New film explores fate of Nazi Germany's "Titanic"
A new television film about the sinking of a Nazi ship carrying thousands of German refugees at the end of World War Two has lifted the lid on one of Germany's most painful memories.
The film, to be broadcast on Sunday and Monday, tells the story of the former Nazi cruise ship "Wilhelm Gustloff", torpedoed by a Soviet submarine in the Baltic Sea on Jan. 30, 1945. As many as 9,300 people died -- believed to be biggest loss of life on a single ship.
Yet the tale of the Gustloff, which has frequently been referred to as Germany's Titanic, remains relatively unknown outside the country due to the reluctance of postwar generations to examine publicly Germans' suffering during the war.
"It's been very hard to talk about this because it raises the difficult question of German victimhood in a war the Nazis began," said British historian Roger Moorhouse. "This enforced silence for years will have been painful to many people."
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The film, to be broadcast on Sunday and Monday, tells the story of the former Nazi cruise ship "Wilhelm Gustloff", torpedoed by a Soviet submarine in the Baltic Sea on Jan. 30, 1945. As many as 9,300 people died -- believed to be biggest loss of life on a single ship.
Yet the tale of the Gustloff, which has frequently been referred to as Germany's Titanic, remains relatively unknown outside the country due to the reluctance of postwar generations to examine publicly Germans' suffering during the war.
"It's been very hard to talk about this because it raises the difficult question of German victimhood in a war the Nazis began," said British historian Roger Moorhouse. "This enforced silence for years will have been painful to many people."