1 x 50' Documentaries - ZDF Enterprises

Documentaries1 x 50’Facts for your successThe true story of a tragedy that claimedsix times more lives than the TitanicFrom ZDF’s award winning contemporaryhistory departmentIdeal complement to fictional two-parter“Ship of No Return – The Final Voyage ofthe ‘Gustloff’”Facts for your successEm atie vel euipit doluptating exeritanostincinci eliquisit lamCore tio dolortio odigna feuiscommolore feugue coreAtem doluptat qui tem voloborahenim incillan ut lore feugait

inus 20 degrees. The coldest winter in memory.Fleeing from the Red Army, thousands of terrorstrickenrefugees are desperate to get a passage on the“Wilhelm Gustloff.” Yet the great majority who make iton board will never live to tell about it … Torpedoed by aSoviet submarine on 30 January 1945, the Gustloff sinks,sending more than 9,000 people to their deaths in the icyBaltic Sea. It is the biggest disaster in seafaring history.This documentary examines the events leading to the catastropheas well as some of its unsolved mysteries. It is anideal complement to the ZDF two-part fictional drama “Shipof No Return – The Final Voyage of the ‘Gustloff.’” It describeshow millions of ethnic Germans from the eastern confines ofthe German Reich fled from the Soviet troops. Finding theirescape routes blocked, they could only hope for rescue bysea. Those lucky enough to find a place on board of one ofthe ships departing from a Baltic port believed they weresaved. Those who made it onto the Gustloff thought that theirflight was nearly over – but they were wrong.More than 10,000 people were on board the vessel thatwas originally designed to hold around 2,000 passengersand crew. The torpedo attack had consequences that noteven the Soviets could have imagined: nine thousand died,more than six times the number who perished in the sinkingof the Titanic. Through eyewitness accounts of some of thelast living survivors, as well as of former crew members ofthe submarine that attacked the Gustloff, the documentarypaints a moving and detailed portrait of the calamity. Andthrough extensive archival research, valuable unpublishedfilm footage has also come to light, including exclusive footageof the shipwreck.The documentary also seeks answers to fundamental questions:Why did the captains select a route that was known tothe Soviet submarines? What is the truth about the mysteriousradio message that resulted in the navigation lights beingturned on? Was there a saboteur on board? The answerswill help clear up one of the biggest tragedies of the 20 thcentury.ZDF Enterprises | 04.08Format 1 x 50’ScriptDocumentariesChristian Frey, Anja Greulich,Ricarda SchlosshanAddressZDF EnterprisesDistribution, Merchandising and InvestmentsLise-Meitner-Strasse 9D-55129 MainzProducerGuido Knopp, Christian FreyContactprograminfo@zdf.deProduced byZDFwww.sales.zdf-enterprises.dePhone: +49 (0) 6131 - 991 281Fax: +49 (0) 6131 - 991 259