SS Cap Arcona (1927)

The Cap Arcona was a large German luxury ocean liner, formerly of the Hamburg-South America line. While heavily-laden with prisoners from Nazi concentration camps, she was sunk in 1945 by the Royal Air Force, with the loss of many lives.

History
The 27,561 gross ton Cap Arcona, named after Cape Arkona on the island of Rügen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, was launched in 1927. She was considered one of the most beautiful ships of the time, was the largest German ship on the South American run, and carried upper-class travelers and steerage-class emigrants, mostly to South America.

In 1940, the Cap Arcona was taken over by the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) and used in the Baltic Sea as an accommodation ship. In 1942, she was used as a stand-in for the doomed RMS Titanic in the German film version of the disaster. In early 1945, the Kriegsmarine reactivated her for Operation Hannibal, and she was used to transport 25,795 German soldiers and civilians from East Prussia to western Germany.

As a prison ship
Towards the end of April 1945, the Nazis assembled a small fleet of ships in the Bay of Lübeck, comprising the liners Cap Arcona and SS Deutschland, and the smaller vessels Thielbek and Athen. The Athen was used to transfer prisoners from Lübeck to the larger ships and from ship to ship. By the end of the month, these ships held more than 10,000 prisoners from Neuengamme and its subcamps, and two barges came from Stutthof and Mittelbau-Dora. The order to transfer the prisoners from the camps to the prison ships came from Hamburg Gauleiter Karl Kaufmann, who was himself acting on orders from Berlin. Kaufmann later claimed during a War Crimes Tribunal that the prisoners were destined for Sweden, however, at the same trial Bassewitz-Behr, the head of the Hamburg Gestapo, said that the prisoners were in fact slated to be killed in compliance with Himmler's orders, and it has been suggested that the plan called for scuttling the ships with the live prisoners still aboard.

On April 30, 1945, two Swedish ships, Magdalena and Lillie Matthiessen, sailed from Lübeck, the first with 223 western European prisoners, for the most part French-speaking (among them was the French resistant Michel Hollard), who were transferred from the Thielbek to the Magdalena, and the second with 225 women from Ravensbrück on board for transportation to hospitals in Sweden.

On May 2, 1945, the British Second Army reached the towns of Lübeck and Wismar. No. 6 Commando, 1st Special Service Brigade commanded by Brigadier Derek Mills-Roberts, and 11th Armoured Division, commanded by Major-General George P. B. Roberts, entered Lübeck without resistance. The International Red Cross informed Major-General Roberts that 7,000-8,000 prisoners were aboard ships in the Bay of Lübeck.

Sinking
On May 3, 1945, four days after Hitler's suicide and only one day before the unconditional surrender to Monty of the German troops in Northwestern Germany (Lüneburg Heath), the Cap Arcona, the Thielbek, and the passenger liner Deutschland (possibly converted to a hospital ship but not marked as such), were attacked as part of general attacks on shipping in the Baltic by RAF Typhoons of 83 Group of the 2nd Tactical Air Force, commanded by Sir Arthur Coningham.

The attacks were by No. 184 Squadron, based at RAF Hustedt, led by Squadron Leader Derek L. Stevenson, by No. 193 Squadron, based in Ahlhorn (Großenkneten), led by Squadron Leader D. M. Taylor, by No. 263 Squadron, based in RAF Ahlhorn, led by Squadron Leader Martin Trevor Scott Rumbold, by No. 197 Squadron RAF, led by Squadron Leader K. J. Harding also at Ahlhorn, and by No. 198 Squadron based at Plantlünne led by Group Captain "Johnny" Baldwin. These Hawker Typhoon Mark 1B fighter-bombers used High Explosive 60 lb rocket projectiles, bombs, and 20 mm cannons.

Pilots of the attacking force stated that they were unaware that the ships were laden with prisoners who had survived the camps. However, some sources suggest elements of British command knew of the occupants, but failed to pass the information on. The RAF commanders ordering the strike reportedly thought that the ships carried escaping SS officers, possibly fleeing to German-controlled Norway with a dilapidated and completely rusted ship.

Equipped with lifejackets from locked storage compartments, most of the SS guards were able to jump overboard from the Cap Arcona, and they shot any prisoners who tried to escape. German trawlers sent to rescue Cap Arcona's crew members and guards managed to save 16 sailors, 400 SS men, and 20 SS women. Most of the prisoners who tried to board the trawlers were beaten back, while those who reached shore were shot down. Only 350 of the 4,500 former concentration camp inmates who had been aboard the Cap Arcona survived.

RAF Pilot Allan Wyse of No. 193 Squadron later recalled, "We used our cannon fire at the chaps in the water . . . we shot them up with 20mm cannons in the water. Horrible thing, but we were told to do it and we did it. That's war."

Severely damaged and set on fire, the Cap Arcona eventually capsized. The death toll was estimated at 5,000 people.

Photos of the burning ships, listed as Deutschland, Thielbek, and Cap Arcona, and of emaciated survivors swimming in the very cold Baltic Sea, around 7 °C (44.6 °F), were taken on a reconnaissance mission over the Bay of Lübeck by F-6 Mustang (the photo-reconnaissance version of the P-51) of the USAAF's 161st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron around 5:00 pm, shortly after the attack.

On May 4, 1945, a British reconnaissance plane shot photos of the two laid wrecks: Thielbek, Cap Arcona.

The capsized hulk of the Cap Arcona later drifted ashore, and the beached wreck was broken up in 1949. It was the second worst seafaring incident in history.

For weeks after the attack, the bodies of victims washed ashore, where they were collected and buried in mass graves at Neustadt in Holstein, Scharbeutz and Timmendorfer Strand. Parts of skeletons washed ashore over the next thirty years, until the last find in 1971.

The prisoners were mostly Jews from 28 different nationalities: American, Belarussian, Belgian, Canadian, Czechoslovakian, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Luxembourger, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swiss, Ukrainian, Yugoslavian and others.

Notable survivors

 * Erwin Geschonneck, who later became a notable German actor, and whose story was made into a film in 1982.
 * Emil František Burian, a musician and theatrical director, founder of Theater D, a leading avant-garde theater in interwar Europe.
 * Sam Pivnik, art dealer and lecturer on the Holocaust.

Locations

 * Cap Arcona: 54.065°N, 10.84083°W
 * Thielbek: 54.07167°N, 10.84°W
 * Deutschland: 54.125°N, 10.80417°W

Documentaries, TV movie

 * Typhoons' Last Storm, Lawrence Bond, 2000.
 * The Cap Arcona case, Günther Klaucke, Karl Hermann, 1995.
 * Der Mann von der Cap Arcona, GDR TV movie, the Erwin Geschonneck's story by the theme of the sinking of the Cap Arcona, 1981/82.