HITLERS
LOST STATE
Tim Heath
For my grandmother, Kath, with fond memories which now seem so long ago.
Michela Cocolin
In liebevoller Erinnerung an meine Mutti, Elke, und Omi, Luise, die am 30.01.1945 die Heimat verlassen mussten.
In loving memory of my mother, Elke, and grandmother, Luise, who had to leave their homeland on 30.01.1945.
First published in Great Britain in 2020 by
PEN AND SWORD HISTORY
An imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
Yorkshire Philadelphia
Copyright Tim Heath and Michela Cocolin, 2020
ISBN 978 1 52675 610 7
eISBN 978 1 52675 611 4
Mobi ISBN 978 1 52675 612 1
The right of Tim Heath and Michela Cocolin to be identified as Authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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Introduction
It was in August 2018 when I received an email via Claire Hopkins, my Commissioning Editor at Pen & Sword Books, that the synopsis for Hitlers Lost State had been approved. I was busy adding the final narratives to my fifth book, Hitlers Housewives . For a while I had thought about co-writing a book, but the idea somehow never materialised. My co-author, Michela, had made contact with me through the Hitlers Girls Doves Amongst Eagles social media page. From the conversations that followed, including some fascinating revelations regarding Michelas Italian/German ancestry, it instantly occurred to me that here was an individual who I could comfortably work with in the co-authorship sense.
Initially, Michela offered me the freedom of her entire family archive to formulate a book. It was then that I suggested she co-author the project with me. This would be my sixth foray into the dark spheres of both the Second World War and the Third Reich, and it would be Michelas first. I had every confidence that between us we could produce a work charting a useful portion of the history of East and West Prussia, utilising, as much as possible, previously unpublished material from those who witnessed the events. Neither of us were under any illusion as to the substantial nature of the project we were about to undertake. It was with the title Hitlers Lost State , which was penned by Michela, that we began to formulate the book. The subtitle, The Fall of Prussia and the Wilhelm Gustloff Tragedy , may appear somewhat long-winded and a little at odds with the main title, but many historians will understand the inexorable link that the two historical facets possess.
The German colonies of East and West Prussia, especially during the Third Reich era, appear largely forgotten by military historians since the end of the Second World War. Viewed largely as an agricultural utopia and pseudo universe within the Nazi state, it is often the view that both East and West Prussia had remained relatively untouched by war. Yet all of the violence, prejudice and murder, combined with the political/social interferences that one commonly associates with National Socialism, were present and active throughout the states existence.
The close proximity of their enemies in the east meant that the very survival of East and West Prussia depended totally on a Nazi victory, particularly in the war being fought against Germanys ideological enemy of Soviet Russia. As Germanys military fortunes began to falter in the campaign against Russia in the east, it soon became clear that both East and West Prussia would inevitably fall to a hated enemy.
The cruise ship Wilhelm Gustloff , which was launched by Adolf Hitler himself on 5 May 1937, had originally been intended to be named the Fhrer. Constructed at a cost of twenty-five million Reichsmarks for the Deutscher Arbeitsfront (DAF/German Labour Front) and used by its subsidiary organisation, the Kraft Durch Freude (KDF/Strength through Joy), she had a relatively unremarkable career until her requisitioning by the German Kriegsmarine (Navy) in 1939. It was the Wilhelm Gustloff that transported home the victorious German military personnel of the Condor Legion, which had aided Fascist dictator General Franco secure victory in Spain. From there the Wilhelm Gustloff served as a hospital ship and floating barracks for the German military.
From the moment Nazi Germany began to lose its grip on its conquered territories in the East, the fates of East and West Prussia, along with the Wilhelm Gustloff , were sealed. Under Operation Hannibal the Wilhelm Gustloff was one of the ships sent to help the evacuation of German troops and civilians from areas such as Courland, East Prussia and Danzig, West Prussia. Many Germans had already witnessed the brutality of the Red Army during the massacres at Nemmersdorf and Metgethen. Many committed suicide in order to avoid such brutality.
At 9.16pm on 30 January 1945 the Russian submarine S-13 fired three torpedoes into the Wilhelm Gustloff , which was packed with 10,582 passengers. Just sixty minutes after the torpedoes had struck her, the ship sank beneath the dark, icy waters of the Baltic Sea. Some 9,343 passengers around 5,000 of them children perished in some of the most harrowing scenes ever recorded in a maritime disaster, yet the Wilhelm Gustloff remains a name unknown to a great many. Both Michela and I are hoping this book will add some balance to the events in East and West Prussia and their links with the greatest disaster in maritime history.
Michelas heart is particularly close to the tragedy. As her then five-year-old mother, Elke Gerns, and forty-one-year-old grandmother, Luise Gerns, fled Danzig from the approaching Red Army, with columns of terrified German refugees trying to board a train heading for the port of Gotenhafen (Gdynia), they became separated. In the chaos that reigned on the platform, somebody had helped the little girl onto the train, but the mother was stuck behind the hordes of people pushing to get on board. The young mother frantically cried out for her little daughter, trying to alert the conductor. Thankfully, just as the doors were shut ready for departure, a passenger, realising what had happened, managed to lower the carriage window and swiftly passed the child back to the mother. The incident, which may have ultimately saved their lives, delayed their arrival at Gotenhafen where hundreds of thousands of refugees had been flocking for days, hoping to get onto the ship that would take them to safety. By the morning of 30 January 1945 the Wilhelm Gustloff was full; in fact, overcrowded with more than five times her capacity. Despite having obtained passes for the Gustloff , they were assigned to a different ship of the Gustloff Geleit (escort). Had Michelas mother and grandmother not become separated at the train station there could have been a very different outcome to their ordeal.
