Destination Sweden - Transporting Children from Bergen-Belsen during White Boat Mission 1945 - After July 1945 "nil" remaining persons at the Swedish Transit Hospital in Lübeck.

Absolutely last White Boats that left at the same time Lübeck harbor on July 25 were S/S Kastelholm and M/S Rönnskär. The day before, on July 24th left M/S Karskär.

I use to call the White Boat S/S Kastelholm and its last trip that was on July 25, 1945, for a "Children Boat". Children's Boat was the result of an agreement between Dr. Robert Collis and Dr. Hans Arnoldson. Dr Collis was the head of the Children's ward at the Emergency Hospital in Bergen-Belsen and Dr Arnoldson was the head of the Swedish Transit Hospital in Lübeck (Lübeck Transit Centre) and also responsible for the transport logistics of the UNRRA White Boats. These two decided on the day of transport of the children with the ambulance train from Bergen-Belsen to Lübeck and further transport to Sweden. 

Dr. Arnoldson sent the message (Signalmeddelande) to the Swedish Marine Forces* that S/S Kastelholm that arrived at Lüback Harbour early this week will wait for the children's transport until Wednesday, July 25.  The very last transports by ambulance train arriving in Lübeck on July 22-23-24 will carry respectively 500, 498, and 500 former inmates for further transports to Sweden. Dr. Arnoldson gives also an exact number of children and children with mothers that will arrive at Swedish Transit Hospital on July 24. Besides the number of children, there is also information about their health status.

The information in Signalmeddelande comes of course from Robert Collis who was head of child care at Bergen-Belsen Hospital. He stated that there will arrive 75 sick children and 95 healthy children would be accompanied by 26 sick mothers and 20 healthy ones. The foreign nursing staff mentioned by Dr Collis is a British nurse and a Dutch woman Han who was an interpreter and was assisting Dr. Collis from the start of the children's clinic at the Emergency Hospital in Bergen-Belsen.

After the last White boats left Lübeck on M/S Rönnskär and S/S Kastelholm in the official UNRRA report one can read "nil" in the column "Number of remaining" persons (in the Swedish Transit Hospital. Nil means the same as zero and it is usually used to say what the score is in matches in sports.

As was mentioned in the Signal message concerning UNRRA's White Boat S/S Kastelholm from 25 July 1945, all passengers are divided into sitting (Marked on the lists with S) and lying down (Marked on the lists with L). Sitting and lying actually referred more to their state of health as even those sitting got a place to sleep on the longer crossings. 

 

The total number of "Lying down" on S/S Kastelholm on this day was 56 and were distributed as follows: 

Men - 3 pcs 

Women - 16 pcs 

Children under 2 years - 3 pcs

Children 2-7 years - 7 pcs

Children 7-10 years - 8 pcs

Boys over 10 years - 13 pcs 

Girls over 10 years 13 pcs

The total number of people seated on S/S Kastelholm on this day was 145 and were distributed as follows: Men - 20 pcs 

Women - 32 pcs 

Children under 2 years - 26 pcs 

Children 2-7 years - 19 pcs 

Children 7-10 years - 14 pcs 

Boys over 10 years - 7 pcs 

Girls over 10 years - 27 pcs 

Sitting caregivers (from Bergen-Belsen hospital) 5 pcs.

There were numerous children on the M/S Rönnskär

 that left on July 25, 1945, Kozieniecki).

There were actually children and children with mothers from Kinderheim and Piotrków on White Boats that left Lübeck at the beginning of the UNRRA mission. Mirka Stern with her mother and her cousin Theodor left Lübeck on the White Boats M/S Ingrid, heading to Gothenburg on July  7, 1947.  It is possible that they were not at the Dr Collis children's ward but at other sections of the Emergency hospital at Bergen-Belsen which had 13 600 beds. 

On the passenger list on M/S Karskär that left Lübeck as a single boat on July 24, there were several children on board as well. Litmanowicz

From the middle of July, Dr. Hans Arnoldson, the commandant of the Luebeck detachment knew exactly how many more patients from Bergen-Belsen will come.  As the goal of the mission was 10,000 patients he was looking for more patients from other DP camps than Bergen-Belsen. He found former inmates of the Stutthof concentration camp in the Neustad DP camp and after the examination and registration at the Swedish Transit Hospital on July 23, 1945, were sent to Sweden on M/S Rönnskär, leaving at the same time as S/S Kastelholm, July 25th.

As mentioned S/S Kastelholm made the last voyage from Lübeck on July 25th. Afterward, all four civilian ships were restored to their previous condition and returned to their owners at the beginning of August. 

*Swedish Marine Forces - actually Board of Naval Logistics. The Naval staff had the task of following the movements of the White Boats at sea, maintaining radio communication, and transmitting messages and logistical requests such as fuel, food, and staff. lt also had to take decisions relating to naval matters (e g whether the ships should be escorted by (German) minesweepers or not). 

Absolutely last White Boats that left Lübeck harbor on July 25 were S/S Kastelholm and M/S Rönnskär. The day before, on July 24th left M/S Karskär. I use to call the White Boat S/S Kastelholm and its last trip that was on July 25, 1945, for a "Children Boat". Children's Boat was the result of an agreement between Dr. Robert Collis and Dr. Hans Arnoldson. Dr Collis was the head of the Children's ward at the Emergency Hospital in Bergen-Belsen and Dr Arnoldson was the head of the Swedish Transit Hospital in Lübeck.

 When the last White Boats left Lübeck harbor on July 25, 1945, they transported according to this list 9 525 former inmates of the concentration camps. Most of them came from Bergen-Belsen.

Dr. Arnoldson sent the message (Signalmeddelande) to the Swedish Marine Forces that S/S Kastelholm that arrived at Lüback Harbour early this week will wait for the children's transport until Wednesday, July 25. The very last transports by ambulance train arriving in Lübeck on July 22-23-24 will carry respectively 500, 498, and 500 former inmates for further transports to Sweden. Dr. Arnoldson gives also an exact number of children and children with mothers that will arrive at Swedish Transit Hospital on July 24. Besides the number of children, there is also information about their health status.
The information in Signalmeddelande comes of course from Robert Collis who was head of child care at Bergen-Belsen Hospital. He stated that there will arrive 75 sick children and 95 healthy children would be accompanied by 26 sick mothers and 20 healthy ones. The foreign nursing staff mentioned by Dr Collis is a British nurse and a Dutch woman Han who was an interpreter and was assisting Dr. Collis from the start of the children's clinic at the Emergency Hospital in Bergen-Belsen.

As was mentioned in the Signal message concerning UNRRA's White Boat S/S Kastelholm from 25 July 1945, all passengers are divided into sitting (Marked on the lists with S) and lying down (Marked on the lists with L). On page 5 there are two angels from Kinderheim i Barrack number 211 in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp: Luba and Hermina, here listed as 7910 and 7909.

There were actually children and children with mothers from Kinderheim and Piotrków on White Boats that left Lübeck at the beginning of the UNRRA mission. Mirka Stern with her mother and her cousin Theodor Zajdman left Lübeck on the White Boats M/S Ingrid, heading to Gothenburg on July 7, 1947.