The evacuation of the Stutthof concentration camp in April / May 1945 by sea transport

Abstract

The article examines the evacuation of prisoners from the Stutthof concentration camp by sea transport in April and May 1945, situating it within the rapidly deteriorating German military situation on the Eastern Front and in the Gdańsk–West Prussia region. It reconstructs the decision-making structures involving the Wehrmacht, SS, police, and civilian administration, as well as the implementation of the “Eva” evacuation plan. Particular attention is paid to the transfer of prisoners from Stutthof and its satellite camps to the Hel Peninsula, Mikoszewo, Neustadt, Lübeck Bay, Flensburg, Denmark, and other destinations, with detailed discussion of the transports aboard the vessels “Elbing,” “Zephyr,” “Wolfgang,” “Vaterland,” “Klaus,” “Breslau,” “Ruth,” and Landing Craft F 862. The article demonstrates that the sea evacuation was not a humanitarian rescue operation, but rather a continuation of the violence of the concentration camp system under the chaotic conditions of the final phase of the war. Prisoners were transported in overcrowded vessels, without adequate food, water, sanitation, or medical assistance; some were murdered en route, others died from exhaustion, disease, or violence, while many perished during air raids or as a result of refused rescue. The author argues that the sea evacuation of Stutthof prisoners should be classified as a maritime form of the Death March, since concentration camp guards, the German Navy, police units, and other uniformed German forces contributed in various ways to the prisoners’ deaths, abandonment, and direct victimization.