The fate of Stutthof prisoners – from evacuation to safe haven in Sweden

Abstract

Based on Scandinavian and Lithuanian historiography, memoirs of former prisoners, published and archival sources, this article analyzes the facts and details of the forced evacuation of prisoners of the Stutthof concentration camp (11 Lithuanians and their fellow prisoners from Denmark, Norway, Latvia, Estonia, etc.) by river barge along the Baltic Sea to Neustadt. This evacuation is known in the historiography as the Second Stutthof Evacuation and has hardly been studied in the Lithuanian context. From Neustadt, the former prisoners continued their journey towards Sweden, but the Balts were stuck in Copenhagen, from where the Lithuanians managed to escape to Sweden after three months. The article presents the circumstances of the evacuation, the national composition of the prisoners and their mutual relations, the prisoners’ liberation, and the journey to Denmark.