The burning ship
On 3 May 1945, only days before the end of the Second World War in Europe, a major maritime tragedy occurred in the Bay of Lübeck.
The ‘Cap Arcona’ was one of the luxury liners of the Hamburg-South America Line.
In 1944, the ship was used to transport refugees from East Prussia westwards and later to evacuate inmates of the Neuengamme concentration camp.
The ship lay at anchor in Neustadt Bay together with the steamer ‘Deutschland’, which had been converted into a hospital ship. About 10,000 prisoners were already aboard the vessels when British aircraft attacked with bombs, rockets and cannon fire. The ‘Deutschland’ was the first ship to be set ablaze.
In a second wave, about 40 rockets struck the ‘Cap Arcona’, turning the vessel from stern to amidships into a blazing inferno. Thousands of people were burned alive. After an explosion inside the ship, the huge vessel capsized and sank.
Even survivors in the water came under fire. More than 7,000 people died, most of them evacuated prisoners, only a few days before the end of the war.