On the afternoon of May 11^th 1945 the ship MS Homberg arrived in the port of Malmö. Carrying  more than a thousand newly released prisoners from German camps in Europe. Many of them were in a very bad condition. Malnourished and diseased. One of the Swedish nurses that took care of the survivors, Gertrud Fröberg, was infected with thyphus and died shortly afterwards. Her son Bo Fröberg tells the story in the film.

German researchers Dirk Lachmann and Uwe Berger contacted us to share information from documents that contests some of the facts given in Harbour Of Hope about MS Homberg. Their main point being that the German navy did not plan to abandon the ship without supplies or fuel in the middle of the Baltic Sea, to be sunk by the Allied.

In fact the ship had been supplied for the voyage from Flensburg to Malmö and the intention was that the ship, with its cargo of former prisoners, should reach the port in Malmö.

A more detailed review of the facts by Lachmann and Berger as quoted below:

“A careful check on the movements of MS Homberg in the relevant time span May 2nd to May 11th, 1945, showed the following result:

May 2nd until May 6th: On May 1st, 1945, MS Homberg had reached Nyborg, Denmark after a rescue mission. The ship then left the port on May 2nd, and arrived at Flensburg on May 6th, 1945. (2)

May 7th to May 9th, 1945, at Flensburg: On May 7th, the harbour master was ordered to supply MS Homberg, moored in the harbour, with 1.200 straw mattresses, a sufficient amount of wood shavings, portable lavatories, and the necessary cleaning kit. The necessary bedding was taken from the steamer Elbing VIII. The Homberg also took food supplies for 1.200 persons and for 6 days on board, and received the fuel needed for a voyage from Flensburg to Malmö from the tanker Frieda. (3)

May 10th, departure for Malmö: In the morning of May 10th, 1945, the transhipment of the former prisoners from MS Rheinfels (which was lying in Flensburg harbour awaiting necessary repair work) to the Homberg was started under the supervision of Allied troops which had reached Flensburg by then; the Rheinfels had served as a floating prison camp from May 4th. On May 10th, at around 12.15 hrs., about 1.350 former foreign prisoners left Flensburg harbour on board MS Homberg for Malmö; the ship had been sufficiently equipped for the voyage. (4) In the Curiohaus law case, the captain of the Homberg, Karl Bröker (according to Haniel Co. his name was Pröckl), confirmed that the voyage from Flensburg to Malmö took about 30 hours. (5)

MS Homberg entered the port of Malmö at 16.30 hrs. on May 11th, 1945.

A small prisoners’ orchestra may have played music on board as there are several musicians mentioned in the extant passengers’ list. (6)

LIST OF SOURCES:

1. Vgl./Cf. “Haniel 1756 – 2006. Eine Chronik in Daten und Fakten“, Duisburg, 2006.

2. Rechnung I/837 der Fa. Franz Haniel (Abschrift) an den Admiral der Kriegsmarinedienststelle Hamburg – Schiffahrtsabwicklungsabteilung,   Hamburg 13, Harvenstehuderweg 7, vom 19. Dezember 1945. Archiv Fa. Haniel, DU-Ruhrort. Die Abrechnungen beziehen sich auf Ausgaben für Tageskosten, Treiböl und Schmieröl) in den angelandeten Häfen (s. Anlage 1)./The bills relate to the expenses for the daily charter oft he ship, as well as fuel and lubricants bought at the ports of call.

3. Ulf Lüers, “Die Toten über Bord geworfen …“, KZ-Häftlings-Transporte nach Flensburg April/Mai 1945, S. 303 ff in; Verführt. Verfolgt. Verschleppt. Aspekte nationalsozialistischer Herrschaft in Flensburg 1933 – 1945, Flensburg, 1996

4. Ulf Lüers, ebd./loc.cit.

5.  Freundeskreis e.V. (Hg.), Curiohaus-Prozess, Hamburg, 1946, Bd. III, S. 426 f

6. MS Hombergfiles:

Malmö Polis, Kriminalavd., Rappord, HEMLIG, Tisdagen den 26 juni 1945, Liste der befreiten Häftlinge an Bord der MS Homberg, Zeitungsartikel mit Fotos aus: Skanska  dagbladet 12.maj 1945 und Sydsvenska 12-maj 1945.

Daniel Poux, Eugene Hervy and Gilbert Ventry in Malmö harbour (click to enlarge)

70 years after the German ‘ghostship’ S/S Homberg reached Malmö harbour new information about its cargo of war-torn WWII survivors has been unveiled. We are now able to identify several survivors who were caught on camera upon their arrival in 1945.

In the last scenes of Harbour of Hope archive pictures show the ship’s arrival at Malmö harbour on 11 May 1945. The ship, containing nearly 2000 survivors from the German concentration camps had been found by a coastguard drifting outside Malmö. It had been floating somewhere in the Baltic Sea for a whole week with no command. It’s believed that German officers had abandoned the ship once they found out about the German defeat in the beginning of May 1945.

The arrival of Homberg in Malmö harbour (click to enlarge)

The survivors; most of them Russian, Polish and French, had been without food or water for a week, and were in a terrible state upon the arrival. Four had died and many had become infected with typhus fever and other diseases.

With the help from two French survivors who recognised themselves in Harbour of Hope – Daniel Poux (born 1927 in Oyonnax) and Pascal Valliccioni (born 1926 in Toulon) -  as well as Neuengamme Concentration Camp Museum, we are now able to identify a number of people who are visible in the archive pictures from S/S Homberg‘s arrival.

Recently we received an e-mail from Pascal Valliccioni confirming that he was one of the survivors arriving in Malmö, and explaining how he stumbled upon the pictures.

“I was watching television one late night and by chance Harbour of Hope was on. It was a great feeling to recognize myself in the pictures after 70 years. That night I could hardly get any sleep.”

Pascal Valliccioni below deck on S/S Homberg (click to enlarge)

Both Pascal and Daniel had been detained at the Neuengamme satellite camp in Wilhelmshaven. Daniel had been assigned to forced labour and Pascal, who had been active in the French Resistance, was forced to work as a welder of German submarines.  When the camp was evacuated in April 1945 they were sent on a death march. After reaching Flensburg by the Danish border they were placed on S/S Homberg. Barely escaping death before the ship was picked up by the Swedish coast guard.

“After all the violence, humiliation and suffering I found myself in a gymhall in Sweden that had been turned into an infirmary. I received first aid, and began to realize that I now was free. I was 18 years old and weighed 37 kilos.”

Pascal stayed in Sweden until the beginning of July 1945. He retains fond memories of the kindness and generosity that he was met by.

“I will never forget the Swedish people. The medics who treated us risked their lives. I was so happy to be there after the nightmare we had experienced.”

One of the Red cross sisters lost her life when treating the passengers of S/S Homberg, Gertrud Fröberg. She became infected by typhus and died shortly after. Gertrud’s story is told in Harbour of Hope, by her son Bo Fröberg.

Daniel Poux and Pascal Valliccioni were reunited at the Commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp in May last year. They had the chance to study the pictures of their arrival in Malmö harbour 70 years earlier and managed to identify fellow French survivors Eugene Hervy and Gilbert Ventry (first photo above).

Today Daniel lives in a suburb in the North of Paris and Pascal lives in the South of France.

More info about the French survivors of S/S Homberg coming soon.

We look forward to honouring Harbour of Hope hero Irene Krausz-Fainman with three screenings in South Africa, her home country. The film will screen in both Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. Irene Krausz-Fainman, who is portrayed in the film, will be present for all screenings together with Director Magnus Gertten.

The details for the screenings are:
May 29, 2014: Johannesburg, South Africa. Ditsong National Museum of Military History in Johannesburg, Gauteng
June 1, 2014: Durban Holocaust Centre in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.
June 2, 2014: Cape Town Holocaust Centre in Cape Town, Western Cape.

Thank you to Durban Holocaust Centre, Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, Cape Town Holocaust Centre and the Swedish Embassy in South Africa for making these screenings possible.

You can see details for tickets at our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/HarbourOfHope/events

Harbour of Hope will screen at the upcoming Maine Jewish Film Festival happening in March. Precise screening dates are:

Monday, March 24 at 5:30pm at Nickelodeon (The screening is followed by a reception at Simply Scandinavian, 19 Temple St., Portland)

Tuesday, March 25 at 7:00pm at Michael Klahr Center/UMaine Augusta

Director Magnus Gertten and Producer Lennart Ström will be present for the screenings and afterwards Q&A.

They are also invited to the festival to give a special presentation on the use of archive in documentary filmmaking. On Tuesday, March 25 Gertten and Ström will take part in the seminar “The Role of Archive in Restoring and Conserving Identity” to talk about how they are turning archive material into fascinating human stories.

Here you can read more about the Harbour of Hope screenings in Maine.

Harbour of Hope in Sydney: Sunday, March 23, 2014 at 12:00 pm.

Harbour of Hope in Melbourne: Sunday, March 23, 2014 at 12:00 pm. and Monday, March 31, 2014 at 07:00 pm.

Further details and tickets are available at the web site of the Holocaust Film Serie in Australia here: http://jiff.com.au/films/harbour-hope/

First broadcast is scheduled for January 7, 2014. Re-runs will follow in the coming period.

Following the broadcast Harbour of Hope will also be available via ARTE’s VOD catch up service.

French version: http://www.arte.tv/guide/fr/048383-000/le-port-d-esperance.

German version: http://www.arte.tv/guide/de/048383-000/hafen-der-hoffnung

Harbour of Hope will be shown at War On Screen Film Festival in France in October. Director Magnus Gertten will be present for the screenings at the War On Screen Film Festival in France.

The UK Jewish Film Festival will screen Harbour of Hope in November in London, where Magnus Gertten also will be present.

Also in November Harbour of Hope will be screened at the International Film Festival for Children and Youth in Armenia.Screenings will take place in the Armenia capital Yerevan on November 1-5, 2013.

Details on the screenings are available at our Harbour of Hope Facebook Page.

The screening and special event is taking place on May 6th 2013 at 17:00 (local time).

Read more about the screening at our Harbour of Hope Facebook Page.

The Harbour of Hope teams is looking forward to have the film screened in Argentina and is wishing that the screening can lead to more input to their current effort to identify more of the survivors coming to Malmö in Spring 1945. Particularly the Argentinian citizens being rescued.

Here you can see the names on the Argentinian survivors on the passangerlists of the rescue operation.

Feels like a nice conclusion for 2012!

Here you can read the full top 10 list:

http://docsandfilmfestivals.com/2013/01/05/best-documentaries-of-2012/