Hitler's Lost State: The Fall of Prussia and the Wilhelm Gustloff Tragedy

210 Pages·2020·16.054 MB·English

by  Tim Heath, Michela Cocolin

HITLER’S
LOST STATE
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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.
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HITLER’S
LOST STATE
The Fall of Prussia and the
Wilhelm Gustloff Tragedy
TIM HEATH AND MICHELA COCOLIN
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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
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.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying,
recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission
from the Publisher in writing.
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Contents
Introduction ...........................................................................................vi
Chapter 1 Prussia: Birth of a European Power ..................................1
Chapter 2 The First World War .......................................................12
Chapter 3 1918–1933: The Descent into Madness .........................29
Chapter 4 Black Aurora ..................................................................38
Chapter 5 By a Cursed Hand ..........................................................54
Chapter 6 The Minority Nightmare ................................................67
Chapter 7 Resisting Evil .................................................................88
Chapter 8 Blood and Fire ..............................................................107
Chapter 9 Harbour of Hope...........................................................124
Chapter 10 The Cruellest Night ......................................................136
Chapter 11 A Tale of Two Lost Cities .............................................152
Chapter 12 Nemesis at Potsdam ......................................................167
Afterword ...........................................................................................176
Acknowledgements ............................................................................178
Bibliography .......................................................................................179
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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 Hitler’s Lost State had been approved. I was busy adding the
final narratives to my fifth book, Hitler’s 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 Hitler’s Girls – Doves Amongst Eagles social media page. From the
conversations that followed, including some fascinating revelations
regarding Michela’s 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
Michela’s 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 Hitler’s 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
vi
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Introduction
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 state’s 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 Germany’s ideological
enemy of Soviet Russia. As Germany’s 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 Führer. 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.
vii
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Hitler’s Lost State
Michela’s 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 Michela’s mother and
grandmother not become separated at the train station there could have
been a very different outcome to their ordeal.
This is, therefore, a project which has become very close to myself
and Michela in terms of the scale of the tragedy brought about by war.
viii
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Chapter 1
Prussia: Birth of a European Power
During its relatively brief existence as a state within Europe, Prussia
was subject to a volatile and complex history. Having been involved in
conflicts with her neighbours since the 1600s, it is easy for Prussia to be
construed as a warlike nation. She has also been blamed for planting the
seeds of the two great conflicts of the twentieth century. Though this is
subject to much debate by historians today, it has to be said that Prussia
was once a powerful state that wielded much influence within the old
Europe, reaching its zenith in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
It would not be possible in the context of this volume to document any
detailed history of Prussia, but hopefully the following text will suffice
in setting out a basic understanding.
Many have asked the question ‘What is a Prussian?’ Today the term
‘Prussian’ no longer relates to any specific ethnic group of people
within the former state. It has often been the mistaken opinion that
the peoples of Prussia were merely a hybrid race of Russians and
Germans, but this is, of course, not the case. There were those who
were referred to as ‘old Prussians’, referring to a race of Baltic people
who were related to the modern Latvians and Lithuanians. However,
they were little more than small tribal communities residing along the
coastlines. These communities practiced paganism, often referred to
as the ‘Religion of the Peasantry’. During and after the Middle Ages
the term pagan was used to describe any non-Abrahamic or unfamiliar
religious practice. There was also a general consensus of opinion that
the practitioners of paganism possessed a belief in false gods and they
were viewed as little more than heathens by the Holy Roman Empire.
A full-scale invasion of Prussia and the Baltic region was carried out
by the Teutonic Order in 1217, resulting in a victory for the crusaders.
The Christianisation and Germanisation of the Prussian people thus
began to be instituted.
1
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