by Ruta Sepetys
The Wilhelm Gustloff was not the only ship destroyed during the evacuation. The SS General von Steuben was also sunk by the submarine S-13, claiming the lives of 4,000. The sinking of the MV Goya claimed the lives of 6,500 passengers. The ships Thielbek and Cap Arcona were carrying Jewish prisoners from concentration camps. The ships were bombed and sunk by British RAF planes, killing over 7,000. It is estimated that in the year 1945 alone, over 25,000 people lost their lives in the Baltic Sea. For months, bodies drifted ashore in various locations, haunting the coastline and its residents. Even today, some divers report a strong presence in the water near the enormous sea graves.
The Amber Room, once called the Eighth Wonder of the World, disappeared during the war and remains one of the most enduring mysteries of World War II. The Amber Room was last seen in 1944. Many treasure hunters have gone in search of it and some have suffered terrible fates during their quest. Over the years, pieces of the room have allegedly been found. But where exactly is the Amber Room? Reports have claimed that murderous Nazi leader Erich Koch was kept alive through the 1980s because he possessed information on the room’s whereabouts. But who knows the real story? Some say it was hidden in a salt mine or beneath a castle, others claim it rests in an underground bunker in the forest, and some believe it was loaded onto the Wilhelm Gustloff.
There are many important stories of World War II. Much has been documented about combat, politics, guilt, and responsibility. Suffering emerged the victor, touching all sides, sparing no nation involved. As I wrote this novel, I was haunted by thoughts of the helpless children and teenagers—innocent victims of border shifts, ethnic cleansings, and vengeful regimes. Hundreds of thousands of children were orphaned during World War II. Abandoned or separated from their families, they were forced to battle the beast of war on their own, left with an inheritance of heartache and responsibility for events they had no role in causing. Many experienced unspeakable atrocities, some miraculous acts of kindness by complete strangers. The child and young adult narrative is what I chose to represent in the novel, seeing the war through the eyes of youths from different nations, forced to leave everything they loved behind.
For many, war redefined the meaning of home. Emilia’s birthplace of Lwów, Poland, is now part of Ukraine. Florian’s East Prussian Tilsit and Königsberg are now Sovetsk and Kaliningrad, Russia. Much of East Prussia is now part of Poland. Joana’s country of Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union for over fifty years until regaining its independence in 1990.
Every nation has hidden history, countless stories preserved only by those who experienced them. Stories of war are often read and discussed worldwide by readers whose nations stood on opposite sides during battle. History divided us, but through reading we can be united in story, study, and remembrance. Books join us together as a global reading community, but more important, a global human community striving to learn from the past.
What determines how we remember history and which elements are preserved and penetrate the collective consciousness? If historical novels stir your interest, pursue the facts, history, memoirs, and personal testimonies available. These are the shoulders that historical fiction sits upon. When the survivors are gone we must not let the truth disappear with them.
Please, give them a voice.
Research and Sources
The research and investigation process for this novel was a global, collaborative effort that carried me to half a dozen countries. That said, any errors found herein are my own.
Claus Pedersen in Denmark worked with me for over three years on this project. He read, he researched, he translated, and he traveled to Copenhagen and Brussels to meet with me. I am indescribably grateful for his help, hard work, and most of all, his friendship.
Agata Napiórska in Poland was the first person to champion this book. Dedicated and beautifully passionate, she met me on four separate trips to Warsaw, Gdynia, Gdańsk, and Kraków and connected me to many people and places.
Over forty years ago, Polish divers Michal Rybicki and Jerzy Janczukowicz were among the first to explore the sunken Gustloff. Their first dive required Soviet approval. Michal and Jerzy agreed to assist with my research and spent countless hours with me in Gdańsk, sharing unforgettable details of the tragedy and gravesite beneath the sea.
Michal Rybicki and Dorota Mierosławska helped me retrace the steps of the millions of evacuees who ran for their lives. Together we walked the path of the refugees through former East Prussia (now Poland) to the lagoon in Tolkmicko, Frombork (Frauenberg), and Nowa Pasłęka. They took me to the port in Gdynia (Gotenhafen) to study the departure of the Wilhelm Gustloff and the geographic execution of Operation Hannibal. Michal photographed our research and Dorota filled me with the magic and love that is Poland. This book would not be possible without them.
My father’s cousin, Erika Demski, fled from Lithuania through East Prussia and obtained a pass to sail aboard the doomed Wilhelm Gustloff. By a twist of fate, she missed the voyage and sailed on another ship. Erika and her husband, Theo Mayer, who now reside in Belgium, shared the incredible story and encouraged me to write about the disaster.
Bernhard Schlegelmilch, a historian born in former East Germany, spent long days touring me through Berlin, digging up details of World War II, and bringing the time period to life.
A world-renowned deep-sea diver from England, Leigh Bishop has explored over four hundred shipwrecks, including the Titanic and Lusitania. Mr. Bishop shared with me the haunting details of his unforgettable experience diving the Wilhelm Gustloff in 2003.
Rasa Aleksiunas and her son, Linas, generously shared the amazing story (with all of the original documents and even the strap from the life vest) of her father, Eduardas Markulis, a twenty-two-year-old Lithuanian from Šiauliai who survived the sinking.
Ann Māra Lipacis and her brother, J. Ventenberg, from Riga, Latvia, both survived the sinking. They were six and ten years old. Mrs. Lipacis and Mr. Ventenberg shared firsthand accounts and memoirs not only of the sinking, but of losing their beloved mother, Antonija Liepins, who remained on deck to allow children into the lifeboats.
Lorna MacEwen in the UK shared personal details and photos with me. Her mother, Marta Kopaite, was a young Lithuanian nurse who walked over minefields to Gotenhafen and boarded the Wilhelm Gustloff. She survived.
Lance Robinson in South Africa shared the story of his mother, Helmer Laidroo, a fifteen-year-old Estonian girl who survived the sinking of the Gustloff.
Mati Kaarma in Australia shared the story and background of his family who fled from Estonia. His parents took a train to Germany and his grandparents, who opted for passage on the Gustloff, did not survive.
Gertrud Baekby Madsen in Denmark shared a detailed account of her evacuation from Tilsit and the treacherous trek across the ice.
Edward Petruskevich, curator of the Wilhelm Gustloff Museum, patiently answered many of my questions. His incredible website provided invaluable source material: www.wilhelmgustloffmuseum.com.
Author and journalist Cathryn J. Prince answered countless e-mails and generously shared her research findings, contacts, and knowledge.
Charlotte and William Peale organized research material and read early drafts.
This novel was built with bricks from the following books, films, and resources. I am enormously indebted to them:
Abandoned and Forgotten: An Orphan Girl’s Tale of Survival During World War II, by Evelyne Tannehill.
The Amber Room: The Fate of the World’s Greatest Lost Treasure, by Adrian Levy.
Battleground Prussia: The Assault on Germany’s Eastern Front 1944–45, by Prit Buttar.
Before the Storm: Memories of My Youth in Old Prussia, by Marion Countess Dönhoff.
Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, by Timothy Snyder.
The Captive Mind, by Czeslaw Milosz.
Caveat Emptor: The Secret Life o
f an American Art Forger, by Ken Perenyi.
Crabwalk, by Günter Grass.
The Cruelest Night: The Untold Story of One of the Greatest Maritime Tragedies of World War II, by Christopher Dobson, John Miller, and Ronald Payne.
The Damned Don’t Drown: The Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, by Arthur V. Sellwood.
Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, by Cathryn J. Prince.
Die große Flucht: Das Schicksal der Vertriebenen, by Guido Knopp.
Die Gustloff-Katastrophe: Bericht eines Überlebenden, by Heinz Schön.
Forgotten Land: Journeys Among the Ghosts of East Prussia, by Max Egremont.
God, Give Us Wings, by Felicia Prekeris Brown.
Handmade Shoes for Men, by László Vass and Magda Molnar.
Lwów, A City Lost: Memories of a Cherished Childhood, by Eva Szybalski.
Oral History Sources of Latvia: History, Culture and Society Through Life Stories, edited by Māra Zirnīte and Maija Hinkle.
The Painted Bird, by Jerzy Kosinski.
The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe’s Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War, by Lynn H. Nicholas.
Rose Petal Jam: Recipes and Stories from a Summer in Poland, by Beata Zatorska and Simon Target.
Shoes: Their History in Words and Pictures, by Charlotte Yue and David Yue.
Sinking the Gustloff: A Tragedy Exiled From Memory, by Marcus Kolga.
Token of a Covenant: Diary of an East Prussian Surgeon 1945–47, by Hans Graf Von Lehndorff.
The Vanished Kingdom: Travels Through the History of Prussia, by James Charles Roy.
• • •
The following people and organizations contributed to my research and writing efforts:
Henning Ahrens; the Bihrs; Dr. Richard Butterwick-Pawlikowski; Ulrike Dick; Angela Kaden; Helen Logvinov; Jeroen Noordhuis; Jonas Ohman; Xymena Pietraszek; Julius Sakalauskas; Carol Stoltz.
Ancestry.com; the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture; Bornholms Museum; Der Spiegel; the Federal Foundation of Flight, Expulsion, Reconciliation in Berlin, Germany; Historical Museum of the City of Kraków; Inkwood Books, Kresy Siberia Virtual Museum, Letters of Note, the Museum of Genocide Victims in Vilnius, Lithuania; the Museum of Occupation in Riga, Latvia; the Regional Historical Center of Eindhoven, Holland; the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center; Steuben Tours; the Wilhelm Gustloff Museum: www.wilhelmgustloffmuseum.com.
The greatest Wilhelm Gustloff archivist was undoubtedly Mr. Heinz Schön. Mr. Schön served as assistant purser on the Gustloff, witnessed and survived the sinking, and devoted much of his life to documenting the disaster. Heinz Schön passed away in 2013. At his request, his remains were taken to the bottom of the Baltic Sea to rest upon the sunken Gustloff. He is gone but his legacy and research remain a gift to us all.
I am grateful to the following Wilhelm Gustloff survivors who throughout the years have bravely given several very detailed interviews about their experience:
Ulrich von Domarus; Irene Tshinkur East; Heidrun Gloza; Waltraud Lilischkis; Ellen Tschinkur Maybee; Eva Merten; Rose Rezas Petrus; Helga Reuter; Inge Bendrich Roedecker; Eva Dorn Rothchild; Willi Schäfer; Edith Spindl; Peter Weise; Horst Woit.
Several people agreed to be interviewed for this project but requested to remain anonymous. Revisiting tragedy chisels the heart. They subjected themselves to the discomfort of painful memory for the sake of this novel and I am eternally grateful.
Acknowledgments
Many writers create and succeed on their own. I am not one of them.
My incredible agent, Steven Malk, guides and inspires my every step. I could not dream of a better mentor and friend.
Liza Kaplan, my tireless editor, and Michael Green, my brilliant publisher, devoted years to this novel and the associated journey. They are my heroes. Thank you to Shanta Newlin, Theresa Evangelista, Semadar Megged, Talia Benamy, Katrina Damkoehler, and my Philomel family for giving history a voice and my stories a home.
None of this would be possible without the beautiful people at Philomel, SPEAK, Penguin Young Readers Group, all of the Penguin field reps, Writers House, and SCBWI.
My sincere gratitude to my wonderful foreign publishers, sub-agents, and translators for sharing my words with the world.
The hands and heart of Courtney C. Stevens have touched every page of this novel.
My writing group sees everything first: Sharon Cameron, Amy Eytchison, Rachel Griffith, Howard Shirley, and Angelika Stegmann. Thank you for ten years of dedication and friendship. I couldn’t do it without you and would never want to.
Fred Wilhelm and Lindsay Kee helped me spark the title and Ben Horslen contributed across the ocean.
Yvonne Seivertson, Niels Bye Nielsen, Claus Pedersen, Mike Cortese, Gavin Mikhail, Beth Kephart, Genetta Adair, Ken Wright, Tamra Tuller, the Rockets, JW Scott, Steve Vai, the Lithuanian and Baltic communities, the Polish community, the Myerses, the Reids, the Smiths, the Tuckers, the Peales, and the Sepetyses all contributed to my writing efforts.
Heartfelt thanks to my biggest supporters—the teachers, librarians, and booksellers. And most of all, my sincere thanks to the readers. I appreciate each and every one of you.
Mom and Dad taught me to dream big and love even bigger.
John and Kristina are my champions and the best friends a little sister could ask for.
And Michael: his love gives me the courage and the wings. He is my everything.
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