Ss Lilu May 2026

According to survivor accounts corroborated by Swedish intelligence reports, the SS Lilu departed the Latvian port of Liepāja on April 22, 1945. She was overloaded with approximately 2,500 refugees: women, children, elderly civilians, and a handful of wounded Wehrmacht soldiers. The ship was flying a makeshift Red Cross flag, though it was not officially marked as a hospital ship.

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

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,