Minnesceremoni för Gustloffs offer

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Dagens inlägg blir något så enkelt som en länk, en länk till minnesceremonin för de annars ofta bortglömda offren från Andra Världskrigets slutskede då tyska flyktingar ofta gick ett sorgligt öde till mötes.

The first of these German ships to go down was the Wilhelm Gustloff, a 25,000-ton converted luxury liner that had been serving as a hospital ship. When it left the Baltic harbor of Gydnia (Gotenhafen) on January 30, 1945, it was jammed with nearly 5,000 refugees, mostly women and children, and 1,600 military servicemen. At shortly after nine o’clock in the evening, it was struck by three torpedoes from Soviet submarine S-13. Convoy vessels were able to rescue only about 900 from the sub-freezing Baltic waters. At least 5,400 perished.

Minnesceremoni för Gustloffs offer