The width of the Titanic was 92.5 feet (28 m), compared with 118 feet (36 m) for the Costa Concordia. And she is the one who begged me to write about it, and she also said even though we weren't on the ship, we could give voice to those who believe that their stories are sunken.But we've never seen any human remains.' It spanned a length of 1,019.4 feet (310.7 meters), surpassing the Titanic by 136 feet.

My father's cousin was visiting from Europe, and she confessed that she had passage on the Wilhelm Gustloff, but the day of the voyage, when she approached the port, fate intervened and she was not able to get on the ship. On how she heard about the Wilhelm Gustloff And so Joana is put into this position - her choices are Stalin or Hitler, and what sort of choice is that? And so with this character of Joana, I wanted to explore what is it like for a young person who is forced to leave everything they've ever known and loved behind. My father fled from Lithuania and lived for nine years in refugee camps before coming to the United States. On the character of Joana, a nurse from Lithuaniaĭuring this time period, there was a massive refugee exodus in this region - they had fled from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia - and the refugee narrative is something that is very close to my own heart. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Sepetys tells NPR's Renee Montagne how she heard about the Wilhelm Gustloff and why the story isn't more well-known outside Germany.Ĭlose overlay Buy Featured Book Title Salt to the Sea Author Ruta Sepetys They were all fleeing the advancing Soviet army. The ship carried soldiers and thousands of civilians, many of them children from Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. It's about the doomed German ship Wilhelm Gustloff, which was sunk by three Russian torpedoes in January 1945. Sepetys' new book, Salt to the Sea, also draws on a family history from that era. It was inspired by her father's and grandfather's experiences as Lithuanian refugees. More than 9,000 people died.Īuthor Ruta Sepetys likes to look for what she calls 'hidden chapters of history.' She writes historical fiction for teens, and judging by the success of her debut novel, Between Shades of Gray, adults are also reading her.īetween Shades of Gray is about a Lithuanian girl who, along with her family, gets deported to a Siberian labor camp during World War II.

The Wilhelm Gustloff sank after being hit by Russian torpedoes on Jan.

Lusitania vs titanic size comparison