The World War II tragedy still shrouded in silence 80 years later

Dublin, Ireland, May 6, 2025 / 14:37 pm (CNA).

Eighty years ago, on May 3, 1945, as Europe stood in hope and prayer for the end of World War II, one of the greatest and most silenced maritime tragedies of the 20th century unfolded in the Bay of Lübeck in Germany.

British aircraft carried out an air raid on the German ships Cap Arcona, Thielbek, and Athen. Officially, the boats were identified as military targets possibly carrying fleeing Nazi SS soldiers. However, on board were thousands of concentration camp prisoners. Nearly 7,000 people, emaciated by their ordeal in the camps, perished.

Father Piotr Wiśniowski, director of EWTN Poland, lost his grandfather Sebastian Wiśniowski, a man who had survived Auschwitz, in this air raid. 

Sebastian Wiśniowski was arrested by the Gestapo for refusing to cooperate with the German occupiers. 

“My grandfather was a husband, father of three children, a faithful Catholic and patriot. He passed through the hell of several prisons and camps only to die tragically and needlessly shortly before the war’s end. He left behind words that today become my voice, words I can never forget: ‘I ask only for remembrance.’”

Wiśniowski was arrested in Szczawnica Zdrój, Poland, where he lived with his family, running a guesthouse and restaurant. After his arrest in the spring of 1940, he was imprisoned successively in Szczawnica, in the Gestapo torture chamber known as “Palace” in Zakopane, and in Tarnów prison. He was then deported to Auschwitz, where he received camp number 10,823. 

“In the summer of 1944, he was transferred to Neuengamme — one of the harshest German concentration camps. There, in the final days of the war in April 1945, he was, along with thousands of other prisoners, loaded onto ships that the Germans had assembled in the port of Lübeck. None of them knew where they were going or why they had been placed there.

Cap Arcona — The pride of the Reich and a floating prison

Cap Arcona — once a luxurious transatlantic liner — became a place of execution that spring when British aircraft bombed it on May 3.

Father Wiśniowski explained: “To this day, it is not definitively known whether the Allies knew who was on board. Some suppose it was a tragic mistake. But the truth still lies hidden in classified documents. The files of this operation, held in British archives, have been sealed for 100 years — until the year 2045.” 

He continued: “For my grandfather and thousands of other prisoners, it no longer mattered. Locked below deck, with no chance to escape, they perished in fire and drowned in the icy waters of the Baltic. The testimonies of the few survivors are terrifying and full of suffering.”

From this unimaginable and horrifying story, there is a powerful message of hope that resonates so many years later. Father Wiśniowski has in his possession a remarkable artifact, a letter written to his family by his grandfather.

“From the Neuengamme camp, on Aug. 20, 1944, my grandfather wrote a letter to his wife, Józefa, and their children — including my father, Wacław. Of course, he couldn’t say everything — letters were censored by the SS. But besides greetings, he wrote one essential sentence: “I ask only for REMEMBRANCE.”

These words became a testament, Father Wiśniowski explained, a plea not only to his family but also to all future generations.

Eighty years later, as the grandson of Sebastian Wiśniowski, Father Wiśniowski said he feels the duty to repeat this plea. For him “remembering Cap Arcona” is not just a matter of historical truth but a moral issue. “It is a warning of what happens when man loses his conscience, when political systems trample human dignity, and when the world looks away,” he said.

“It is also a call to prayer — for the victims, for the perpetrators, for the future of all humanity. Because the evil that happened then in the 20th century did not begin with gas chambers — it began with contempt, with dehumanization, with the stripping away of memory.”

Father Wiśniowski went on to describe his grandfather, who he says was “an ordinary man — a loving husband and father.” 

“He did not choose the path of a great hero. He chose fidelity and love for the principles he carried in his heart. And for this fidelity and love, he paid with his life,” he said.

Fired up by the call he still hears from his grandfather, to remember the horrors of the Nazi regime, Father Wiśniowski is determined to pass on this message from the millions murdered in the Second World War. “That is why I speak on his behalf — and on behalf of all those who died, especially those without a proper burial, in nameless mass graves, without justice.”

“Let their lives not be forgotten,” he said. “Let their deaths not be in vain. Let their memory be the link that connects generations in truth, love, and faith. Let their memory be eternal!”

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/263883/cap-arcona-the-world-war-ii-tragedy-still-shrouded-in-silence-80-years-later