Sinking of MV Wilhelm Gustloff | How 9000 Drowned

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Eric Braeden, the actor who played John Jacob Astor in James Cameron's 1997 film Titanic, was also a survivor of the sinking of the Gustloff. He was three years old at the time.

My Grandmother was suppose to be on the Gustloff. Her Uncle was living near to the port and since they had been fleeing for days they decided to stay there for the night. They wanted to bord the Gustloff the day after, however my Great Grandmother fell sick the morning with the flue. The sickness was so intense that they decided not to take the Gustloff and try to get out of East Prussia by land. They ultimitly made it to Bordesholm a city in Nothern Germany. When they arrived they where told by another relativ (at this point I dont remember exactly who that was) that the Gustloff had sunk. It´s always crazy to me to think about this event. If my Great Grandmother wouldnt have gotten the flue just in time for them not to make it to the ship, I wouldnt even exist today.

This guy had an instinct to bring a knife. Something told him to, and he wound up using it. By doing so, he saved 70 people. For a 10 year old, I find this pretty amazing.

These stories need to be said, and need to be heard. A lot of innocent people and children lost their lives and regardless of what’s happening elsewhere at that time these people deserve to be remembered.

My Oma (great grandma) and grandfather were supposed to be on this ship, but the only reason they didn't get on was because my great uncle got very ill at the last minute and died. His death saved my family's lives. They ended up taking the last train out of Poland into Germany before the Soviets got there, and even though there was no room on the train, the conductor took pity on them and let them ride in the locomotive with him. They had many stories of near death experiences, war is a terrible thing

I'm glad to hear that this little known story is coming out. It is important that all history is told , not just one side.

In my opinion, we should be learning about this and mourning those innocent lives lost. Of course, I do understand why it's not talked about that much, especially in Germany and Russia. WWII is hard to talk about, no matter where you are in the world. But incidents like this should still be talked about and those innocent lives should be mourned. I'm glad some people survived to tell their story.

For too long we have ignored heartbreaking tragedies simply because the victims were our enemies. Peace comes when you weep for them too.

My Oma was on this ship and lost her sister, cousin, and other family members. She was even in the movie about the ship, she passed away last year but she had told me some crazy things she witnessed while under Nazi control.

Having studied the disaster from various sources it is impossible to get a good count, especially given the hasty boarding but it is likely that more than 10,000 drowned

😮 I'd never heard of this.. This is one of my scariest nightmares and biggest fears.. This story should definitely continue to be told..

My mom's family is Austrian. I don't think it's just the war role that Germans didn't want to talk about this event or play victim. That generation had the old German tendency to not express too much emotion and stay practical. I would imagine this was more so after surviving the interwar years' depression. Basically a "suck it up and move on" mentality. That said, I'm amazed that after all the shipwreck stories I've heard, this is the first time I've heard of this one.

I read about this some years ago. I've never met anyone else who knows about it! Most People seem to think the titanic had greatest loss of life and have not even heard of this ship.

History hides a lot of dark secrets,in fact I never knew anything about this tragedy until right now.

Thanks for giving this narration with a sympathetic tone . All too often our media and our general consensus of the German people is absolute and entirely black and white . Hitler was a terrible German , but all Germans were not Hitler, nor are all Germans terrible. Thank you

My grandma almost went on that ship but her little brother went missing so they missed the ship searching for him

A survivor lived near me and many years ago we were talking about it. She was (right up to the day she dies) convinced that there were far more than 9000 on board as she stood and watched the ship fill up after the crew stopped counting. There was unhindered loading for alsmost 2 hours after the crew went for their meals. A conservative estimate by her was 14- 18,000. There were as many as 30 people in some cabins made for 2.

pretty sure that this is the ship one of my grandmothers, her brother and mother almost took but couldn't get onto. they were from prussia and she only ever said that they took another ship and later heard that the one they had originally planned to take sunk.

I have a program and a menu from this ship, when it was still a luxury liner. My husband's grandmother was on it.