Displaced family January 1945 from Gotenhafen? to Denmark

[Hexengrund]

My family boarded a ship called the Sanga on 8 January 1945, then Liepaja. They did not get off the ship there but waited for other ships carrying refugees and wounded German soldiers to arrive so that the convoy could travel protected by destroyers. When it was dark they left the harbour and were joined by more ships and stronger protection. It was a convoy. There were mines in the water. they reached a Russian minefield at one point. The destroyers circled around so they could find the mines and submarines. On 10 January 1945 in the evening the ship arrived at Gotenhafen.
Would anyone know what kind of a ship was the Sanga or have any information at all about this convoy.

When we arrived in Gotenhafen we were taken to some kind of camp called DURCHGANG? Everyone who wanted their papers to be processed so as to proceed had to go there. It was huge, there were army barracks as far as your eye could see but there was no military presence there. There was also a section of red barracks that was fenced in and it was a French POW section.
Would anyone know where this camp was and what it was called etc?

We were there for only a few weeks and because it did not look like we could leave through Gotenhafen? our father decided to go another way. One sister said that we walked 17 kms and it took the whole day, another said a few days, (I was only 1 year old) to a place called ESKERUNDA, (I can not find any information about this place at all). She can not recall in what direction we actually walked, but if it was not possible to get out from the harbour wouldn't they have walked towards Germany? The thing is that at this ESKERUNDA place, there was a very large evacuation taking place. It was not a town, there was only a make-shift wooden jetty, there was a building there that housed the German wounded soldiers. People hid under the trees to hide from the enemy airoplanes and it took us about 3 days to get out on a ship. There was a lot of pushing, shoving, panic. Also it was impossible for the ships to come in so everyone had to climb on board these funny vessels, she said they looked like a barge, but were not, they went much faster. You sat side by side, with your feet dangling towards the water and held on to a wire rope. Everyone had to do this. First they took the wounded soldiers and then the refugees. Once you came to the ship you had to climb up a wire rope onto the ship. This was a huge operation, but I can not find anything about this on the net.

About halfway to Denmark they were told that Germany wanted this particular ship back, so in the middle of the sea, another ship came, they placed planks between the two ships, and everyone had to cross over from one ship to the other.
Is there any documentation out there about such a proceedure?
When my family came to Sonderborg, they did not even know what country it was. It took about 2 weeks, the ship did not travel at night because of the mines.

So, is there anyone out there who could help me please, I have searched the net but I can not find anymore information, many thanks Nora

[kstdk]

Hello Nora

About the German part, I would not be of any help !!

But if you need any informations from the time your family arrived in Denmark ( Sonderborg ) - must have been jan / feb 1945 - we might be able to help about that !!

We have people here that knows a lot about the refugeecamps in the perion 1945 to 1949.

Do you have any more informations about the stay in Denmark ??

You may send me a PM...or answer here direct on the forum.

My family boarded a ship called the Sanga on 8 January 1945, then Liepaja.

When my family came to Sonderborg, they did not even know what country it was. It took about 2 weeks, the ship did not travel at night because of the mines.

So, is there anyone out there who could help me please, I have searched the net but I can not find anymore information, many thanks Nora

Regards
Kurt
kstdk.

[Hexengrund]

Hello, I think I have answered you already, if not please let me know, thanks Nora

[kstdk]

Hello Nora

Yes - I have received your PM - thanks !!

I am right on the matter- will come back to you soon.

Regards
Kurt
kstdk

[kstdk]

Hello

I am in progress finding the places in Denmark. In the meantime see attc. map for housing areas / camps for refugees in Denmark in the period 1945 - 1949.

There was other places as well, so the puzzle is very interesting.

I will keep you posted.

Regards
Kurt
kstdk.

[Heimatschuss]

Hello Nora,

I'm not an expert on the evacuation across the Baltic Sea at the end of the war but here are a few ideas on your posting.

We were there for only a few weeks and because it did not look like we could leave through Gotenhafen? our father decided to go another way. One sister said that we walked 17 kms and it took the whole day, another said a few days, (I was only 1 year old) to a place called ESKERUNDA, (I can not find any information about this place at all). She can not recall in what direction we actually walked, but if it was not possible to get out from the harbour wouldn't they have walked towards Germany? The thing is that at this ESKERUNDA place, there was a very large evacuation taking place. It was not a town, there was only a make-shift wooden jetty, there was a building there that housed the German wounded soldiers. People hid under the trees to hide from the enemy airoplanes and it took us about 3 days to get out on a ship. There was a lot of pushing, shoving, panic.

I think the correct name of that place was "Hexengrund". Gotenhafen-Hexengrund is situated on the coast north of Gotenhafen.
The Polish name of that location is "Gdynia-Babie Doly".
This place was then a Luftwaffe airfield and torpedo test site where they experimented with airborne torpedoes (Torpedowaffenplatz Hexengrund).
A picture at http://www.mrx.no/album158/babie3.html even shows the remains of a wooden(?) pier with the old torpedo oberservation building in the background. This could well be the place where you embarked.

The mode of refugee transfer changed with the overall situation. Originally many of those coming into Gotenhafen by ship took trains to the west as soon as they could. Meanwhile they may have been housed in a transit camp. In German that's a "Durchgangslager". It's a function, not a place name in itself.
When the soviet forces reached the sea in Pomerania in early March, all land connections were severed. Evacuation had to be done from then on by sea solely. So walking west would not have been a good idea for your family. Originally many ships with refugees left from Gotenhafen directly. But in the last days before the fall of Gotenhafen when the soviet forces were attacking from the south, a great number of remaining refugees moved to the beaches north of Gotenhafen where they were picked up by small vessels. The village Oxhöft is mentioned in many reports about this but I'm sure any other kind of beach installation was also utilized. Hexengrund is slightly north of Oxhöft.

If my measurements on Google Earth are correct, the distance from Gotenhafen harbour to Gotenhafen-Hexengrund is roughly about 6 km. But if your family started their march on the southside of the Gotenhafen harbour (where most of the city is situated) and followed the shoreline they would have had to walk around all the harbour bassins so this may account for the greater distance of 17 km. Counting backwards from Hexengrund may also give you a hint where the transit camp might have been located that you mentioned.

Also it was impossible for the ships to come in so everyone had to climb on board these funny vessels, she said they looked like a barge, but were not, they went much faster. You sat side by side, with your feet dangling towards the water and held on to a wire rope. Everyone had to do this. First they took the wounded soldiers and then the refugees. Once you came to the ship you had to climb up a wire rope onto the ship. This was a huge operation, but I can not find anything about this on the net.

Your description of that ship reminds me of a MFP (Marine FährPrahm: Navy ferry barge) or AFP (Artillerie FährPrahm: artillery ferry barge). The Kriegsmarine used MFPs a lot for coastal supply missions in the Baltics while the AFPs provided coastal fire support and convoy protection. Several dozen MFPs operated in the bight of Danzig till the end of the war.

About halfway to Denmark they were told that Germany wanted this particular ship back, so in the middle of the sea, another ship came, they placed planks between the two ships, and everyone had to cross over from one ship to the other.
Is there any documentation out there about such a proceedure?

I think the MFP ferried you just over to the Hela peninsula and there you transferred directly to another ship which took you to Denmark. After the harbours at Gotenhafen and Danzig had been lost the big ocean going ships used to gather near the tip of the Hela peninsula to pick up their passengers. At that point there were two sources for refugees. They had either been waiting on Hela peninsula for some time already or were picked up at the beaches on the opposite shore and then directly transferred from the coastal vessels to the big ships. That was a normal procedure at that time. Because big ships were not always available and covoys did not sail every day it's even possible that you had to stay on the MFP for some days. This in conjunction with the fact that the place of transfer was surrounded by lots of water may have given you the impression that the transfer was taking place on the really open sea.

Best regards
Torsten

[PJF]

Nora

I did not see your private message (dated 5/16) until this morning as I was out of the country and did not have computer access.

I have a couple of books that I will check for information regarding the details you provided in the PM and in the postings above. I should be able to get back to you by tomorrow evening May 24th.

PJF

[Heimatschuss]

Hello,

it's me again. Just googled around a bit and found some crumbs of information on the "Sanga".

Displacement 1923 tons
Length 280 feet
Beam 44 feet
Completed 1944
By Lübecker Flenderwerke AG, Lubeck, Germany
Run by Deutsche Afrika Linie under the name "Sanga"
1945 Seized by Allies at Copenhagen.
1945 EMPIRE GATWICK, Ministry of War Transport
1947 VORIOS HELLAS, Greek Government
1948 Hellenic Lines, Greece.
1974 Papageorgiou Bros, Greece
1974 Scrapped Gemlik, Turkey

Source of information: http://www.mariners-l.co.uk

A bad picture of the "Sanga" from 1945 is available at http://www.weltchronik.de/dch/dch_3526.htm#

Ironically the "Sanga" is not mentioned in the ships' list in Heinz Schön's "Ostsee'45. Menschen-Schiffe-Schicksale", Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart, 1996.

That appears to be all that one can get on the net about this ship. For any information regarding convoy operations some specialized literature will be required, I think.

Best regards
Torsten

[Heimatschuss]

Hi,

this is for Nora once again.

My family boarded a ship called the Sanga on 8 January 1945, then Liepaja. They did not get off the ship there but waited for other ships carrying refugees and wounded German soldiers to arrive so that the convoy could travel protected by destroyers. When it was dark they left the harbour and were joined by more ships and stronger protection. It was a convoy. There were mines in the water. they reached a Russian minefield at one point. The destroyers circled around so they could find the mines and submarines. On 10 January 1945 in the evening the ship arrived at Gotenhafen.
Would anyone know what kind of a ship was the Sanga or have any information at all about this convoy.

If I understand the allocation of tasks in the Kriegsmarine correctly, convoy protection was the job of their "Sicherungsdivisions" [literally translates to "Security Division"]
The eastern part of the Baltic Sea was the operations theatre of the 9. Sicherungsdivision [9th security division].

http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/seekrieg/km ... rb/sd9.htm says their HQ was at Windau (Ventspils) till February 1945. They then moved to Libau (Liepaja) for two month and were finally based at Gotenhafen and Hela from March 1945 on.

If you're looking for convoy operations around Liepaja any publication focussing on the history of 9. Sicherungsdivision may yield the best chances to find something useful. From your description I would infer that they were looking for a submarine. Whirling around at night in a minefield is after all not the best idea. Soviet subs at that time were frequently encountered in the eastern Baltic Sea.


I've just looked through the book of Heinz Schön and prepared an extract of the information that appeared to be relevant for your case.
[All subsequent information taken from Heinz Schön: Ostsee '45 Menschen-Schiffe-Schicksale, Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart, 1995 unless otherwise indicated.]

First days of March 1945
Soviet forces reach the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Pomerania. All land communications from Gotenhafen to the West are finally severed. [p.370]

9th of March, 1945
Soviet offensive against Gotenhafen and Danzig begins. [p.380]

Middle of March 1945
Soviet forces get very close to the Gulf of Danzig. Their advance parties are away only 10 km from Gotenhafen and 15 km from Danzig. In between, at Zoppot, german forces can stop them just 500 m from the beach. German forces retreat into a bridgehead position to defend the coastal towns. The bridgehead starts at Oxhöfter Kämpe north of Gotenhafen, runs around the cities of Gotenhafen and Danzig and reaches the sea again at the Frische Nehrung. Frische Nehrung is a sand bar east of Danzig that seperates the coastal lagoon from the Baltic Sea. [p.375]
Oxhöfter Kämpe (literally translates to Oxhöft's fields) is an area north of Gotenhafen. Its main feature is a ridge that runs along the coast for about ten kilometers in a northerly direction. Towards the sea it ends in a cliff that reaches heights of up to 85 m and is only intersected by some coves. The hillside towards the land is covered with forests. [p.396]

23rd of March, 1945
Soviet tanks reach the shore at Zoppot between Gotenhafen and Danzig.The fortress Gotenhafen-Danzig has been split into two parts. Soviet forces continue their advance towards Gotenhafen and Danzig. The whaler Walter Rau is the last big ship with refugees to leave Gotenhafen.
The german authorities decide that all remaining refugees in Gotenhafen are to be ferried across the main harbour bassin to the village of Oxhöft. From there they will be transferred to Hela peninsula later on. Ferrying across the harbour starts immediately. Word gets out that Oxhöfter Kämpe is the last redoubt to be defended. [p.380]
[I think it's reasonable to assume that on this p.o.t. your parents decided to walk around the harbour and not to wait until they got to a ferry boat.]

25th of March,1945
The ships of the 9. Sicherungsdivision transfer 35.000 refugees from Oxhöfter Kämpe to Hela peninsula. On the same date another almost 30.000 people arrive at Oxhöft from Gotenhafen and Danzig, many of them by minor crafts (i.e. fishing boats, barges, Siebel ferries). [p.397]
[Presumeably your family was amongst those 30.000 new arrivals on that date but belonged to the minority that had traveled by foot.]

26th, 27th, 28th of March, 1945
The influx of persons from Gotenhafen and Danzig still continues. In those nights the vessels of the 9. Sicherungsdivsion ferry a further 40.000 persons from Oxhöfter Kämpe to Hela peninsula [p.397]

[This coincides nicely with the memory that you had to stay for some days in a wooded area with no accomodation. See description of Oxhöfter Kämpe above. Hexengrund, the place mentioned in an earlier post, is situated on the coast of Oxhöfter Kämpe as well. It's highly probable that you embarked on there on the night of March, 28th, I think.]

28th of March, 1945
Ferrying from Gotenhafen to Oxhöft ends. Gotenhafen is captured by soviet forces.[p.397]

29th of March, 1945
The last refugees from Danzig arrive at Oxhöfter Kämpe. [p.397]

30th of March, 1945
Danzig is conquered by soviet forces. [p.397]

Night 4th/5th of April, 1945
"Unternehmen Walpurgisnacht" [Operation Walpurgis night]. The vessels of 9. Sicherungsdivision pick up another 38.000 people (30.000 civilians, 8.000 soldiers) at Oxhöfter Kämpe. For transporting people in this operation 9. Sicherunsdivision employs:
- 25 KFK [Kriegsfischkutter i.e. armed trawlers]
- 27 MFPs [Marinefährprähme i.e. Navy ferry barges]
- 5 SAT [Schwere Artillerieträger i.e. Heavy fire support vessels]
- 5 other ships

Fire support for this operation comes from:
- cruiser Lützow
- destroyers Z38, Z31 and Paul Jacobi
- torpedo boat T36
- heavy fire support vessels Ostsee, Soemba, Robert Müller 6
- and a number of other ships
[p.397f.]

[Because you did not mention any heavy bombardment during your family's embarkation, I think your family had already left Oxhöfter Kämpe at that time. But Schön's statistics also show that numerous MFPs were available in the Gulf of Danzig at that time. This corroborates your recollection that you traveled on some kind of high-speed barge.]

5th of April, 1945
After massive artillery preparation soviet forces attack Oxhöfter Kämpe but find it completely deserted. [p.398]

[Obviously by then your family was gone. End of possible time frame.]

Meanwhile the rescued people are transferred from coastal vessels to the big ships off Hela as quickly as possible. Ships taking refugees on board that day are Deutschland (10.000), Cap Arcona (9.000), Pretoria (7.000), Robert Essberger (4.750) plus another 10 ships. [p.398]

6th of April, 1945
The hospital ship General San Martin arrives at Hela for a load of 3-4.000 wounded. Embarkation is hampered by air raids and artillery fire so General San Martin leaves Hela on the evening of April 7th, 1945 with destination Copenhagen. On board are 2100 wounded and 1400 refugees . Loading onto other ships continues [p.398]

[This underlines my earlier post, that there were in some cases daylong delays in the transfer from coastal crafts to the big ships. So what your family took for a major part of their voyage to Denmark on a barge was quite likely just taxiing you to one of the passenger ships including a major delay. There's of course a small chance that your transfer really took place in mid-ocean but it's not very likely. Some transfers of that kind took place in the last days of the war, when all german ships entering denish harbours were interned under the conditions of the surrender. Therefore by then fast rescue ships (destroyers etc.) sometimes handed over their load to ships slowly moving or moored on the open sea and hurried back to Hela for another load of people. But this would require that your family stayed on Hela peninsula for some weeks and does not really fit to the types of ship described.

To sum it up the most like version of your family's voyage that I can contruct is that you got out of Oxhöfter Kämpe via Hexengrund on March 27th or 28th, then spent some time off Hela on a MFP while waiting for a bigger transport ship to carry you acrossed the Baltic Sea. This ship presumably sailed on the very last days of March or first days of April from Hela. The whole story is quite shaky at that point because it contains lots of assumptions. It would be very helpful if kstdk could find out which ships arrived at Sonderborg from Hela in mid to late April 1945. This would allow us to have a look at the ships' histories or at least do a backward calculation when your family left Hela (- about 14 days). This would show if the flight from Gotenhafen to Hela had been construed correctly.]

Best regards
Torsten

[Hexengrund]

Hi Tortsten, my goodness my head is spinning with so much informatin. Thank your very much. I am going to have to print this out and get in touch with my oldest sister and see what we can narrow it down to. I will be in touch with you again, and once again, thank you very much, Nora

[Hexengrund]

Hello Torsten, I have just been rereading your words and I need to clarify things regarding dates, so I will give you a few written words from my father. He apparently kept a diary, but all the pages were torn out except this one, how convenient eh, everything has a reason or so I believe anyway. These are his words:
"On the 8th January we boarded the ship. The ship was called Sanga. The ship was reasonably large, but we were terribly squashed together on the ship, so most of the men had standing room only.
We left the harbour in the evening, and the following morning the ship arrived at Liepaja. At this point we didn't know where the ship was going. The sea was reasonably calm, so we didn't have any sea sickness. Travelling from Ventsile harbour to Liepaja harbour the trip was reasonably safe. The ship was travelling very slowly.
On the 9th January we arrived at Liepaja early in the morning and anchored there all day till darkness. We didn't dock, unload or load. We were waiting for the other ships carrying refugees and wounded soldiers to arrive so that the convoy could travel protected by destroyers. When it was dark we left the harbour and we were joined by more ships and stronger protection. There was a convoy of ships then with strong protection against mines (preparing to go through a dangerous zone in the waters). All were ordered to pull on cork lifejackets. Then the boat started to move faster and the journey was becoming rougher. The ship started swaying because of rough seas. We were told that around midnight the boat would reach the most dangerous section of water. There were submerged mines in the water. That's how it was between Liepaja nad Kleipeda. All of a sudden we heard the alarm and then the boat stopped and the destroyer boats guarding the convoy were engaged in finding the mines (and watching for submarines). This happened several times. We had reached the Russian minefields. All lights had to go off in the ship and all had to be silent as the mines picked up movement. The ship stopped for about 2 hours, then started again and moved much faster. The destoyers were circling around so they could fine the mines and subarines.
On the 10th of January, in the evening, the ship arrived at a German harbour - Gotenhafen (Gdynia)".
That is all we have from my father. My sister said that when we arrived in Gotenhafen we were taken somewhere (to this camp?) and she thought it was about 12 kms, again she was 13 at this time. She also said that we only stayed there a few weeks, so I think we must have left German/Poland early February 1945. And she did say that we could not safely get out from the harbour because it was blocked? And at this place that she called ESKERUNDA there
was constant bombings, during the day everyone hid under trees from the airoplanes/bombs, they had to wait 3 days to get on one of these small vessels. Every now and then they culd see smoke in the Sea and knew that a ship had been hit. They witnessed the horrors of war on land and sea until they reached Denmark, probably late February.
I have two sisters that remember the war the younger one was 10 at this time but they both say that they firstly climbed aboard these small vessels and they took them out to a ship on which they had to climb up a rope ladder, everyone did, the wounded soldiers went first, but the transference from one ship to another ship was about half-way to Denmark, not close to shore, about 1 week later into the journey in the Baltic Sea?

I am sorry if I sound confusing and I have 'stuffed you' around in the wrong direction. I will give my sister/s the info that you have given me, many thanks again, Nora

[Hexengrund]

Hello again Torsten, just a couple of things. I feel sure that it would have been a Durchgangsler camp, when my family arrived there, but because it was huge it must have been something else first, so you could be right and this camp was situated at Luftwaffe airfield and be a torpdo test site. Buy why would this have a section that was wired off, and made of red barracks that housed French POW's? Could the Germany Airforce once have been situated there and then moved out? Like a said my sister said that you could only see barracks as far as your eyes could travel and you would not build something that large for a transit camp, would you? There was definitely no military etc force there when they were there, it was only civilians.

Also when my family left this place they travelled slowly. My sister said that my father bought a bike and placed our two suitcases on it and he wheeled it. My mother and my two sisters, one 10 and one 13 helped to carry myself, one year old and our other sister only two years old. They were shot at by airoplanes as they (and everyone else) walked. All the horrors of war were all around them.

Again, many thanks Nora

[PJF]

Nora

I see that others were quicker in getting back to you with information. At the moment I have no additional information to provide you as the others have the same sources as me.

However, I can offer some informed speculation.

On January 1 a large resupply convoy left Danzig Bay for Libau and Windau (and possibly other, smaller ports) to reinforce AG Kurland. This may have been the departure point of the Sanga to the east. It would be standard procedure for the ships from this convoy to reassemble at a central point with Libau being the most logical.

“Durchsganglager” is , literally, a general term for a transit camp…could be a transit camp for refugees – fluchtling – or prisoners. In a polish source I came across a reference to a “KL Durchsganglager Gotenhafen” for jewish and polish forced laborers. Given the chaotic conditions that were prevalent at the time it would not be unusual for refugees to have been housed in a portion of such a camp…this may explain the French prisoners and the barbed wire. (forced laborers/political prisoners were being evacuated as well)

I believe that the small boats/barges that took you out to the larger ships at “ESKERUNDA” may have been pioneer landing – or possibly even the smaller – pioneer assault boats given the conditions which you describe. Heinz Schon’s “Flucht uber die Ostsee 1944/45 im Bild” gives some coverage to the activities of these craft…these primarily were active in the marshy areas between Danzig and Elbing. Given this the transfer you describe may very well occurred at/near Hela… from beach landing area by small craft to moderate sized ship in Danzig bay…moderate sized ship to a larger ship at/near Hela. For example, to climb up a cargo net over the side of a ship the size of Sanga (look at the picture referenced earlier – we are looking at a 12 to 20 foot sideboard) would have been very difficult if not impossible for the elderly and very young let alone exhausted and terrorized refugees.I have read accounts of such tranfers previously

It may very well be that the term “ESKERUNDA” is slang, an acronym or a combination of both…you mentioned that your sister aged 13 at the time “called” it that term… it is likely a term she heard rather than read. The German language has a tendency for compound words and the military in general loves acronyms and slang. Also was your sister’s first language German? Given the start point of your family’s trek, it is possible that your family was not of german origin.

Thank you for sharing your family’s story. It is one thing to read the cold facts of history or even the singularly horrific episode such as the Gustloff. It is another to read the individual stories of the “common” person.

The subject of the flight/expulsion of the germans from the east is of particular interest to me. If I come across information that I think will be of relevance to your inquiries I’ll pass it along. Good luck in your hunt.

[Hexengrund]

Thank you for your reply. where is Libau and Windau? Ok I understand where you are coming from with your explanation on Durchsganglager. My family is Latvian and although my sister used to be able to speak German, she learnt this mainly in Australia, she certainly did not speak it in Germany.

We boarded the Sanga in Liepaja on 8 January 1945 and we reached Gotenhafen on 10 January. I do not know the name of any of the other ship/s we caught to Denmark. My sister said that it was definity spring (she now recalls) when we left Gotenhafen area. So that would make it March I guess. But she is determined that we all had to climb up a rope ladder to board a ship from this small barge thingo, as she calls it. It was very difficult and she insists that they had to cross over from this ship to another midway to Denmark, many thanks Nora

[kstdk]

Hello

To Nora...I received your last PM, thanks a lot - it gives some very good clues to search for informations about the camps in Denmark.

I will come back with additional info as they come.

Regards
Kurt
kstdk