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

By Tim Heath and Michela Cocolin

This WWII history chronicles the rise and fall of Nazi Prussia as well as the ill-fated exodus of its civilian refugees in 1945.

Seen as an agricultural utopia within Hitler’s Germany, Prussia is thought to have gone untouched during the Second World War. Yet the violence of the National Socialist regime was widespread throughout the German state.

As the Red Army advanced on its borders in 1945, nearly ten thousand civilians evacuated the region aboard the MV Wilhelm Gustloff—only to perish when the ship was sunk by a Soviet submarine. It was the worst loss of life in maritime history, six times greater than that of the RMS Titanic.

Combining existing material and new findings, this book tells the story of Prussia’s rise and fall as a military power. It chronicles the attempts made by brave civilians and military personnel to overturn the Nazi regime, as well as the desperate evacuation of refugees in one of the greatest exoduses ever seen, told by those who were there.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Dec 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781526756121

Tim Heath

Born in to a military family, Tim Heath’s interest in history led him to research the air war of the Second World War, focussing on the German Luftwaffe and writing extensively for The Armourer Magazine. During the course of his research he has worked closely with the German War Graves Commission at Kassel, Germany, and met with German families and veterans alike.

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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 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.

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.

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.

The Teutonic Order’s interest in Prussia goes back to Konrad I of Masovia who gave the Teutonic Order an opportunity to set up its own stronghold within Europe. Konrad I was involved in fighting his own expansionist wars in the adjacent pagan territory of the Prussians. His military endeavours in the region were producing little in the way of results. Frustrated by the Prussian presence, which threatened the security of his own residence of Plock Castle, he enlisted the services of the knights of the Teutonic Order. They agreed to Konrad’s request, on condition that the territory around the frontier town of Kulm be gifted as recompense.

After almost fifty years of brutal warfare the Teutonic Order was successful in defeating Prussia and effectively ruled the state under charters issued by the Pope and Holy Roman Empire. The implications of this were complex and in turn created a power struggle on the Baltic frontier between various European and Eurasian factions, including the Lithuanians, Russians, Livonians (comprising Estonia and Latvia), Sweden, Catholic Poland and even the Golden Horde Mongols and Tatars.

The Teutonic Order bore close similarities to the Crusader orders such as the formidable Knights Templar and Hospitallers. It was controlled by the High Masters within the upper echelons of its administrative power. These were accompanied by representatives of the administrative provinces along with five other senior officers within the order whose titles ranged from treasurer and supreme marshal to supreme draper. The Teutonic Order was subject to very stringent disciplinary measures along with monastic vows. Only after these vows were given was a member of the order permitted to marry.

The demise of the Teutonic Order came about with the death of Ulrich von Jungingen in the Battle of Grunwald, which was fought on 15 July 1410. As a result of this defeat most of the leadership of the order were hunted down and killed, with many others being taken prisoner. The Teutonic Order would never recover their former status. The financial burdens created by war reparations caused internal conflicts within the order and an economic downturn in the lands under their control. The Battle of Grunwald undoubtedly shifted the balance of power within Central and Eastern Europe and marked the rise of the Polish-Lithuanian Union as the dominant political and military force in the region.

After Prussia’s incorporation into the Holy Roman Empire large numbers of settlers of Germanic origin began to arrive in the region. Those who termed themselves as ‘old Prussians’ thrived in the rural parts of the region up until the eighteenth century when the dwindling population became assimilated into Germany and Lithuania.

From the demise of the Holy Roman Empire a number of German republics, kingdoms and empires were spawned, the two largest being the Austrian Empire in the south and the kingdom of Prussia in the north, both of which were mainly made up of German-speaking peoples.

The Prussian military’s reputation as one of the most effective fighting forces in Europe is no historical exaggeration. Though initially only a supporting element in many of the early military campaigns, by the time of the Silesian wars of the eighteenth century she had developed a significantly more independent role.

It has to be said that under Frederick William I (1713–1740) the Prussian army was moulded into a professional force not unlike that of a modern-day army. Frederick understood that any large army required strong, skilled and competent leadership if it were to be effective in battle, and in 1716 he instituted the first Prussian military cadet school. At the time of its creation the cadet school was only open to candidates belonging to the Prussian aristocracy, then, in 1733, a conscription system was introduced. This system divided Prussia into small regions comprising approximately 5,000 households each, with every available able-bodied male member of each household becoming a potential army recruit. This meant that Prussia would soon possess the fourth largest army in Europe.

No army, however large, would have been effective without strategy and discipline. Three key factors were introduced during Frederick’s rule. The first one was an iron ramrod for the Prussian army’s standard muzzle-loading weapon. Experience had proved that the previous wooden ramrods were woefully inadequate under battle conditions as they tended to break, which in turn had an adverse effect on firepower for an infantryman. The second factor was that each rifleman of Frederick’s army was relentlessly drilled to fire six shots per minute. Such a rate of fire with the muzzle-loading rifle of the day was impossible. Even the most skilled of riflemen could not hope to achieve this rate under the stresses of battle. Yet it did ensure that in battle Prussian riflemen would fire a greater volume of musket balls than their enemy. The third factor was the marching technique known as the military goosestep, which was found to be highly advantageous on the battlefield of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Adopted in the 1740s, the goosestep style of marching ensured a higher degree of cohesion in battle. It was also beneficial to officers and commanders in the field as it enabled a higher degree of tactical control over their forces. Individually these three key components may not appear to possess any great relevance, but combined they would serve the Prussian army well.

The introduction of a cavalry arm into the Prussian military was also to prove a vital factor in its success. The Prussian cavalry regarded themselves as an elite force, which indeed they were. They acted as a form of shock force and these highly efficient mounted soldiers struck fear into their enemies. The mere thought of a Prussian cavalry charge bearing down on you, the thunderous noise of this sabre-wielding mass scything anything down in its path, would often be enough for many an enemy soldier to question his own bravery. The Prussian cavalrymen wore the insignia of the totenkopf or ‘death’s head’, an ominous precursor of things to come.

Upon Frederick the Great’s (1740–1786) succession of Frederick William I, Prussia had at its disposal a well-equipped, well-trained and motivated army. The aristocracy were not only loyal but also accustomed to service and an efficient administration was in place. Prussia also possessed a large enough economy that no form of taxation or need for loans were required should a war suddenly become inevitable. Frederick the Great also insisted that he personally command his army in battle. He was without doubt one of the greatest military leaders in history and would achieve an almost mythical status in Nazi Third Reich histories. There is no doubt that Prussia’s success as a nation could not have come to pass without either William Frederick I or Frederick the Great.

Prussia’s army was not always successful in its military campaigns, however. It suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of Napoleon I of France in the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, which was fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in what is modern-day Germany. The Prussians under Frederick William III suffered a decisive defeat, with 38,000 dead, wounded and captured. This resulted in the subjugation of the Kingdom of Prussia to Napoleon until the War of the Sixth Coalition, which lasted from March 1813 to May 1814, drove the French out.

By 1860 the Kingdom of Prussia was extensive, covering almost all of northern Germany and including Brandenburg, Hannover and Schleswig-Holstein. Yet it was not a continuity of the old Prussian nation in the east. Any connection to the old Baltic Prussians was purely in name only.

Created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the German Confederation was an association of thirty-nine German-speaking states in Central Europe instituted with a view towards coordinating the individual economies of the separate German-speaking countries and to serve as a replacement for the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved in 1806. In the minds of many, the German Confederation plan was a good idea, but it was weakened by the rivalries between the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire, the two leading powers within the confederation, as well as numerous other quarrels between member countries over their own political and economic issues.

In 1848 revolutions orchestrated by liberals and nationalists made an attempt to create a unified German state with a progressively liberal constitution under the Frankfurt Convention. The ruling body, the Confederate Diet, was dissolved on 12 July 1848, but reinstituted in 1850 after attempts at replacing it had failed.

Tension continued to build between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia until the outbreak of what became known as the Austro-Prussian War. This relatively brief conflict lasted for just one month and twelve days, from 14 June till 26 July 1866 (hence it also being referred to as the Seven Weeks War). In Germany it is known simply as the German War. Both sides were aided by allies within the confederation. Interestingly, Prussia had allied with the Kingdom of Italy thus linking this conflict to the Third Independence War of Italian Unification.

The end result of the Austro-Prussian War was a victory for Prussia and Italy, which for Prussia meant that it became the dominant power over the other German states. Prussian casualties are quoted at 28,793 total losses: of these 4,454 were deaths as a result of the actual fighting, 6,427 were due to disease, 16,217 wounded, 785 listed as missing and 910 captured. The consequences of the war were an obvious power shift among the German states away from Austria towards Prussian hegemony, and an impetus towards the unification of all of the northern German states in a Kleindeutsches Reich or ‘Lesser Germany’; in other words Germany without Austria. It brought about the abolition of the German Confederation, ushering in its partial replacement by a North German Confederation. This North German Confederation excluded Austria as well as other southern German states. The conflict also brought about the Italian annexation of the Austrian province of Venetia. A number of southern German states remained independent for a while until they too joined the North German Confederation, which was then renamed and proclaimed the German Empire of 1871. Germany was now unified, with the Prussian king as kaiser (emperor) following her victory over the French emperor, Napoleon III, in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.

The Franco-Prussian War (19 July 1870 to 28 January 1871) was primarily the result of Prussian ambitions to extend German unification, along with the French paranoia over the shift in the balance of power in Europe if Prussia were to prevail. The French declaration of war was issued on 16 July 1870 and fighting began some three days later when French forces invaded German territory.

Some historians are of the opinion that Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck provoked the French to respond militarily in order to draw the independent German southern states into the alliance with the North German Confederation. Bismarck may well have exploited the situation to his own advantage. He must surely have recognised the potential for new German alliances to be made from this war with the French.

The German coalition mobilised its forces far more swiftly than the French had expected. The Germans rapidly invaded north-eastern France, fully exploiting their superior numbers, training, leadership and firepower. The Germans were particularly adept at utilising the modern technology of the day. The rail networks proved invaluable for transporting troops, weapons and artillery rapidly to wherever they were required. The end result was a decisive for the Prussian/German forces. They won a series of battles in eastern France culminating in the Siege of Metz and the Battle of Sedan, the latter taking place on 1–2 September 1870 and bringing about the capture of Emperor Napoleon III. The French suffered major casualities; some 17,000 troops were either killed or wounded in the battle with a further 21,000 captured. By the next day, 2 September, French Emperor Napoleon III ordered the white flag of surrender to be run up. The emperor then offered his own surrender. The deployment of Prussian military forces towards the Franco-Prussian war amounted to 1,494,412 men. Total casualties were listed at 144,642: 44,700 were killed, 89,732 wounded and 10,129 listed as missing or captured. The French had deployed 2,000,740 men and suffered 756,285 casualties: 138,871 were killed, 143,000 wounded and 474,414 were captured or interned. It also has to be noted that it is estimated that 250,000 civilians were killed as a result of the fighting.

Despite Napoleon’s surrender, a defiant Government of National Defence declared a Third French Republic in Paris on 4 September, which dragged the war out unnecessarily for another five months. The German forces engaged and defeated the so-called new French armies in northern France following the Siege of Paris. The capital fell on 28 January 1871. This was followed by a revolutionary uprising called the Paris Commune, which seized power in the city and held it for two months until it was brutally suppressed by the regular French army at the end of May 1871.

The German states proclaimed their union as the German Empire under Prussian King Wilhelm I, finally uniting Germany as a one nation-state. The Treaty of Frankfurt of 10 May 1871 established the frontier between the French Third Republic and the German Empire. It also handed Germany most of Alsace and portions of Lorraine. French nationals in the Alsace-Lorraine region were given until 1 October 1872 to retain their French nationality and emigrate or remain in the region and become German citizens. The French were ordered to pay a war indemnity of some