EssaysOnHumanRights1

Essays On Liberty & Human Rights - 1

One Deceit of History
      By Rudolf Pueschel

        Published by
  RFP Publications

                         Sudeten Germans'
Demise and the Potsdam Conference

            Foreword

There have been appeals to humanity in the past on the subject of the Sudeten German
       genocide, notably by scholars like Victor Gollancz, Alfred de Zayas, Sidonia Dedina,
Jan          Mlynarik and Ingomar Pust, and in the references cited. I gratefully
acknowledge these    authors whole works I studied in preparation of the this treatise.

Unfortunately, no intellectual effort did avert one of the most blatant ethnic cleansings in
history; in a mere two decades all of the Sudeten Germans will have passed on and their
descendants will have assimilated with other populations of different customs, culture
and even language. Thus the Sudeten Germans' demise, instigated during and executed
after World War II by Czech and Slovak poloticians and since tolerated, sanctioned or
even legitimized by their colleagues around the globe, including those in power in
Germany today, will be complete.

While the world's politicians have done their job, however questionable in an
ethical-moral sense their motives have been, the task to put this remarkable event into
historical perspective is still left to the world's historians. For never before in history
could language, culture and population of a significant minority in a mulltinational state
been so completely, radically and brutally eradicated, only subsequently to be ignored or
misrepresented by politicians and historians for over a half a century. A correction is in
order, and the time for it is now, such that history may retain its claim to truthfully
account for the past in order to b better the future.

                           Rudolf Pueschel
                        Mountain View, CA
                           September 2002

"If the concience of men ever again becomes sensitive, these expulsions will be
        remembered to the undying shame of all who committed or connived them ... The
           Germans were expelled not just with an absence of over-nice consideration, but
with the           very maximum of brutality."

Victor Gollancz in Our Threatened Values, Zurich 1947, pp. 156 ff

Sudeten Germans are herded toward the border in Peterswald/Petrovice
in June 1945, several weeks before the Potsdam Conference.

                Introduction

The complete eradication of German culture, language and population (more than 3
       million) in what once was Czechoslovakia (total population approximately 12 million)
is one     of the most flagrant examples of ethnic cleansing in history. Despite the extent
of this           tragedy, to this day man's conscience has not regained sensitivity to this
post-World War        II genocide that took place in central Europe 63 years ago. One
reason for this is the           Czech's government and public failure to live up to their
heraldic motto "Pravda vitezi -          The truth shall prevail".   Thus various official
interpretations of the German ethnic               cleansing in Czechoslovakia in 1945/46,
historically one of the most complete extinctions of     language, culture and existence of
a minority in a multinational state, read: The transfer        of Germans from
Czechoslovakia was a decision by the Big Three - Great Britain, the United         States of
America and the Soviet Union - at the Allied Conference in Potsdam in August 1945;      the
Czechs and Slovaks had no choice but to agree to this decision, albeit most reluctantly, and
to carry out the Allies' demand in a humane and orderly manner. Officially, the 1995
      publication "Judicial aspects of the deportation of the Sudeten Germans" of the
Czech            government's Institute of International Relation reports: The Czech
government was               informed of the agreement to deport the Germans from
Czechoslovakia; the government's             subsequent decision, therefore, was not one of
principle, but rather one of the modes by which       the Gereat Powers' decision could best be
realized. These are misrepresentations on at least       two grounds: first, then-Czech
president Benes' policy, beginning in 1938 and continuing        to this death in 1948, was
to expel the German minority from Czechoslovakia; second,            those expulsions
were executed with utmost brutality.

       Pre-Potsdam Events

In his memoirs, Czech politician Edvard Benes' (1884 - 1948) states: I knew from the
      beginning that the questions of minorities, in particular those of our Germans, had to
be         resolved fundamentally in connection with a reversal of the decisions at Munich.
In                practice this meant that the British, the French, the Americans and the
Russians as well         as - if in any way possible - also the Germans themselves had to be
persuaded that                  minorities in the border regions of Czechoslovakia had to be
radically reduced in the               interest of state security. This political goal, that during
the war I never lost sight of, had       to be attunded in line with the war's progress:
carefully and reluctantly at first, decisively      and fundamentally later".

Benes had already toyed with the idea of German population transfer in Czechoslovakia
during the Sudeten crisis in 1938, when as president of Czechoslovakia be sent one of his
cabinet members, Jaromir Necas, with a note to London and Paris according to which he
would agree to succumb to German chancellor Hitler's demands of border corections in
favor of Germany, if Germany were willing to absorb 1.5 to 2 million Sudeten Germans
from what would remain of Czechoslovakia.

Further illusions to a 'transfer' of Germans out of Czechoslovakia were made in
discussions between Benes and Hubert Ripka, one of his National Socialists Party
followers and a member of several post-war cabinets. In the summer of 1941, Ripka
advanced the idea of an organized application of the "principle of resettlement of
population after the war" in the official newspaper of the Czechoslovak exile
government, and in the Central European Observer.    On February 3, 1941 Benes wrote
in a memorandum about Czech goals in a forthcoming peace: "It is desirable to conduct
a transfer of Czech and German population in Bohemia and Moravia in such a way that
the controversies of the past concerning government language and schools are resolved
once and for all."

In its December 7, 1942 issue the Manchester Guardian reports on a lecture of Benes at
the University of Manchester on December 5, 1942 alluding to his position with regard to
Czechoslovakia's German minority: "In a discussion of the minority problem, Mr.
Benes hinted that German minorities had been a thorn in the flesh of other people
anywhere they had settled, because everywhere they had formed a fifth column. Yet,
only a few share the French sociologist Bernard Lav ergne's insight of the necessity of
mass transfers of people where minorities disrupt the national homogeneity of nations."

Benes again publicly acknowledged his interest in population transfer in fall and winter
1942/43, when he proposed re-settlement as an answer to Europe's minority questions.
In a Ten-Point-Plan in 1944, Benes provided more details of his concept of 'transfer' of
Germans out of Czechoslovakia. In point 5 of this plan he stipulated that at least 67% of
the population in each community in Czechoslovakia must consist of individuals of
Czech, Slovak or Carpato-Russian (=Ukrainian) extraction. Given the fact that the
population of most communities in Czechoslovakia's border regions with Germany and
Austria consisted of nearly 100% ethnic Germans, this stipulation implied the 'transfer'
of up to 67% of those Germans. Point 6 of this same plan identifies the categories of
Germans that were to be expelled immediately, while point 5 stipulates the expulsion of
the bulk of Germans within two years. The expulsions were expected to be completed
with 5 years (point 2

                  Edvard Benes
Benes' secretary in exile in London, Prokop Detina, stated in a letter of directives to
Home Resistance on July 16,1944: "It is not yet possible to say whether all of the more
tha 3 million Germans could be deported on the basis of some international agreement.
On such a basis probably only a fraction, maybe 2 million maximum, could be gotten rid
of; therefore we cannot rely on or wait for some international solution. Thus it will be
necessary that we take care of the problem ourselves, as soon as will be possible after our
liberation and in a way that all guilty Nazis will want to escape for fear of revenge during
a possible citizen's revolt, and that we slaughter as many as possible of those who would
resist such a revolt."

In October 1944 Benes' again talked about transfer of most of Czechoslovakia's German
population. The Czech diplomat Karel Lisicky later announced the numbers that actually
were considered: the 1930 census recorded 3.2 million Sudeten Germans in
Czechoslovakia of which 250,000 had presumably perished in the war, and 500,000 were
thought to have voluntarily fled the country because of their Nazi affiliation. This left 2.4
million, of which 1.6 million were to be transferred and 800,000 were to remain in the
country owing to their usefulness.

On November 23, 1944 the Czechoslovak foreign minister in exile, Ripka, submitted to
the western Allies sa memorandum stating the desire of his government to expel the
Germans of Czechoslovakia as soon as possible. The US foreign secretary Stettinius
replied to this note on January 16, 1945: "The government of the United States is of the
opinion that population transfers of the extent expressed in your not can be performed
only in accord with international agreements under international supervision. Until such
agreements can be reached, the government of the United States considers it appropriate
that no unilateral actions of the transfer of large groups of people be undertaken".   To
Ripka's note the British government responded: "The government of His Majesty
remains uncommitted with regard to districts from which peoples are to be transferred;
this concerns the number of people involved as well as any time table." Nevertheless, a
deportation plan of the First Czechoslovak Army Corps of June 14, 1945 details: "It is
necessary to execute the deportations as quickly as possible. The people will be expedited
across the border whenever 100 or so persons can be assembled together. If deportations
are delayed, the Germans will have to be concentrated in guarded camps."

In a speach in Tabor on June 16, 1945 (one month before Potsdam) Benes stated: "Our
goal is the de-Germanization of names, districts and customs. of everything that possibly
can become de-Germanized. The time has come! Remember what Germanization has
done to us for centuries in the past since the times of the Hussites. Thus will be our
motto: de-Germanize the Republic everywhere of anything possible." Of Franz Kafka,
Adalbert Stifter, Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Rainer Maria Rilke, Gregor Mendel,
Ernst Mach, Gustav Mahler, Franz Schubert (and the list continues) he apparently knew
nothing. A more sensible head of state would have been proud of thos high-caliber
citizens of his nation. Benes, however, alluded in his Tabor speech to the fact that
de-Germanization of Czecholsovakia was his aspiration since 1919.

Finally, defense minister Ludvik Svoboda declared in Usti/Aussig on August 1, 1945: "It
is necessary to settle with the fifth column once and for all. To do so we can look toward
the Soviet Union as an example: The Volga Germans ceased to exist within 48 hours
after they provided shelter to airborne insurgents".

       TRUTH AND WISDOM
           By Karl Hausner

               PROLOGUE

If You are seriously ill, you are advised to consult at least two, preferably three,
physicians independently.

If you wish to purchase a major piece of equipment, such as an automobile, a house, etc.
or want to remodel your home, you should get three estimates. You will be surprised
about the difference.

If you wish to know historic truth, you must at least consult five different essays on the
same subject, preferab;y produced in different countries and, if possible, one or two must
come from neutral sources. Remember, our public schools and the primary media are
tools of politics and/or government. History is written by the mighty and cultivated by
groups who benefit from it.

      INTRODUCTION

The world reacted, horrified, at the brutal expulsion of hundreds of thousands of people
from Kosovo before responding with weapons to stop the inhuman events. It seems
inconceiveible that an act akin to the expulsion of the Germans half a century ago could
be repeated. It was assumed that human beings had learned a lesson from history, but
these historical, barbaric acts had been forgotten by the world or simply silenced. At the
same time, more than sixteen million Germans were driven from their homeland, of
which over two million died. This was a catastrophe never before known in German
history.

Yet, even now, it is widely and deliberately ignored. Schools and universities very rarely
mention this topic, and usually only as a casual subject. They would have to admit that
the Germans were also victims, not just the perpetrators. This reasoning does not fit into
the contemporary era; a certain popular spirit of the age, spread by the influential
opinion builders prevails.

We owe future generations the complete picture of our recent history, letting them know
about our ancestors, and also to learn from them. Crimes committed by the Germans
are constantly published by the mass media. We do not deny the facgt tat Hitler started
the war, and that he carried it out with great harshness. The brutal expulsion of the
people from their homeland, and the confiscation of their properties are also crimes,
according to existing human rights statutes of international agreements, and unjustified
for any reason.

The displaced Germans are mindful that such crime should never happen again. The
declaration, in their charter of 1950, promises to forgo revenge and retaliation.

They extend their hand of reconciliation to those who brought on their terrible suffering.
Many expelled Germans hae since visited their former homeland, finding cordial contacts
from one human being to another; however, this does not mean that they gave up their
homeland. They will be forever connected!

Many of them have reached for pen and paper to tell their stories: of their homes, their
forced exodus and cruel deportations. In a short time, the author of this book (excerpted
here) received seven hundred eyewitness reports, all of which deserve telling. But there
is space here for only one hundred selected excerpts that capture the horror of that era.

Note: If anyone has witnessed these horrors and has not yet told their stories, please
Email same (with photographs if possible) to johannes@gawhs.org.

                      FROM EAST PRUSSIA,
  INCLUDING DANZIG AND WEST PRUSSIA

1. BAUER, GERDA: IT WAS HELL!

I was born in 1036, at Elbinger Hoehe in Doerbeck, County Elbing in West Prussia. I lived a
carefree, happy childhood there. At the end of 1945 my childhood ended, as war rolled over
our village, leving nothing but death, fear and desperation. My father and brother were
soldiers on different fronts. The war came to our village. What took place there was pure
hell! These horrendous events and experiences are buried very deep in my memory.

The conquerors behaved inhuman; they plundered, desecrated and burned everything.
We heard the cries of the women and girls from the houses, where people lived together
in a group. The Russian soldiers were merciless, as they attacked and raped day and
night. Most of the time they were drunk. Senselessly, we were chased to different
houses, to other villages and back again.

Whether we were old or young, we all had to march somewhere without nourishment and
without sufficient clothing. None of us was asked if we were able to go, we were pushed
along with the use of rifle butts. Whereever people collapsed, they died. People were
locked up like animals inside the freight cars. For many weeks, these trains traveled
east, the destination, Siberia. There, under barbarous conditions, women as well as men
suffered terribly, forced to work so hard in the mines and the forests. Most of them
never came back; their graves lie somewhere along the railroad tracks, or in Siberia. My
cousin, her parents and an aunt were sent there. My cousin returned in 1947, deathly ill;
her parents and her aunt are still missing.

Soon after the Russians arrived, many of the German soldiers and the civilians had to be
buried inDoerbeck. There were dead bodies lying everywhere. Since there were no
longer any men in the village, the women had to dig the graves, commanded by the
Russians. he corpses were dumped into the mass graves that were dug in the fields,
while the Russians gleefully watched. I also had to help dig the graves. My mother
worked nearby, but she kept a watchful eye on me, since I was the only living member of
her family. The uncertain fate of her husband and son left her very despondent.

In Doerbeck, our situation became even more desperate. The food supplies that were left
were either used up or destroyed, on purpose, by the invaders. Our animals starved to
death. The few cows, that were still alive, were driven away by the Russians. There were
no grain seed supplies left to sow in the fields. The many ditches crisscrossing the land,
the so-called panzer-blockades, made working in the fields impossible anyway. Besides,
there were no horses or machines left.

The time came when hunger dominated our lives and resulted in diseases. Added to that
was the constant, deadly fear of the Russians. I got sick with typhoid. My mother
worried about me for many weeks. She got sick herself and died inSeptember of 1945, of
typhoid and pneumonia. Another mother's sister and her son and daughter took me
under their wings. I have to thank them for my survival.

Following the deaqth of my mother, we were completely downcast. Then the Poles took
over our village of Doerbeck. Whoever had escaped the brutal raping by the Russians
had to hide now from the Poles. I cannot imagine that hell could be more horrible than
this! The Poles, driven from their homes by the Russians, came to our village. They
were outraged that nothing was left for them to pillage, so they tortured the Germans
who were still there. In December of 1945, we no longer saw any reason to remain in our
village. With heavy hearts, we left everything our ancestors had worked so hard for.

The city of Elbing was totally bombed out. As we found our way to the railroad station,
we were robbed of the rest of our belongings. At the railroad station, we were crammed
into a freight car. It was too tightly packed, and to cold for anyone to sit down. The
journey toward western Germany, without food, seemed endless. In Koeslin, we spent
the night in a military barrack. Then we moved on in a train without windowpanes. The
Russians hung sackcloths on the windows. From a small basket in the corner, we heard
the whimper of a baby. A few days leter the whimpering stopped. Either the child froze
to death or it died from starvation.

Whenever the train stopped to get water, the dead bodies were placed next to the tracks
in the snow.. The ride seemed endless to me. Hunger was our constant companion.
Finally, the train reached Kuestrin, where we lived in a horse stable inside the military
barracks. We barely survived there, since all the German farmhouses had been taken
over by the poles. My head was covered with pustules. But my father and brother had
survived! The Red Cross located them in Hessen, where I joined them. Doerbeck is the
home of my childhood and my nightmare.

(Now: Schwarzenhasler Strasse 12, 36199 Rothenburg a.d. Fulda)

The 1900 Tragedy and Fire of the
North German Lloyd Ships
Hoboken, New Jersey
By webmaster@pier3.org

It is fairly easy to describe the aftermath of the Great fire of June 30th,
1900. Structures and ships of many kinds were damaged and
destroyed, property losses calculated and insurance matters initiated.
What is difficult to fully realize, is the exact number of those who lost
their lives. Many people drowned in the Hudson River, the intense
heat that the steel hulls of the ships so efficiently conducted with
horrific results incinerated others. This effect when coupled with the
fact that the portholes of the passenger liners were too small to pass
through conspired to prevent escape for the visiting weekend tourists
and crews of the ships. This means that an exact number of those lost
will never be known.

The initiator of this tragedy is unknown as well. What started it? The
most popular theory is that of spontaneous combustion on such a hot,
dry day. Indeed, there was a long period before that day, without
rainfall, and the stocks of the pier sheds and warehouses are even more
suspicious as possible culprits. It could have been an accident. Maybe
it was a carelessly thrown cigarette or a spark from a tool or
machinery? It is also speculated, but is considered very unlikely, that
the fire was deliberately started. No amount of research can determine
the exact cause of the fire or the total number of lives lost as a result.
That is due to the fact that there is no more evidence or material that
made-up the North German Lloyd pier area in Hoboken. We must be
content with what people have written and remembered. The focus of
this short history will center on those events that happened during the
fire, as well as those that took place in its aftermath.

A Little Bit Of Geography And History:

Geography and History. It is not as frightening as it sounds! I think
that it is necessary to realize where the objects in this story were
situated and to understand why the two largest German Steamship
lines were present at Hoboken in 1900.

Sitting on a bench at Pier Park A in Hoboken today and looking over
to New York City, you could never imagine what was happening at this
spot at the beginning of the last century. The largest ocean liner in the
world docked regularly at the piers of the largest passenger shipping
company. Immigrants from Europe were arriving in the area by the
hundreds of thousands each year, and there were many Germans in
Hoboken.

Out of Hoboken's total population of 59,000 in 1900, more than 20%
were German-born. Indeed, the Germans had already been present in
large numbers for almost 40 years, and many had settled down to stay.
The German shipping lines, the North German Lloyd and the
Hamburg America Line, had bought land next to one another from
the Hoboken Land and Improvement Company in the early 1860s. Is
of note that the Land and Improvement company was formed by the
Stevens family which had developed Hoboken from a swampy marsh
land, into an organized and flourishing city.

The local economy was very German, driven primarily by the pier
facilities of the North German Lloyd and the Hamburg America Line.
Hoboken was ideally situated near Ellis Island, and had the necessary
infrastructure to promote immigration to and from the area. This was
accomplished primarily by the many rail facilities and companies that
were all bundled together near the ferry terminals on the Hudson
River, ready to spread out to points across the United States. In
addition to the shipping companies, many clubs, schools, churches,
restaurants, stores, and hotels, such as Meyer's Hotel, which was
located not too far from the two shipping lines, were German. There
were also Factories of various kinds, some known for their precision
equipment such as Keuffel and Esser, that contributed to the growth
and importance of the city. Just take a detailed look at a map of the
city from around 1900, and look at the names - it seemed like a
Teutonic outpost in the glorious days of the Kaiserzeit.

Okay, now for some geography:

The Map above is from 1900, and the area in blue is Hoboken. The
map scale on the bottom right of the map is hard to read, but the total
distance on that scale is one mile. This measurement gives an idea of
how close everything in the New York City area is.

Above, we have a visual guide to some of the places mentioned in the
preceding text. The main subject of this website would be the piers of
the North German Lloyd shipping line which are in blue. Please note
that this map is from 1906, and the piers that were rebuilt after the fire
are shown. The map was purchased from the Hoboken Historical
Museum and it is absolutely wonderful. You should get one yourself
and help support the museum by clicking here! The places featured in
color on this map are in the same positions as they would have been in
1900, though the piers looked a little different. The places are:

1. North German Lloyd Line = Blue
2. Hamburg America Line = Pink
3. Ferry Terminals = Yellow
4. Meyer's Hotel = Orange
5. Hoboken Land and Improvement Company = Green
6. Train Tracks and Sheds = Purple

Now, since you know some background history about Hoboken, it is
time to jump forward to that terrible day of the fire, June 30th 1900

June 30th 1900:

That summer day was not so busy for the world's largest shipping
company. Saturdays never were. It had not rained for days, was very
dry, virtually cloudless, and the wind was blowing from the southwest.
That breeze blowing over the Hudson River was to be the vehicle that
would help to carry the fire on its destructive path from pier to pier
and ship to ship. The only "people" traffic that day would be those
who had come to visit the liners of the North German Lloyd which
were open to the public for touring. The crews of the ships were at a
minimum, as most were away on shore leave before the departure of
the ships the following week. Those crewmembers that were present
consisted mainly of stewards, who had prepared the ships to be coaled.
As a result of this, portholes and ventilators were sealed to keep the
coal dust away, and furniture was covered. Following this procedure,
about 500 stevedores who were present would begin filling the
coalbunkers of the massive ships, a process that was very time
consuming. This consisted of the ships being arranged in their docks
so that the coalbunker loading doors would be opened on the sides of
the ships' hulls, and then numerous coal barges would be brought up
along side. The bituminous coal was then deposited by buckets down
into the chutes that led to the ship's coalbunkers. This whole situation
with all of these coal-loading doors being open made the ships very
vulnerable. The only ship that was to sail soon was the Saale. She was
fully loaded and was to sail the next morning.

The Ships:

There were 4 ships that day at the North German Lloyd piers, and 2 at
the adjacent piers of the Hamburg America line. The North German
Lloyd steamer Aller which had been moored on the north side of Pier
3 had left at 11:30 that morning bound for Naples, Italy. On June
30th, 1900, the Lloyd piers, which were 600 to 900 feet long, were
arranged as follows:

The largest of the ships was the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, built in
1897. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany christened her, in homage to his
grandfather, and in direct competition with Great Britain. In 1900, she
was still the largest and fastest ship in the world, though that was
about to change. Her tonnage approached 15,000 and she had a
maximum speed from 21 to 22 knots on average. Later in 1900, the
Hamburg America Line steamer Deutschland would soon eclipse those
titles. The Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was the last word in luxury and a
very profitable and consistent performer for the North German Lloyd.
She was also the first of the famous 4-stacker liners, and ushered in 10
years of German domination in Passenger ship size, speed and
profitability. She was moored on the south side of Pier 1 on the day of
the fire.

Moored on the north side of Pier 1, was the new steamer Main. She
had just been put into service, and had 4 large cranes for cargo
loading. She was a sleek-looking ship with one stack and weighed in at
10,000 tons. Note, "Main" is pronounced as "Mine".

Moored at Pier 2, were the steamers Saale and Bremen. Saale, on the
south side of the pier, was by far the oldest ship there that day. She
was built in 1886 and weighed about 5,300 tons. Since she was older,
she was used mostly as a cargo ship in addition to transporting
immigrants.

The Bremen moored on the north side of Pier 2, was the last of the 4
ships at the Lloyd piers. She had the distinction of being in the first
class of ships to be built in Germany that weighed over 10,000 tons.
She herself, weighed in at 11,500.

Fire:

The fire started at Pier 3, that much is known. However it must have
started, a North German Lloyd watchman who is mentioned in many
sources, William Northmaid, first noticed the smoke from coming
from the pier. He first saw the fire at 3:55 P.M., but had to get to a
telephone to report it. The Hoboken Fire Department Headquarters,
which was only two blocks away, logged his report at 4:01 P.M..
Another account, given by former Captain Max Moeller who was now
the Chief Inspector of the North German Lloyd piers in Hoboken,
stated that the fire had started at 3:45 P.M. In any case, the fire spread
quickly, mainly due to the stiff breeze, the old dry wood, and the years
of dust that had accumulated from the various cargos that had been in
the pier sheds. The wood had been absorbing it for years. Only Pier 1
had a steel frame. It was fairly new and was built in 1897 for the
arrival and service of the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse.

With the wind driving the fire very rapidly, the flames jumped from
the pier sheds to the barges and lighters, and then from the barges and
lighters to the ships. Many sources state that everything was ablaze in
the span of ten to twenty minutes. The Lloyd's Chief Inspector, Max
Moeller, went to the end of one of the piers to summon the aid of
tugboats to pull the large ships out. During this time he had ordered
that important paperwork and money be rushed out of the burning
pier offices.

A Disaster Seen By Many:

This fire would be notable for more than the damage it caused, for an
estimated one million people living in the area observed it. The smoke
cloud that rose up from the fire was so large that it was noticeable for
miles. Many people who had gone to the beaches in New Jersey
quickly turned their attention to it. Likewise, those living in the tall
buildings of Manhattan were able to see it clearly. So did the press.
There are actually many pictures that were taken of the fire as it was
happening, and many more of the ruins and destruction, taken over
the following days. So many people had rarely seen a fire such as this
at once.

The Tugboats:

Many Tugboats were now on their way to rescue the great ships. By
now, the first of the ships to catch fire, the Saale, had started to drift
away from her pier, ablaze. Her crew had quickly cast off her lines but
the fire had already leaped onto the ship. Some of her crew was seen
hanging over the side of the ship, some on the rudder. Of these, the
tugboats and other harbor boats rescued some. Some, who had grown
exhausted, slipped away and drowned. It is important to quickly
mention that even though so many worked near the water, many did
not know how to swim. Many of the pier workers (longshoremen) and
stevedores had died this way. Some tried to escape from the burning
piers by running through the fire towards Hoboken, and others had no
choice but to jump from the burning piers.

Next. The Bremen had caught fire, suffering a similar fate as the Saale,
drifting slowly and ablaze. Then the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was
next. It was decided that she should be rescued first, having some of
the weekend tourists aboard, and for her value as the flagship of the
North German Lloyd. She was already in a rearward motion through
the use of her winches, and the Tugs were ordered by Mr. Moeller to
save her first. Two tugs began to pull the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse
from her stern, but she was still held by one line by the bow. A brave
sailor, Eric Sorenson, had climbed down across the rope; hand over
hand, to the pier. He released it and was actually able to escape
through the flames. Cheers were heard from the ship as she started to
be pulled backwards at about 4:10 P.M. Her bow had caught fire from
a burning coal barge that was lashed to her bow as she was pulled into
the middle of the Hudson River. Several tugboats were diligently
working with their fire hoses to put those fires out and also a small fire
that was on her stern. The ships' officers and men had also quickly put
out many smaller fires with their uniforms and by other means. The
order aboard the ship was exemplary, as Captain Engelbart stood
silently on the bridge of the ship, with two pistols drawn. Due to the
timely actions of her disciplined crew and the help of the many
tugboats that came to her service, no lives were lost on the Kaiser
Wilhelm der Grosse that day. Her damage was minimal by comparison
with the other ships. Over 200 feet of paint on the starboard side of
her hull had been burned away, mostly from her bow area. The glass in
many portholes had burst from the heat, and some things made of
wood such as deck planking and lifeboats had been burned. The ship
then proceeded upstream to about 46th street off of Manhattan and
anchored there.

Unfortunately the story was very different for the other three ships.

Did You know?

In 1900, a little more than Twenty percent of the population in
Hoboken was German-born.

Links:

Hoboken Historical Museum

Copyright 2001 webmaster@pier3.org

The Saale and Bremen were now drifting and blazing uncontrollably.
Many tug boats played their hoses upon the fire; some catching on fire
briefly themselves. Many of the crew of both ships swamped the
tugboats as they tried to escape. The tug Nettie Tice took off 104
people from the Bremen alone. Meanwhile, the Main which was
moored the farthest north, was unable to be freed from her pier. The
tugs worked frantically but to no avail. Some forty-four of her crew
died, unable to escape her burning hull. She eventually drifted free
after her mooring lines burned, with horrible luck she was drifting to
where the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse had anchored. The Kaiser was
ordered even further upstream as some tugs had finally managed to
secure some lines to the Main's rudder. Mr. Moeller then ordered the
tugs to drag her to the Weehwaken Flats. The Bremen in the meantime
had been moved to the Weehawken Flats as well, which accounts for
the many pictures that are available of the two ships burning together.

The Saale had drifted as far south as Governor's Island, and was then
taken near Communipaw, New Jersey. She arrived just in time, as she
began to settle to the bottom within 10 minutes. Her steel hull and
superstructure was so hot by now that the water from the hoses of the
tugboats hissed as soon as it hit the ship.

It must also be said that not all tug boat crews acted so admirably as
those presented in the previous paragraphs. Many, lured by the
rewards of saving floating barges filled with cotton, coal, or even
floating bales of cotton or barrels of whiskey, chose to rescue those
instead of people. Though the majority of the tugboats helped that
day, more than 100, some were lured by the temptation of profit.
Cotton bales could bring in $40.00 apiece, while the coal barges were
the most valuable prizes to save. It must be remembered that $40.00
was a good deal of money at the time. There were a few instances
where men trying to swim in the water were ignored by these tugs and
other harbor boats.

A tugboat with salvaged cotton bales.

Terrible Moments:

Some of the most memorable moments were unfortunately horrific.
Most centered on the fates of those who could be seen through the
portholes of the ships, and could not be saved. At the time, most
portholes were too small for an adult to fit through. After this tragedy,
their design would be changed and made larger. There were many
other instances of horror and tragedy that were noted that day. It is at
this point that I would like to quote a section directly from one of the
sources listed in the bibliography section, the article from an issue of
Sea Classics written by Brad Leonis:

"Then the real horror began. Faces and arms appeared at the
eleven-inch portholes of the Saale, Bremen, and Main, portholes too
pitiably small to permit the passage of any adult body. A woman
appeared at a porthole on the Main. She looked down at a half-dozen
tugs and 100 men unable to help her.

The young woman, a stewardess, began praying loudly. Smoke drifted
past her head and flames could be seen behind her. Hoping to save
her, one man grabbed a rope, clung to the red-hot side of the Main
and with a hose climbed to an adjacent porthole, through which he
sprayed water on the creeping flames. He fell.

Flames and smoke began to envelope the woman, and she called out
"Now listen! Listen! Tell my mother - she lives in Bremen - tell her my
last thought was of her - tell her all my money is in the bank - tell her
she can have it all - tell her..." Purple fire pulled over her face and with
a quick shriek she was gone."

For many of the crews trapped below decks, the story had the same
terrible ending:

"Below decks on the Main dozens of stokers, engineers and stewards
died miserably, waiting for death as ten feet of flames roared over their
heads and ate downward to them.

On the Saale...

"It took three hours for those trapped behind the portholes to die. On
one of the tugs a catholic priest, Rev. John Brosnan, lifted up his
hands and face to those begging "Wasser, Wasser! Ach, Himmel,
Wasser!" and gave them Extreme Unction. Men in the tugboats went
mad with their inability to save anyone."

I think those quotes from the article provide a searing image of the
grim reality that was being played out that day on the waters of the
Hudson River.

Other Damage:

There were so many watercrafts of various types on the river that 27 of
them also caught fire as result of the floating and flaming wreckage.
There were no tunnels from New York City to New Jersey yet, so the
main source of transportation was by these many and varied boats and
ferries.

New York City even suffered some fire damage from Hoboken, when
the Bremen had drifted to the other side of the Hudson River and had
started a small fire at Pier 18. This was the point where she was then
towed to the Weehawken Flats, where the Main would later join her.
Everyone who was in the area had stopped what he or she was doing to
look on in awe. It is true that many people in Hoboken thought that
the world was ending because the smoke clouds had turned the bright
sky to darkness. Hoboken itself had suffered damage. The Thingvalla
Line, which bordered the North German Lloyd piers on the north, also
lost a pier to the blaze. The large Campbell's Stores, built at a cost of
$1.5 million dollars, and the Hoboken Warehouse which was located
on the North German Lloyd property area, were burned down with
only a corner of the Campbell's Stores building remaining. A photo of
what was left of Campbell's Stores can be seen below:

                      Campbell Stores Ruins

The Aftermath:

Some of the ships continued to burn for a few more days, or were so
hot that they could not be boarded. The Main and Bremen had
foundered on the Weehawken Flats. They were half sunk, burned out,
and heeled-over partially on their sides. At 11:00 P.M. that night - an
amazing discovery was made when it was found that 15 crewmen were
still alive in the Hull of the Main. Even with her hull plates glowing
from the heat, a tug captain noticed a small oil lamp was shining from
the side of the ship. Upon investigating the tug's crew heard knocking
from within, and the plates were soon cut into to reveal the men. They
had been hiding in an empty coalbunker, and by the time they were
freed they had been trapped in the bunker for eight hours. They had
jammed their clothes in crevices to keep from suffocating from the
smoke. One man had been able to stick his burned arm through a
porthole to signal with the oil lamp. The Saale had sustained the most
damage. Her paint had peeled in many places due to the extreme heat
of the blaze. She was the only one of the ships not to be returned to
service with the Lloyd. The Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse had been
docked at Cunard's Pier 52 since she was due to sail on Tuesday, July
third. She left fully occupied and with an addition of 400 crewmembers
from Saale, Main, and Bremen. As the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was
on her way out of the harbor, she passed by the burned-out hulk of the
Saale where divers were searching for bodies.

The fire was the largest fire loss in the U.S. for that year. Insurance
estimates for the damage were calculated at $4,627,00. Four liners
burned, three seriously damaged, 27 barges, workboats, and harbor
craft were lost. On land the losses were great as well: warehouses,
railroad cars, the three North German Lloyd piers and one pier of the
Thingvalla Line were totally lost. The pilings of the Lloyd piers looked
like tombstones sticking up out of the water and smoke. They were
burned down to the water level, bulkhead houses and everything. The
Hoboken fire department had fought hard to save the piers - one fire
wagon virtually disintegrated when it first arrived at the scene and was
immediately engulfed by flames, the firemen luckily escaping. A total
of 173 people had died on the piers with 100 of them being buried in a
mass grave at Flower Hill Cemetery in North Bergen, New Jersey.
Most of the others who died in the fire were buried there as well and
also at other cemeteries in the area. The upkeep of the mass grave at
Flower Hill Cemetery is maintained by the current incarnation of the
North German Lloyd and the Hamburg America Line, Hapag-Lloyd,
to this day. Here is an abstract from the New York Times about the
largest funeral held for the victims:

"Police captain Hayes, with a detail of men, marched at the head of
the procession. Directly behind him came the band of the Kaiser
Wilhelm II., escorting a number of stewards from that steamer,
carrying numerous large floral pieces which had been contributed by
comrades of the dead. Chief of Police Donovan, Mayor Fagen, the
German Vice Consul, and representatives of the North German Lloyd
followed in carriages.

The Seaman's Benefit Society and the Longshoreman's Union were
followed by eleven hearses.

Capts. Peterman of the Main and Nierrich of the Bremen followed in
carriages. After them marched twenty survivors of the Saale, headed
by First Officer Schaeffer and Second Officer Zander.

The bands of the Barbarossa and Trave* headed delegations of officers
and sailors bearing more floral offerings. Nine hearses and the five
catafalques followed. The rear was brought up by about one hundred
carriages containing those who had lost relatives in the fire.

The funeral procession moved along First Street to River Street,
passing the scene of the disaster, thence through Third Street to
Washington Street, and from there to Fourteenth Street, where it
disbanded. Those on foot returning and the carriages following the
bodies to Flower Hill Cemetery, where a long row of graves awaited
the bodies.

At the cemetery the Rev. Dr. William R. Jenvey, Archdeacon of Jersey
City, read the Episcopal burial service, assisted by Rev. George S.
Bennitt of Grace Protestant Episcopal Church, Jersey City."

*Barbarossa and Trave were steamers of the North German Lloyd that
arrived after the fire had dissipated.

The picture above shows one of the Piers, which burned, possibly Pier
1.

The salvage firm of Merritt Chapman Wrecking Co. was enlisted to
salvage the Main, Bremen, and Saale. It took a few months to pump
the water out of the ships and to re-float them. The Bremen was the
first to be repaired enough so that she could return to Germany. She
was given temporary repairs in New York and then went to
Philadelphia to pick up a load of cotton to take to Bremerhaven,
where she was given a major overhaul. The Main was worse off and
had to be towed to Newport News, Virginia, to be repaired by the
Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry-dock Co. She then returned to
service with the North German Lloyd. The Saale was sold in January
1901 to the Luckenbach S.S. Company where she was rebuilt as a
freighter and was renamed three times before being scrapped in 1924.

In the aftermath of the fire, dynamite was used in an attempt to free
bodies thought to still be in the wreckage of the ruined pier structures
and the Campbell's Stores Warehouses. The odor from the decaying
bodies was noticeable, and the corpses themselves would have
presented a health problem to the city. Now, the North German Lloyd
piers were to be completely rebuilt, using many new fire-prevention
techniques, concrete and steel. The new piers that were built were even
longer and more spacious to support the newest and largest ships that
would be coming from Germany in the future, and were totally
completed by 1906. Until the new piers were finished though, the
Lloyd used a temporary pier rented from Cunard, Pier 52. Two other
piers in Brooklyn were rented and converted for passenger service, and
sometimes piers at the neighboring Hamburg America Line, or the
French and White Star lines in Manhattan were used.

The final number of those dead cannot be totally estimated, but they
numbered from 326 to 400. Please read some of the other sources that
are listed in the Bibliography section of this website. There are many
more interesting, brave, and terrible accounts that are documented in
those sources. I am indebted to them and to the Hoboken Public
Library for what I have learned about this subject.

Thank you for making it this far, my writing is far from perfect, but I
hope that you at least got something out of all this. It is a subject that
is not often talked about, and was only mentioned a few times on the
100th anniversary of the fire in June and July of 2000.

This picture shows the former North German Lloyd Pier area at
Hoboken, July 5th, 2001.

Did You know?

In 1900, a little more than Twenty percent of the population in
Hoboken was German-born.

Links:

Hoboken Historical Museum
Accessibility

Copyright 2001 webmaster@pier3.org

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