ZDF - M.S. Gustloff: Ship of No Return (2008)

A lavish historical drama about the sinking of the refugee ship "Gustloff", which left over 9000 dead - six times more than in the Titanic disaster.
In January 1945, the Red Army began its winter offensive against the German Reich: With approximately twenty-fold superiority, the army overran the German lines on the Eastern Front. Within days, 2.5 million East Prussians were encircled in a massive pocket. In the coldest winter in decades, masses of people fled toward the Baltic Sea, hoping to be taken to safety by ship. Tens of thousands gathered in Gotenhafen (now Gdynia) on the Bay of Danzig, with nothing left but their bare lives. The largest and most conspicuous ship, anchored there in camouflage paint as a barracks for soldiers and a submarine training division, was the "Wilhelm Gustloff."
Set in the dying days of World War 2, the film is based around a love story between the young Captain and (his great love) Erika, who is working as a naval assistant in the refugee centre. The drama begins three days before the "Gustloff" sails from Germany, loaded with refugees fleeing from the communists. Based on historical facts, the film follows the courageous captain Hellmut Kehding, who unflinchingly takes on a daredevil mission to sail from Gdynia to Kiel. Although the ship is only allowed to carry 2000, nearly 9000 terrified and desperate refugees fleeing from the Red Army make it on board.
Captain Hellmuth Kehding is faced with the mission of his life when he receives orders to take the passengers to safety in Kiel. By the time the anchors are raised, over 10,000 fugitives have crammed onto the ship, despite the threat of enemy submarines. Kehding soon begins to suspect that there is a saboteur among the ship's crew. In the middle of the Baltic Sea, the M/S Gustloff receives uninvited guests…
Conceived in 1936 as a pleasure steamer and prestige vessel of the "Strength Through Joy" fleet for approximately 1,500 passengers and built by 1938, it was intended to bring more than 10,000 people, of whom around 8,000 were women, children, and the elderly, to safety. But things turned out differently: On January 30, 1945, the same day it left Gotenhafen, the birthday of the ship's eponymous Wilhelm Gustloff and the anniversary of Hitler's rise to power, the "Wilhelm Gustloff" was attacked and sunk by a Soviet submarine. More than 9,000 people died that day. More than six times as many as died in the sinking of the "Titanic." To this day, rumors of sabotage or a deliberate signal against Hitler's Germany surround the sinking of the "Wilhelm Gustloff," which is considered the greatest disaster in maritime history.
One of the most expensive films ever made by UFA and ZDF and over 5 years in the making, SHIP OF NO RETURN is a moving film about the greatest naval catastrophe in history.