More Died On This WWII Ship Than On The Titanic And Lusitania Combined
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
In writing historical novels for teens, Ruta Sepetys looks for what she calls history's hidden chapters. Her first novel was about a Lithuanian girl deported to Siberia during World War II, and it became a best-seller. Her new book is also set in that era. At the center of "Salt To The Sea" is the true story of a doomed German ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Late in the war, this one-time cruise ship became part of a massive evacuation of German soldiers and civilians plus refugees from Poland, Lithuania and beyond. All were fleeing the advancing Soviet army. Ruta Sepetys began our conversation by taking us back to an icy winter night in 1945 when thousands were desperate to get on the ship.
RUTA SEPETYS: The Gustloff held about 1,400 people, but in order to make room for more passengers, the Germans took all of the furniture off the ship. They drained the swimming pools. And when people boarded, there were maybe 12 to 15 people packed into each cabin. They were lined on mats in the dining room, in the music hall. But waiting in the depths of the Baltic Sea was a Soviet submarine and three torpedoes, 60 minutes to sink in a snowstorm. It's estimated that over 9,000 people perished when the Gustloff sank, which, if those numbers are correct, then that death toll dwarfs both the Titanic and the Lusitania combined.
MONTAGNE: How then did you come to find out about this ship and this terrible event given it was not really known to people maybe outside of Germany?
SEPETYS: My father's cousin was visiting from Europe, and she confessed that she had passage on the Wilhelm Gustloff. But the day of the voyage, when she approached the port, fate intervened, and she was not able to get on the ship. And she is the one who begged me to write about it. And she also said even though we weren't on the ship, we could give voice to those who believe that their stories are sunken.
MONTAGNE: You do then indeed tell the story of four passengers on this ship in "Salt To The Sea," four teens, all from different backgrounds. Could you read for us? The ship is leaving the dock, and one of your characters - his name is Florian - looks down at all the people left behind.
SEPETYS: Certainly. And here we have Florian as he peeks through a seam in the steel of the funnel of the ship. (Reading) Mothers tried hurling their infants to passengers up on deck, but they couldn't throw high enough. Their babies smashed against the side of the ship and plunged into the sea. Women screamed and dove into the water after their children. A man dressed as a woman was beaten by a sentry when he tried to rush the gangway. I watched it all from above, sick with sympathy as they cried and screamed that they would die if they were not allowed to board. The Gustloff was their only hope.
MONTAGNE: Your book is recommended for ages 12 and up. But that moment you just read from, you don't shy away from some pretty harsh realities. How do you weigh the responsibility of telling a true tale when you're writing novels based on history for young readers?
SEPETYS: History writes my stories, and so I do feel a tremendous responsibility. But I also know that young readers are deep thinkers, and they are deep feelers. And I think that books we read when we're 13 or 14 have an ability to make a profound and lasting impression on us. And I was so emotional writing it, and I thought, well, if I'm emotional writing it, maybe that means I should keep it, that readers will also absorb the emotional angst behind that.
MONTAGNE: Now one of the characters, Joana, she's a nurse from Lithuania. Why was she fleeing?
SEPETYS: Well, during this time period, there was a massive refugee exodus in this region. They had fled from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia. And the refugee narrative is something that is very close to my own heart. My father fled from Lithuania and lived for nine years in refugee camps before coming to the United States. And so with this character of Joana, I wanted to explore what is it like for a young person who is forced to leave everything they've ever known and loved behind? And so, Joana is put into this position. Her choices are Stalin or Hitler, and what sort of choice is that?
MONTAGNE: Well, it's interesting that a little over 10 years ago, Gunter Grass, the Nobel prize-winning German novelist, came out with a novel himself that included the Gustloff and what happened. And when he was asked why - because it was a story that was not generally spoken of - he said, because the crimes we Germans are responsible for were so dominant, are so dominant, we didn't have the energy left to tell of our own suffering.
SEPETYS: When I've spoken to German people, German historians, academics, readers and my publisher, they have said that they feel it's inappropriate to ever position themselves as victims considering the atrocities that they committed during the war. So that was one reason the German regime wasn't talking about it. And right after the event happened, what I was told and what I've researched is that the Germans didn't want people to know about it because they felt it would affect morale. And so they were trying to sort of keep this under wraps. And then the survivors themselves, in their memoirs, many of them said, people truly looked at me as if I was making up a story. They didn't believe that something the magnitude of the Gustloff could ever be kept a secret like that.
MONTAGNE: Here we are at a moment again when massive numbers of people are fleeing war, in fact, the greatest exodus since World War II. Many of them are children as are your characters. Is this something you've been thinking about as this book is coming out?
SEPETYS: It's absolutely something I'm thinking about. And as I watch the news reports, it is heartbreaking. And as the daughter of a refugee, I think people also expect me to have answers. And what's frustrating for me is that I have more questions than answers, and I imagine these children who have the same questions as these people did after World War II. Where do I come from, where am I going, and do I have the power to persevere?
MONTAGNE: Well, thank you very much for joining us.
SEPETYS: Thank you so much for having me.
MONTAGNE: Author Ruta Sepetys, her new book is called "Salt To The Sea."
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