well as clipping of: Robert Dolgan, “30 Years Can’t Erase Vision of Ship Sinking,” Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH.

  2.Albert Schweitzer, “The Problem of Peace,” Nobel Lecture, November 4, 1954, Oslo, Norway, http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1952/schweitzer-lecture.html, last accessed May 17, 2012.

  3.The 1945 Potsdam Conference (1945) allowed for the mass expulsion of the German population from Czechoslovakia and from the territories given over to Russian and Polish administration.

  4.Marcin Jamkowski, “Ghost Ship Found,” National Geographic, February 2005, http://ngm.nationalgreographic.com/features/world/europe/balticsea/steuben/text?source-ge; V. I. Dimitriev writing to Heinz Schön on the subject of the S-13. Ost-Dok. 4/64, 67, Bundesarchiv, Beyreuth, Germany.

  5.Ibid.

  6.Ibid.

  7.Ibid.

  8.Jury Lebedev, Deputy Director of the A.I. Marinesko Museum of the Russian Underwater Forces, as quoted in Sergey Glezerov, “The Heroic Deed of Marinesko and the Tragedy of the German Gustloff,” http://rusnavy.com/history/events/marinesko.htm?print=Y, last accessed September 7, 2012.

  9.Author email correspondence with Horst Woit, May 8, 2008.

  10.Ursula Mahlendorf, The Shame of Survival. Working Through a Nazi Childhood (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009), 220.

  11.Jefferson Caffery, Ambassador to France, to Cordell Hull, April 14, 1945, FRUS, 1945, vol. 3, 935, NARA, Washington, DC.

  12.Author email correspondence with Horst Woit, September 26, 2011.

  13.Simon Rees, German POWs and the Art of Survival, Weider History Group, Historynet.com, published online July 17, 2007.

  14.Author email correspondence with Horst Woit, May 4, 2008.

  15.This and subsequent recollections of Irene Tschinkur East come from author’s interview with Irene Tschinkur East, Tecumseh, Ontario, December 5-6, 2011.

  16.This and subsequent recollections of Helga Reuter Knickerbocker are from author’s interview with Helga Reuter Knickerbocker, Las Vegas, November 6, 2011.

  17.Author telephone interview with Inge Roedecker, March 9, 2012.

  18.“Nine German Refugees Figure in Sea Drama. Over a Thousand Miles in 32-foot Yacht. Afraid of Another War. Exhausted on Arrival at Checkpoint,” Waterford News, August 27, 1948, 6.

  19.Ibid.

  20.Ibid.

  21.Elmear Ni Bhraonain, “Son charged with killing his mother bids a final farewell,” Irish Independent, March 14, 2012, final ed.

  22.Letter courtesy of Rita Rowand.

  23.Salk confirmation courtesy of Rita Rowand.

  24.Cindy Lange-Kubick, “Lincoln Woman Survived Refugee Boat Sinking,” Lincoln Journal Star, January 28, 2006, final ed.

  25.Obituary of Leonilla Zobs, Lincoln Journal Star, March 22, 2011, final ed.

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