Heinrich Bertram (captain)

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Heinrich Bertram (* 1897 ; † October 7, 1956 ) was a German captain .

Life

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Heinrich Bertram grew up in Flottbek. The family ran an art and commercial gardening business in Klein Flottbek on Baron-Vogt-Straße, the southern end of which runs a few hundred meters from the house to the Elbchaussee and Teufelsbrück on the banks of the Elbe, where a small harbor for fishing boats and Elbe ferries was built from 1889 was.

As a captain he later lived with his family in the neighboring Groß Flottbek and after his death in 1956 he was buried in the Groß-Flottbeker cemetery. His wife stayed in the house as a widow and from 1969/70 there was again a captain Heinrich Bertram, probably a son.

Heinrich Bertram began his nautical training in 1914. During the First World War he was interned in Chile . Heinrich Bertram served as an officer on various ships of the Hamburg Süd shipping company and, among other things, was second officer on the Cap Arcona from October 1933 under Captain Richard Niejahr . There he was appointed first officer in the spring of 1938 . In 1938 he was promoted to captain. At the end of August 1939 Heinrich Bertram, who had taken command of the Wilhelm Gustloff in March 1939 , left Hamburg with her on the 44th and last cruise to Norway.

From January 1940 he was in command of the former cruise ship Monte Rosa , which at that time served as a barge for soldiers and later as a troop transport. In November 1942, the ship was used for the deportation of prisoners from the Grini police prisoner camp .

In September 1943 the Monte Rosa was lying in the port of Aarhus when the order from Berlin was to be implemented to now also deport Danish citizens of the Jewish faith. During this time Friedrich Wilhelm Lübke was captain lieutenant and head of department in Aarhus, responsible for sea transports between Denmark and Norway. When he received the order to arrange for the Monte Rosa to be ready for the operation, he and Captain Heinrich Bertram - neither of whom were Nazi friends - sabotaged this operation together by telegraphing the high command that the ship had an engine failure and Problems with the capacitors. They refused the order to bring the ship to Copenhagen anyway, with reference to the safety of the ship, for which they could not assume any responsibility. The resulting delay may have made a major contribution to saving the Danish Jews , who could be informed, hidden and brought to Sweden in large numbers.

Until the Monte Rosa hit a mine at the end of February 1945, Bertram was in command of the Monte Rosa .

At the beginning of March 1945, after the suicide of Captain Johannes Gerdts, he took command of the Cap Arcona and at the end of March 1945 undertook the ship's second evacuation voyage to Danzig . A total of around 8,000 people were evacuated. On April 14, 1945, it was moved to Neustädter Bucht . Bertram was given a leave of absence for a few days and his first officer took over command of the ship, which was far under-crewed.

In late 1944 / early 1945 on the orders of Heinrich Himmler started to concentration camps to evacuate. At the end of March 1945 the SS began to take prisoners from Neuengamme concentration camp , but also from Stutthof , Auschwitz and other concentration camps, to Lübeck on death marches . There they should be embarked on the Cap Arcona , among other things . A total of around 9,000 prisoners were to be accommodated on four ships. On April 20, the ship's command received a telegram from the Reichskommissar-See via the port captain of Neustadt in Holstein , in which it was announced that around 8,000 concentration camp prisoners were to be taken on board the Cap Arcona . Heinrich Bertram later defended himself on board again from April 22, 1945, pointing out that there was not enough water and provisions for the prisoners on board. In addition, reference was made to the valid charter with the Kriegsmarine , which was subsequently confirmed by the responsible sea transport chief Baltic Sea, Rear Admiral Conrad Engelhardt . He turned down several takeovers from other ships. After just under a week, an SS commando appeared on board and threatened to shoot Bertram for refusing to give orders . He bowed to the instructions of Reichskommissars-See and thousands of prisoners were brought on board the Cap Arcona. The following sentence was passed down: "[I] I have a wife and two children, and for this reason I will obey the orders of madness." In addition, he emphasized that he had refused to assume responsibility for the ship from now on. The Athens brought a total of 7,000 prisoners to the Cap Arcona . On April 29, Bertram gave the order to commandeer a fishing cutter to bring the dead ashore. On April 30, 2000 prisoners who were still on board the Athens at the time of the bombardment were picked up again because of overcrowding . Conditions on the Cap Arcona were catastrophic. Bertram survived the sinking of the Cap Arcona in early May 1945, as did 80% of the crew, but only just under 8% of the prisoners.

After the war he was a consultant for deep sea fishing in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forests . He campaigned for the construction of fishery research vessels including their equipment and was responsible, among other things, for the use of the fishery protection boats and the fishery research vessel Anton Dohrn . In 1953 Bertram was appointed permanent expert on research vessels by the International Fishing Boat Congress . The holdings of the Hamburg State Archives contain a collection of newspaper clippings on his person.

He died in October 1956 at the age of 59 after a long and serious illness.

Works (selection)

  • Fisheries protection. In: Annual report on German fisheries. Mann, 1949, pp. 45-48.
  • German fisheries protection. In: Nauticus . Vol. 28, 1952, pp. 42-46.
  • The fishery protection from 1948 to 1956. In: The fishing industry. Volumes 6-8. Görg, 1954, p. 152.
  • German fisheries protection in 1953. In: Annual report on German fisheries 1953. pp. 184–186.
  • The fisheries research ship. In: Annual report on German fisheries 1953. pp. 187–183.
  • Fishery research ship “Anton Dohrn.” In: Hansa , Volume 92, 26/27, 1955, pp. 1161–1168.

Web links

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Germany (West) Federal Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Forests: Annual report on German fishing . 1957, p. 4 ( google.de [accessed on June 4, 2020]).
  2. ↑ a b c The fish industry - Volumes 6–8, C. Th. Görg, 1956, p. 274 [1]
  3. ^ A b c Robert P. Watson : The Nazi Titanic: The Incredible Untold Story of a Doomed Ship in World War II, Hachette UK, 2016, p. 62 [2]
  4. ↑ Heinz Schön: The tragedy of the refugee ships: sunk in the Baltic Sea in 1944/45 . Motorbuch, 2004, ISBN 978-3-613-02424-3 , pp. 195 ( google.de [accessed June 4, 2020]).
  5. ↑ Heinz Schön: The Cap Arcona disaster: a documentation based on eyewitness reports . Motorbuch Verlag, 1989, ISBN 978-3-613-01270-7 , pp. 111 ( google.de [accessed June 4, 2020]).
  6. ↑ When the Nazis' dream ship was launched , ndr.de, May 3, 2017
  7. ↑ Dieter Naumann: The sinking of the "Wilhelm Gustloff" , Das Blättchen , 23rd year, number 7, March 30th, 2020
  8. ↑ https://jyllands-posten.dk/debat/kronik/article6084741.ece/
  9. ↑ Gerhard Hynitzsch: The last days of the "Cap Arcona". From: German Shipping Archive . 22, 1999, pp. 189-198, here p. 192.
  10. ↑ Gerhard Hynitzsch: The last days of the "Cap Arcona". From: German Shipping Archive. 22, 1999, pp. 189–198, here p. 193. (PDF file)
  11. ↑ Katharina Hertz-Eichenrode: A concentration camp is being cleared. Bremen 2000, p. 85.
  12. ↑ Gerhard Hynitzsch: The last days of the "Cap Arcona". From: German Shipping Archive . 22, 1999, pp. 189-198, here p. 194.
  13. ^ British bombers sank ships - The tragedy of the "Cap Arcona". Retrieved on June 4, 2020 (German).
  14. ↑ "Cap Arcona" - In the holds. Publication by the Neugengamme Concentration Camp Memorial, p. 7.
  15. ↑ Bernd Ulrich : The tragedy of the "Cap Arcona". In: DLF . May 3, 2020, accessed May 4, 2020 .
  16. ^ NDR: Tragedy at the end of the war: The sinking of the "Cap Arcona". Retrieved June 4, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Die Fischwirtschaft - Volumes 6–8, C. Th. Görg, 1956, p. 274 [3]
  18. ↑ Information for the fishing industry - Volumes 3–5, Federal Research Center for Fisheries, 1956 [4]
  19. ↑ Information for the fishing industry, Volumes 3–5, Federal Research Center for Fisheries, 1956 [5]
  20. ^ Archive entry in the German Digital Library
personal data
SURNAME Bertram, Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German captain
DATE OF BIRTH 1897
DATE OF DEATH October 7, 1956