Built in 1927, the German ocean liner Cap Arcona was the greatest ship since the Titanic. When the Nazis seized control, she was stripped down for use as a floating barracks and troop transport. Hitler's minister, Joseph Goebbels, later cast her as a "star" in the epic propaganda film about the sinking of the legendary Titanic. In the Third Reich's final desperate days, when SS Cap Arcona was mistakenly bombed by the British Air Force, concentration camp prisoners packed the ship. Although the British government sealed many documents pertaining to the ship's sinking, Robert P. Watson has unearthed forgotten records and conducted many interviews.

The German ocean liner SS Cap Arcona was one of the most celebrated luxury liners in the world. When the Nazis seized control in Germany she was stripped down for use as a floating barracks and troop transport. During the war Goebbels cast her as the "star" in a propaganda film about the sinking of the legendary Titanic. Used to transport German soldiers and civilians across the Baltic, in the Third Reich s final days the ship was packed with thousands of concentration camp prisoners (without adequate water, food, or sanitary facilities) and was mistakenly bombed by the British Royal Air Force. Watson has unearthed forgotten records to expose a riveting account of the Cap Arcona's devastating role in World War II and the Holocaust.