Monument Cap Arcona Insel Poel

This monument is for the German passenger ship SS Cap Arcona, which sank on May 3, 1945, in the Lübecker Bight. The German ship sank after a British bombardment. On board the ship were 5,000 prisoners from Neuengamme concentration camp. Another ship, the Thielbeck, with another 2,800 prisoners on board, was also bombed. More than 7,000 of those on board, including 300 Dutch, died. The British would have thought that there were mainly German soldiers on board who were trying to escape to Denmark or Norway and therefore ultimately decided to launch a major air attack.