2012-04-13

During a bizarre chapter of WWII, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels decided to make a movie based on the sinking of the Titanic. This epic film was so large in scale that the Nazis were forced to divert men, material and ships from the war effort in order to complete it. Titanic was filmed aboard cruise ship SS Cap Arcona in the Baltic Sea. The movie’s director Herbert Selpin was arrested by the Gestapo over comments he made about the ship’s crew and he was questioned by Goebbels. Selpin was found dead the next day in his cell. The Gestapo’s verdict was suicide. Titanic never received the impressive premiere that Goebbels intended, being first shown in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1943. We reveal this little known but fascinating story by looking at the making of the film, as well as the fate of the German ship Cap Arcona.

History