Download PDF Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, by Cathryn J. Prince
Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince. Provide us 5 mins and we will certainly show you the most effective book to review today. This is it, the Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince that will certainly be your ideal choice for far better reading book. Your five times will certainly not spend squandered by reading this web site. You can take guide as a source to make far better principle. Referring guides Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince that can be positioned with your demands is sometime tough. Yet here, this is so simple. You could discover the most effective thing of book Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince that you could check out.
Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, by Cathryn J. Prince
Download PDF Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, by Cathryn J. Prince
Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince. Checking out makes you better. Who states? Numerous smart words state that by reading, your life will certainly be better. Do you believe it? Yeah, verify it. If you need the book Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince to check out to verify the smart words, you could visit this web page flawlessly. This is the website that will supply all guides that possibly you need. Are guide's compilations that will make you feel interested to check out? One of them right here is the Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince that we will certainly suggest.
But, just what's your concern not also liked reading Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince It is an excellent task that will certainly constantly provide wonderful benefits. Why you end up being so odd of it? Several points can be sensible why people don't prefer to read Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince It can be the boring tasks, guide Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince compilations to read, even lazy to bring nooks all over. Now, for this Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince, you will certainly begin to enjoy reading. Why? Do you recognize why? Read this web page by completed.
Beginning with seeing this site, you have actually aimed to start nurturing checking out a publication Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince This is specialized site that offer hundreds compilations of books Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince from lots sources. So, you will not be burnt out any more to select guide. Besides, if you also have no time at all to look the book Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince, just rest when you remain in workplace and open up the web browser. You can discover this Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince inn this internet site by linking to the net.
Get the connect to download this Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince as well as start downloading. You can really want the download soft file of guide Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince by undergoing various other activities. And that's all done. Currently, your rely on check out a publication is not constantly taking and lugging the book Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince almost everywhere you go. You could conserve the soft file in your device that will never be far away and also read it as you like. It is like reviewing story tale from your gadget after that. Now, start to love reading Death In The Baltic: The World War II Sinking Of The Wilhelm Gustloff, By Cathryn J. Prince and also get your new life!
The worst maritime disaster ever occurred during World War II, when more than 9,000 German civilians drowned. It went unreported.
January 1945: The outcome of World War II has been determined. The Third Reich is in free fall as the Russians close in from the east. Berlin plans an eleventh-hour exodus for the German civilians trapped in the Red Army's way. More than 10,000 women, children, sick, and elderly pack aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a former cruise ship. Soon after the ship leaves port and the passengers sigh in relief, three Soviet torpedoes strike it, inflicting catastrophic damage and throwing passengers into the frozen waters of the Baltic.
More than 9,400 perished in the night—six times the number lost on the Titanic. Yet as the Cold War started no one wanted to acknowledge the sinking. Drawing on interviews with survivors, as well as the letters and diaries of those who perished, award-wining author Cathryn Prince reconstructs this forgotten moment in history. She weaves these personal narratives into a broader story, finally giving this WWII tragedy its rightful remembrance.
- Sales Rank: #442086 in eBooks
- Published on: 2013-04-09
- Released on: 2013-04-09
- Format: Kindle eBook
Review
“Based on German and Russian records, as well as material gained from interviews with survivors, author Prince has written a gripping account of one of the least-known human disasters of World War II.” ―Military History Magazine
“In describing the experiences of survivors, whom she has been adept in tracing, the journalist Cathryn Prince gives voices to ‘ordinary people who suffered during extraordinary times' -- and does so with scrupulous empathy.” ―The Spectator
“A must-read for anyone wanting to examine the effects of the War on both sides.” ―Warfare magazine
“The story of the worst maritime disaster in history…Prince has scoured the planet for survivors, treating their harrowing stories with gentle empathy, from the first sickening bolts of the torpedoes to the chaos and terror of the ship's swift sinking as passengers fell into the freezing water, clambered for lifeboats and watched loved ones disappear in the tumult… An engaging study of a shocking tragedy.” ―Kirkus Reviews
“If you think that the sinking of the Titanic was the worst maritime disaster ever, then you're wrong….Amazing and harrowing story, well written and documented.” ―Jean-Paul Adriaansen, Water Street Bookstore
“The sinking of the cruise liner that was once the pride of Hitler's Strength Through Joy program has long been overlooked by maritime historians. Yet when the Wilhelm Gustloff disappeared beneath the freezing waters of the Baltic in January of 1945, she took with her more than six times the number of people lost on the Titanic. Through careful research and interviews with the few remaining survivors. Cathryn J. Prince vividly recreates the chaos and terror of this epic maritime disaster.” ―Hugh Brewster, author of Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: The Titanic's First-Class Passengers And Their World
“Death in the Baltic is the engrossing story of a tragedy that should never have been forgotten. With the grace of a writer who truly feels the loss of thousands in the cold waters of the Baltic Sea, Cathryn J. Prince has preserved their memory and improved our sense of history.” ―Gregory A. Freeman, author of The Forgotten 500
“Cathryn Prince reaches into the dark corners of history, and draws attention to this unreported tragedy through the experiences of the people who lived it.” ―Stacy Perman, author of A Grand Complication
“With Death in the Baltic author Cathryn J. Prince recounts an important but little known aspect of World War II. Rich in detail, drama, and tragedy, Prince's gripping narrative skillfully interweaves the traumatic events of the final weeks of the war with moving stories of survivors of a maritime disaster which claimed more lives than the sinking of the Titanic.” ―Dwight Jon Zimmerman, award-winning author of Uncommon Valor
“Death in the Baltic tells a gripping, invaluable story. Out of a desire for vengeance and recognition, one Soviet submarine commander caused the deaths of thousands of refugees, deaths that the victors of World War II chose to ignore. Cathryn Prince breaks the silence around the devastation many German civilians suffered at the end of the war. Parting the curtain on the "collateral damage" the Allied Forces accepted as a necessary strategy for defeating Hitler, Death in the Baltic reveals that war's trauma spares no one.” ―Leila Levinson, award-winning author of Gated Grief
“The story of the sinking of the Willhelm Gustloff is still unkown to a majority of non-Germans…It is certainly a grimly fascinating story, not least because of the wealth of human interest that it contains…Cathryn Prince tells the story of the Gustloff briskly and engagingly…making good use of the eyewitness accounts of the survivors” ―History Today
About the Author
Cathryn J. Prince is the author of A Professor, a President, and a Meteor: The Birth of American Science, for which she won the Connecticut Press Club's 2011 Book Award for non-fiction. She is also the author of Burn the Town and Sack the Banks: Confederates Attack Vermont! and Shot from the Sky: American POWs in Switzerland. She worked as a correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor in Switzerland and in New York, where she covered the United Nations. Prince covers the Connecticut State House for Patch.com.
Most helpful customer reviews
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful.
Death in the Baltic
By S Riaz
This is the little known story of the greatest maritime disaster of all time. As the Russian army closed in on the East Prussian coastline, the Wilhelm Gustloff seemed the only means of escape to the refugees who had flocked to the docks. It was January 1945 and, although there were severe reprisals for showing defeatism, the Germans knew they had lost the war. Despite exhortations to keep fighting until the end, many in the Eastern part of the country fled to the port of Gotenhafen, where Operation Hannibal was in place - a plan to evacuate refugees from the advancing Soviet army.
The author tells what happened when Friedrich Petersen, the captain of the Wilhelm Gustloff was ordered to sail to Kiel. His ship, which had started life as a passenger liner, become a hospital ship and then a U-boat training school, was one of thousands of ships intended to transport wounded soldiers and refugees. We are introduced to many of the passengers, some of whom survived and others who perished in the icy waters; as well as the Soviet submarine commander who was facing his own problems and who needed a 'significant kill' to save himself from possible relocation to a gulag.
It is clear that the ship was horribly overcrowded, with refugees suffering hunger, frostbite and exhaustion before even making it on board. Ice was thick on the deck and people slept wheverer they could. Like other maritime disasters, there was a lack of lifeboats and life preservers, making any chance of escape difficult. Even knowing that you are reading about a massive disaster, the story of what happened on that fateful night still has the capacity to shock. It is even more thought provoking when you realise how little was known about what happened, even at the time, and the author explains why that is. Overall, this is a fascinating account of a little known event, well written and told with great humanity.
28 of 32 people found the following review helpful.
Death In the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff
By Steven Teitelbaum
I'm the kind of person who thinks he should always be productive. Even when I watch a great movie, I am think about what I should have been getting done constructively instead of loafing on the sofa.
Even when I read a thriller piece of fiction I feel I should have been reading non-fiction.
With Death in the Baltic, I got to have my cake and eat it, too.
Despite knowing from the book jacket what was ultimately going to happen, the book kept me on the edge of my seat. We've all heard the Titanic story so many times. Imagine the excitement you would have if you could be reading about it right now for the very first time.
Spoiler - yes, the Wilhelm Gustloff sinks. Lots of people die. But the author recites an incredibly detailed story about who went on the ship and why, who didn't get on the ship, life on the eastern front, why the Russian commander decided to fire on it, etc.
I liked that witnesses were still alive and interviewed by the author. It makes the Titanic story sound like ancient history in comparison. There is something fresh and believable hearing these stories recounted for the very first time from current day interviews. No doubt this story will be retold and written about more in the future, but as I read it I got engrossed as if I were learning a great secret.
But what has got me thinking the most is that there is something allegorical about the story. But wait - how can non-fiction be an allegory? Because this real life story was so strange, and because it was so exciting, my belief was "un-suspended." In other words, I almost stopped accepting that it was real, and found myself reading into the story the same way that I do with some fiction.
I am obsessed with the circumstances behind the decision to fire upon the Gustlof. I don't want to give anything away here, but it makes you realize how some of the most monumental events are less a consequence of a large process than what might be an impulsive or illogical act of a single individual.
I hate reading history when I am not sure whether the accounts are accurate. This book is done with great scholarship, but written with a real human touch. No doubt it will be critical source material for future academic research into this story in the future (or perhaps a movie?)
I was intrigued reading the other reviews. Someone with a Russian surname minimized this event's significance because they felt the Russian civilians suffered so much that the deaths of these Germans were relatively unimportant. Another said that the story wasn't new. And what is wrong with that? From what I can ascertain, Death in the Baltic tells the story more thoroughly and scholarly than ever before. I bet if you ask 1000 people what the Wilhelm Gustloff was, no more than 2 would know.
Another felt no sympathy for the deaths of our enemy, yet I did. This is odd because I recently visited the site where Nazis shot my great-grandparents and threw them into a ditch. I am well aware of the horror the Nazi government perpetrated with the help of the German citizenry. I vacillated between these perspectives throughout the book. When I felt insensitive to the Germans, I felt guilty. When I felt too much for them, I felt like a fool. Why would I want the Gustloff to sink any less than I wanted Allied fire bombings of German or the atomic bomb to have worked? Prince tells us enough about those who perished so that I felt a conflict.
Did Americans and Russians suppress this story? I suspect they did because they wouldn't have wanted to make martyrs out of Germans. How many other important stories are out there waiting to be discovered or that are now lost forever?
Do you like exciting stories? Period pieces? Are you a history buff? Interested in the Navy? Do you like learning major stories others don't know about? Did you watch the movie Titanic? If so, you should consider reading this book.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful.
Fascinating and Informative
By Jim Broumley
If you ask any given person what the worst maritime disaster was in history, (of those who could bring one to mind) you would probably hear about the Titanic, or even the Lusitania. However, I'd say it's a safe bet that the odds are astronomical that you'll find someone who knows about the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff.
In the last year of WWII, in a last minute attempt to evacuate one million military and two million refugees from East Prussia, the Nazis experienced their own version of Dunkirk. On the night of January 30, 1945 the Wilhelm Gustloff, a luxury cruise ship pressed into military service, departed Gotenhafen for Kiel. It was estimated, since no records survived if any were available, that the ship carried over 9,000 souls, when it was designed to carry only 2,000. The majority were civilian refugees, women and children, and a number of wounded military personnel. A short time later, the Wilhelm Gustloff was struck by three torpedoes fired by a Soviet submarine S-13. The ocean liner sunk within an hour. Since there were lifeboats for only a fraction of those on board, many drowned in the freezing Baltic. There were approximately 1200 survivors. Some estimate the death toll as high as 9,000. To put the tragedy in perspective, approximately 1200 lives were lost on the Lusitania, and just over 1500 on the Titanic.
The sinking was not deliberately kept secret over the years, but it wasn't exactly publicized either. In post WWII America, not many people cared about what had happened to our former enemies. The ensuing Cold War with the Soviets further obscured the tragedy in the world's collective memory. Author Cathryn Prince heard about it one day and was driven to find out more. She found a survivor who had since immigrated to Canada. Prince went there to interview him. That's all it took to compel Prince to find more survivors to interview, and finally tell their story.
Prince articulates an observation that Americans have a tendency to not acknowledge the suffering of the German people during the war, not wanting to view them as having the right to be "victims" of the Nazis like other nationalities in Europe (p. 181). But if we are able to put those prejudices aside, there is a lot to learn in the details of the closing days of WWII in the European Theater. Moreover, as a reader and writer of military history, I think it's a good thing that we periodically put strategy and tactics aside and examine the experiences of the civilian during war.
The book is well written and reads at a good pace. There is no fluff, coming in at 236 pages including back matter, but it is a thorough history. The reader will learn about what happened on the Eastern Front in the closing days of WWII, and be caught up in several of the survivor stories. Photographs of the survivors as children help us see them as real people who went through extraordinary events. In the interest of full disclosure, Palgrave Macmillan provided a review copy of this book. I'm glad they did, as at first glance it was not a subject I would have chosen. However, I highly recommend Death in the Baltic. It is an interesting, well told story that brings a little known event from WWII to light.
Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, by Cathryn J. Prince PDF
Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, by Cathryn J. Prince EPub
Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, by Cathryn J. Prince Doc
Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, by Cathryn J. Prince iBooks
Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, by Cathryn J. Prince rtf
Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, by Cathryn J. Prince Mobipocket
Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, by Cathryn J. Prince Kindle
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar