It was war—they were the enemy—not real human beings.
The Soviet Union lost millions of people during the war to the German War machine. Lokk what happened to Germany in the areas that the Soviet Union took over - the areas were stripped of every type of machinery that was there and shipped it back to Russia. When the Allies divided up Germany the Russians wanted more and more. Most people do not realize the war ended in 1845, but many of the POWS held by Russia were not released until well after the war in 1952. As a youngster I grew up in a German speaking church in the Milwaukee area. many of the members of the church were people whom served in Germany during the war, they would tell of where they served - eastern Front, against the British against the Americans or the younger ones will tell of Hitler Youth camps that they served in until they were needed to man rifles and so forth at the age of 14 because there were no men to serve anymore. Many of the same people who have served there have passed away now.
The worst American “sea” disaster occurred in 1865 when a riverboat jammed with 1500 Union soldiers about to be released from the Union Army caught on fire and sank on the Mississippi killing 1100.
The loss of the Wilhelm Gustloff was a small part of a huge evacuation mounted by Germany called Operation Hannibal:
Wikipedia: Over a period of 15 weeks, somewhere between 494 and 1,080 merchant vessels of all types, including fishing boats and other craft, and utilizing Germany's largest remaining naval units, carried between 800,000 and 900,000 refugees and 350,000 soldiers across the Baltic Sea to Germany and German-occupied Denmark. This was more than three times the number of people evacuated in the nine-day operation at Dunkirk.In addition to the Goya, Wilhelm Gustloff, and General von Steuben, 158 other merchant vessels were lost during the 15-week course of Operation Hannibal (January 23 – May 8, 1945).
No wonder that no one knows about it. The commies did the dirty deed. If the US has done this, there would be no end to it.
Tell Vlad "hi" for me.
5.56mm
Just read on Wiki that there was an estimated 5,000 children on board and it was -18C that night.
Paybacks are a bitch.
Goebbels asked “Wollt ihr den totalen Krieg?”
Germans said “Ja!’
Well, they got it!