If you have family members who may have traveled on the SS Lilu or served in the Baltic evacuations of 1945, please consult the Arolsen Archives or the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for further records.
For those searching for the SS Lilu today, the vessel serves as a reminder that history is not only found in the great battleships or luxury liners. It is also found in the rusting, forgotten freighter lying silent on the seabed—a steel tomb for thousands who simply wanted to go home. ss lilu
Because the SS Lilu lacked adequate lifeboats for even a quarter of its passengers, most jumped into the 4°C (39°F) water. Only 78 people were picked up by a passing Swedish trawler two days later. The rest—over 2,400 souls—sank with the ship. The wreck now lies in international waters, approximately 45 nautical miles northwest of Ustka, Poland, at a depth of 70 meters. For decades, the SS Lilu was a footnote—a ghost ship confused with other Baltic wrecks. It wasn’t until 2003 that a Polish maritime survey team, using side-scan sonar while mapping undersea cable routes, discovered a large, broken wreck matching the Lilu ’s dimensions. However, the site has never been officially excavated or dived upon due to its depth and the sensitive nature of the human remains likely still inside. If you have family members who may have