WILHELM GUSTLOFF SOUVENIR PIN

Scarce pin sold aboard the ill-fated passenger liner WILHELM GUSTLOFF. The pin is .75 in. wide and in the shape of a gilded ship's wheel. It bears colored enamel and displays the ship's name with a KDF ('Stength Through Joy') flag with swastika at center. Pin and catch on reverse. Fine. MV WILHELM GUSTLOFF was a German armed military transport ship which was sunk on 30 January 1945 by Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic Sea while evacuating German civilian refugees and military personnel from Gotenhafen as the Red Army advanced. About 9,400 people died, which makes it the largest loss of life in a single ship sinking in history.