Cap Arcona - autopsy of a crime

This documentary, released in 2020, brings together latest findings about the death of nearly 8,000 concentration camp prisoners in the Baltic Sea bay of Neustadt. It happened on May 3, 1945 - just hours before British troops liberated this small Northern German port town. By nightfall, the war was over in Neustadt. In the preceding weeks, the town that was both a fishing port and naval base had become a chaotic hub and retreat for German military commanders, SS, as well as Nazi party bosses seeking for ways to escape justice. To this very day, historians do not completely agree on the exact course of events that preceded the death of so many concentration camp prisoners, with Allied liberators practically in sight. What is certain is that the combined loss of life on the Cap Arcona and the freighter Thielbek amounts to about 7,500, putting it on a par with the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, the Goya and Steuben. In addition, a mass murder of Jewish women and children had occured in connection with the events on the Cap Arcona on the morning of same day. Another fact that is certain is that those last days of Nazi rule in Northern Germany were marked by a breakdown of order. To disentangle the chaotically intertwined threads of many seperate events going on in parallel was the task of a lifetime for Neustadt historian Wilhelm Lange. The film follows the results of his research that was also guided by the question of just who was responsible for the loss of so many lives. A previous film from 1995 - also available on this platform - showed Lange in a previous phase of his life quest. Back then, it was generally believed that the main reason for the sinking was a tragic attack by British fighter jets whose pilots did not know that the ships - which were not marked as civilian - were filled with Nazi victims. But a lot of details had remained shrowded in mystery at the time. While the fighter jet attack undoubtedly did take place, and caused damage on the Cap Arcona, Wilhelm Lange came to discover pieces of evidence that cause him to radically change the way he sees the story.