Steve R. reviewed Death on the Black Sea: The Untold Story of the 'Struma' and World War II's Holocaust at Sea on + 9 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I have to say, one thing that sticks in my craw is the use of exaggeration to sell books. This wasn't the worst maritime civilian loss during WWII, nor was it even close.
The Wilhelm Gustloff is recognized as the greatest sea tragedy of ALL time, with in excess of 8500 persons drowned (and some say in excess of 10,000) on January 30, 1945. Yes, you have to subtract the military personnel from the total but even then, you far exceed the Struma's civilian loss of less than 800 persons. In fact, almost 4,000 of those lost in the Gustloff were children, over 40 times as many as the Struma and five times the entire Struma total!
Every loss of life is tragic, but using exaggerated verbiage to sell books is a shame. The Struma's history is interesting enough without it.
The Wilhelm Gustloff is recognized as the greatest sea tragedy of ALL time, with in excess of 8500 persons drowned (and some say in excess of 10,000) on January 30, 1945. Yes, you have to subtract the military personnel from the total but even then, you far exceed the Struma's civilian loss of less than 800 persons. In fact, almost 4,000 of those lost in the Gustloff were children, over 40 times as many as the Struma and five times the entire Struma total!
Every loss of life is tragic, but using exaggerated verbiage to sell books is a shame. The Struma's history is interesting enough without it.
