Cap Arcona Memorial

The Cap Arcona Memorial is located in the shade of some trees on the way to the beach. A very nicely prepared and devotional place.This place is dedicated to the countless concentration camp prisoners who lost their lives in the attack by British aircraft. The attack on the luxury liner Cap Arcona took place on May 3rd, 1945. The ship was bombed in Lübeck Bay and sank in the Baltic Sea.

The memorial to the victims of the sinking of the Cap Arkona
One of the sights on the island of Poel is the memorial to the victims of the sinking of the Cap Arkona, Am Schwarzen Busch. Many dead from the sinking were also washed up on the coast of Poel and buried here in the island cemetery in Kirchdorf.

Cap Arcona MemorialWhat happened?
World War II was coming to an end. It was the end of April 1945, German SS guards drove prisoners from the Neuengamme concentration camp and survivors of the more than 1000 km long death march from the Fürstengrube concentration camp from Silesia onto the passenger steamers Cap Arcona, Thielbeck and some other ships anchored in the Bay of Lübeck. The reason for this last action by the Nazis remains unknown to this day. If you wanted to have a bargaining chip with the prisoners in negotiations with the Allies or get rid of them in a convenient way, who knows. The fact is that on May 3, 1945, English bombers and fighter planes attacked the ships anchored in the Bay of Lübeck. The prisoners on the ships waved to their supposed liberators on the planes, but the attack continued
after a few minutes the bombed Cap Arkona sank. Most of the prisoners went down with her, a few who were able to save themselves by jumping into the ice-cold water of the Baltic Sea were fired upon by the Royal Air Force fighter planes, which were still attacking. After the British planes had withdrawn, the German Navy showed up and continued to shell the prisoners who were fighting for their lives in the water. Quite a few prisoners who made it ashore were murdered there by SS guards who rushed to the site.
Few prisoners survived, including the actor Erwin Geschonnek, who was admired by many. Once you are at the Black Bush you can also visit the memorial to commemorate the victims of the world war.

(Source: poel-insel.de)

a memorial for the Cap Arcona. On May 3, 1945, British bombers attacked this ship, among other things, and 7,000 people (concentration camp prisoners) lost their lives in the process. There is a board on site where you can read the full story