That are going to keep me reading. And now, i am delighted to introduce tonights author, robert p. Watson as the professor, historian, novelist, columnist and media commentator whose recent books include the president s wife, affairs of the state in americas first crisis, which received the 2014 gold medal in history from the independent publishers association. Sunday columnist for the sun sentinel for many years and is currently the political analyst for wp t. Five and nbc affiliate in florida. His latest book, tran 11 tran 11 tran 11 recounts the surreal stories following the ss cap corona, a luxury ocean liner builtin night june 27 whose scale rivaled the titanic. In fact, he stood in a sub one propaganda film. In catholic the collapse of the third reich and devastation of the holocaust and astonishing and disturbing ways. Columbus dispatch writes a sub one titanic the nazi titanic telling the story of its passengers sitting in the context of the chaotic and horrifying end of the war and almost forgotten subject well worth bringing to light. We are very pleased to welcome its author to harper bookstores tonight. Please welcome me and join me in welcoming robert watson. Thank you. Thanks for coming, everyone. Ill be happy to take questions on the book or anything else you would like to talk about. We tend to think we know all there is to know about history, especially when it comes to amend his event like world war ii or the holocaust. Think about it. And the seven decades at the end of the holocaust, weve had great museums the Holocaust Museum in washington to the sure foundation of the world war ii museums, Imperial War Museum in london. A Group World War ii museum in new orleans. As in the books have been published as an historian here is what i know. There is more we dont know than we do now. Even about events like this. The foundation has done a remarkable job taping interviews with folks that survived the holocaust. Theyve taped thousands, but theyre at least 6 million voices that will never be taped. World war ii museums have collected everything from tanks to home it, the 60 to 80 Million People died in that conflict. The worst of the bloodiest conflict in history and we have lost so much of that. I was always a fan of the late Great Library and of congress daniel boorstin. Daniel boorstin had something he has to talk about this law of the survival of the unread. What does that mean . 99 of all the books ever written, whether you study something 200 years ago or 2000 years ago, 99 of everything written is gone. It vanished. He composed, lost, burned, destroyed on purpose. So therefore whether we are going back 100 or thousand years, what we work with us historians is arguably less than a percent of the books that were written. Think of it this way. If i spent a day or week or month with you, theres no way i could write your biography. Not only are releasing 999 of the books, but something that i always teach my students sort of a corollary is this. At least 99 of all the things that make us distinctly human, the things that blow by finland into the sales of humanity. Things like love letters, poems, recipes, musical scores, the games children play. We have lost all of that. Another way to look at it is this. Throughout history, most people were illiterate. Therefore, the history that was written as was written as though they may be the 1 of the 1 . Another senior history books rarely tell you is paper or parchment and something to write with. They were prohibitively expensive than exceedingly rare. How could somebody living on the frontier possibly have time or the means to write down something and not save it. It would decompose a log cabin. The far, far majority of women from the beginning of time until now that ive lived around world were illiterate. Therefore they did not record their stories. History really is his story. Even today we dont see fit to record, save and teach a lot of womens versions of history, so theres more we dont know than we do now. Apropos to this book. I was planning on writing a book on the last week of world war ii in europe. I have over three dozen books and i would say a third to a half of them i never intended to write. But as youre doing research on the fence and in far better. That was the case of this book. I was going to read about them up last week in world war ii in europe because it was completely chaotic. Some nazi commanders told everyone. Others just open the door and told people to run. Was just chaotic. The last week of the work we pretty much lost. Think about it. If hitlers suicide on april 30th. A man at the end of the war but week or so later. We have to pivot to the pacific. The island hopping, dropping of the bomb to surrender the japanese. If you have from the marshall plan, the rest of the cold war, everything. There is such momentous events at the end that he pretty much forgot about what happened the last week of the war. Most Holocaust Survivors didnt talk about their experiences. It really wasnt until the great book, night before Holocaust Survivors felt compelled are welcome to share their story. Same with a lot of world war ii veterans. We all know father, uncle or neighbor who was a world war ii vet who just didnt talk about it. So even events like the one the Holiday Season that theres more that we dont know than we do know. Ever wrote that the period i wanted to tell the last way through the eyes and experiences of people in a very intimate and personal way. I wanted to find one story of love and one story of loss each day of the last week. Maybe there is a baby born two days before the end of the war. If someone got married somewhere in germany or europe, and is the last soldier to die in the war. That was going to be the book. I was doing research, i came across a letter by a british major and tail basically in the letter that of all the horrors of the second world war, the one nightmare that i will never forget, that will disturb me for the rest of my life was when thousands and thousands and thousands of concentration camp prisoners died in the final moments of the war. And i went what . Ive never heard of this. So it. So i called some world war ii scholars. I called some holocaust scholars have said holocaust scholars and said would eventually talking about an asset i dont know. Must be a mistake. I checked with museums and everybody went didnt happen. So what would you have done . Probably what i did, not write the book to play detective on this book. The research has been to london. This event was real and thousands and thousands and thousands of people perished at the end of the war and it appears that the British Government was so embarrassed by what they did but they sealed the records until the year 2045, making it a 100 year secret. Happily, some of those records have been released. Happily i was given access to them and here is the story. So germany through much of the 20th century life ships. The germans, bowman boss, Companies Like homburg south america, glottal stop, these companies are some of the greater shipping companies in the world. Shall build an in germany through much of the 20th century was kind of like more than judgeships. As a culture like ours in the u. S. In 50s and 60s and there for germany made this great ships. What happened after world war i of course this is the belligerent nation, germany was severely punished after the war. The 1920s, currency and germany wasnt worth the paper was printed on. One of the ideas, an ambitious idea was they wanted to launch in the 20s. The british ship since the titanic. Then they hired bowman boss is still in business to build the ship and they studied the architectural plans of the titanic. How can they make it better . They have more lifeboats on it and in 1927 they launched the new satanic. It was called the cap our kona. It was named after caper code, which is a northcentral germany and the southern baltic coast. And the ship looked like the titanic. It was almost as big an opulent, seven course dinners, walking tracks, pools, tennis courts, first courts, firstclass come as second class. A remarkable show. It was perhaps not arguably the most celebrated ship afloat. The dashing actor failed on it. European monarchs failed on it. And i find newspaper accounts during its 91 crossing of the atlantic. And boris aries argentina. In his papers would say the titanic would be here in six days, five days or four days. They would be the whos who of the ship. That was the cap our kona. Hitler rises to power in 1933 and it turns out that hitler in some of his henchmen, the propaganda minister and gestapo and others, they loved big ships. Hitler and the other nazis is the ship for propaganda purposes. They basically amounts to the world you are titanic. Look at ours. The creme de la creme of the world go on our show. To use it for propaganda purposes. At the end of the 30s we are in world war ii and everything changes for the ship. It is sent to the polish coast, and the germans had seized poland and theyve renamed the town gotten hoffman. They sent the titanic there and there she sat resting. They took the persian carpets out, the chandeliers, gold, grand stairway and started paying it dead metal grey. It was used as a floating naval barracks and Naval Training platform and then two things happened. First off, around 1942, the work takes a turn for the worst day goodness for the nazis. On the western front, hitler had planned operation sea lion to invade the British Isles and of course squadrons of the German Air ForceGerman Air Force tread upon england, but if you reach air force privates beat them back. Winston churchill immortalized the event in a speech this year. In the southern front, north africa, even the great desert fox was driven out of north africa. The Eastern Front and operation and the cold russian winter kill the entire unit of nazi soldiers. That lawyers in the propaganda is. They need to come up with something to turn the tide of the war. They assign a task to come up with something so diabolical, so evil, something so alarming that its going to turn the tide of the war. What was that . They did now, but they were working on it. They loved movies and hollywood movies. Dont be the the inspiration for their diabolical plot. Even though hollywood films were illegal at a germany, they would have the agents confiscate them. It was not uncommon to set up all night watching movie after movie with translators and interpreters in their heirs. They would debate for hours for movies. They consider themselves connoisseurs of film. And i watched all sorts of films. The films i found that they seem to watch the most were king kong. Snow white and the seven doors. Gone with the wind with another when they watch. They sat and cried. Can you believe it . The one they hated as possible onto. Less than a propaganda film wrapped up in a good drama with good screenplay is back in. They hated it because people didnt realize they were watching propaganda but they were. Judge sues, and every project, these were some of his propaganda films and they were so ridiculously hamfisted and juvenile. Almost every Propaganda Movement had the same block. Until a jewish guy and its always dark and wherever he walks, unless he admits the obvious message. The people rise up with pitchforks and i drive a jewish guy out of town. You know youre watching propaganda. That is when hitler had the idea. Going to make a propaganda film, the most diabolical film either. It is so powerful it will turn the World Opinion against the allies and for the germans. They are watching a movie that takes them off. After the movie is that of debating like they usually do, they sit and watch the credits roll. Something dons on the director, the producer comedy act yours, cinematographers come and they are all jewish and he kicks over all the chairs in the room and that is when they come up with the idea. The film hes going to make is the titanic. The story remains interesting today, doesnt it . A thousand years from now they will make movies in my books, but they are going to make the nazi titanic, thus the title of the book. They hire the most beautiful actresses and models, the most dashing leading man are they reallocate entire a la terry units to be the cast of thousands. It is like cast of thousands greatest story ever told. They assign an unlimited budget and access the producer. The problem is they cant find a director. Most of germanys great directors read the concentration camps. Muscular, action, he proceeds to make the most expensive film ever at the time. Everything that could go wrong with the movie goes wrong. They run over budget. One of the actresses get pregnant by one of the men. German soldiers breakfast at. They want to film the sinking of the titanic because the titanic sunk a knife. You need huge ballyhoo like the studio lights. Hopeless and hitler but then so matt and i. Effective bomb. Finally, hitler is desperate. Ready to finish the movie, the something happens. You read sunset one and everything thats gone wrong. The direct or goes nuts. He curses hitler, gobles and the nazi party. He summoned berlin and they kill him. Surprisingly they cant find another director to take his spot. They eventually do. They are basically shooting actors if they miss their q a understudy. Finally the movie is finished. Before he shows the movie to hitler, it is going to change the war. They wanted to open up a competition and they want to create hollywood on the rag. Before they launch the movie, gobles watches the film in his horrified. They are saying that subliminal messages. The metaphor for hitler. They ordered the film destroyed. All of that. Fortunately a few pirated copies survive. You can watch this with subtitles. Fast forward to the end of the war. Hitler issues the infamous liquidation decree. All evidence to the holocaust, buildings, paperwork be killed, wiped out. The issues countermanded decree. He tells concentration, not still kill everyone. Dont let the allies get them. Hitler wants to march tens of thousands of holocaust prisoners to homburg to northcentral germany. From there they will go to the baltic. Why does he want to save prisoners . He wants to put them on a ship, sell them to meet with eisenhower or might not worry for church hill and he wants to exchange them for his own life. Tens of thousands of holocaust prisoners are spent by train, a barge and die for them they need to put everybody on. They pick the nazi titanic of course. A couple things happened. While they are marching or, hitler sends two assassins to kill hitler. He changes his identity and goes on the run. Hitler killed himself in the bunker. He then kills his favorite dog, his wife, six kids. What you have this tens of thousands of concentration camp prisoners at the baltic and the gnostic titanic. They are out of food and water. Its almost may. The war is ended. We are in a race for time. What happens in the final chapter is absent any nazi commander with count george the head gestapo official. He is basically the mayor of homburg. Lets put it everyone on board that ship will sink the ship. Therefore we will liquidate and destroy all evidence of the cost and take the prisoners down with us and we will deny the allies from getting the hitler fuhrers beloved nazi titanic. So many people will die in this tragedy that the world will forget about the titanic and always remember the nazi titanic. We are going to think about the last second when the surrender agreement occurs. That will make it even more symbolically evil. Rather they are ready to do that, the british arrived at the coast. The sixth commando, special forces unit and they made quick work with the british and scottish are there at the post making quick work. Some concentration camp prisoners at the port so you have to get the folks off the ship. Theyve been on a ship for days without food or water. They are taking dozens and hundreds of dead bodies off by day. Before the british go to the ship to hear a deafening roar in the sky six squadrons of Royal Air Force bombers fly in and they blow the titanic out of the water. They filled it with gasoline. Its a magnificent explosion. Unimaginable. Imax people over three kilometers away. Thousands died instantly. As the ship starts to lurch and rollover. The airplanes that blew it up for called typhoon bombers. Not large like to be 24, but not a small fighter like a spitfire. Almost a hybrid. They are carrying big machine guns on the wing after dropping everything they have on the titanic, they swim around in any survivors in the water but their machine guns killing countless. And then they hit the port. A guy named alan weiss uses records i read one of the pilots were shooting bullets the size of a tube of toothpaste. He said they were sawing people in half on the poor. Then the british bombers moved back to the devastating toll was unimaginable. Shockingly some people made it out. There was a fellow named bob did you was polish. He survived auschwitz. He was blown off the deck of the ship. A german minesweeper, a small craft in the baltic 42 degrees fahrenheit in may and the final moments of the war. Most folks on board the ship survived the holocaust. They couldnt swim. They suffered hypothermia or drowned instantly. Segovia is hanging onto it. The minesweeper comes by. They realize hes a concentration camp prisoner, not a german sailor and thrown back in the baltic. He and 15 others manage to spend three kilometers to the shore. When they arrive at the shore, theres a group of concentration camp prisoners freezing and, lying on the beach. They see a group of young hitler youth from out of the woods nearby and machinegun everyone. Bought into kodiak slams back into the water, comes back ashore and as he and 15 getting out and tried to stand, they hear the words bandits hands that. They turn around and theres a 10yearold hitler youth. As is ready to kill all of them, the british and scottish arrive until the kid. He make it to england and becomes a famous art dealer and lives a long life. Also surviving the death march. They said they had been under there for days without water, food or toiletries. They were living in the house would keep those species. The only one they could sleep on their dad. The ship was blown up, rolling over, filling with fire and water in right when they thought they were going to die, some of the prisoners rather than escape, holocaust prisoners went below to save their brothers. They open up the hatch and lifted them out. Most people couldnt stand they died. They went on a holiday reminds me of the scene and they get to the end of the highway. The rest of the other hallway with water coming in. They are done. They see an air vent. The brothers lift themselves up as they reach down