The shipyard delivered the ship to Compagnie Maritime Belge SA on September 17, 1938. based in Antwerp . This was mainly used in traffic between European ports and the Belgian colonies of that time in West Africa. In June 1940, the German seized the Navy , the Mar del Plata and handed them over to the Hamburg-South American Steamship Company Eggert & Amsinck , Hamburg , for ship management. On August 8, 1940, the ship was recorded as the H5 transporter for the Sea Lion Company , planning an invasion of Great Britain . After the conversion, which was completed on August 31, 1940, the ship was able to take 1,020 soldiers on board. Since the plan to conquer Great Britain was finally abandoned, the H 5 served as a transport ship for wounded in the further course of the war. In the winter of 1944/45 it took part in the evacuation of the German eastern territories. On May 19, 1945 it ran into a sea mine off Aarhus and was badly damaged. After the repair, the Allies gave the ship to Compagnie Maritime Belge SA. who used it again in their original shipping area to West Africa.
As part of the Hobby Horse Movement , the GDR bought the two freight-carrying passenger ships Mar del Plata and Copacabana , later Theodor Körner, in February 1958 . The takeover by the Deutsche Seereederei took place on March 26, 1958 under the name Heinrich Heine . In the spring of 1958, the CUBALCO service began operating between European ports, Cuba and ports in Mexico . On May 2, 1968 the DSR put the training and cargo ship out of service and sold it to the Loyna Cia. Navigation SA in Famagusta in Cyprus , which continued to operate it under the name Cleo II . After an operating time of almost 35 years, the ship reached Kaohsiung , Taiwan on January 25, 1973 , where it was scrapped.
Trivia
In the summer of 1964, the GDR film company DEFA used Heinrich Heine for shooting the feature film Blackpool, Course Southwest . For the time of filming, the ship was given the film name Blackpool .
literature
German shipping companies Volume 23 VEB Deutsche Seereederei Rostock Author collective Verlag Gert Uwe Detlefsen ISBN 3-928473-81-6 , page 106
Claus Rothe: German ocean passenger ships. 1919 to 1985. In: Library of Ship Types. transpress publishing house for transport, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-344-00164-7 .
^ German shipping companies Volume 23 VEB Deutsche Seereederei Rostock Author collective Verlag Gert Uwe Detlefsen Page 106 Mention of the text about the film work
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