[The following takes place during refugee migrations who were attempting to flee East Prussia by ship in advance of the Red Army.]
Another refugee described what happened at Pillau on the last Sunday in January, when 28,000 people from Königsberg arrived at the harbor desperately hoping to board a ship heading westwards:
At the harbor everyone was pushing towards the ships. There were terrible scenes. Human beings became animals. Women threw their children into the water [against the moored boats] just in order to keep up or in order that they not be crushed to death in the crowd. The general confusion was now made even greater when completely disorganized military units streamed into the city and into houses, looted, intermingled with the refugees and also pushed to get themselves onto the ships. In order to get through the cordons to the harbor, soldiers took children from their mothers and claimed that they wanted to bring their families on board! Others put on women’s clothing and thus attempted to get away on the ships.
Source:
Bessel, Richard. “Fleeing for Their Lives.” Germany 1945: From War to Peace. New York, NY, HarperCollins, 2009. 74. Print.
Original Source(s) Listed:
Dokumentation der Vertreibung der Deutschen aus Ost-Mitteleuropa. Band 1/1, pp. 149-150.
‘Erlebnisbericht des A.S. aus Pillau, Kreis Samland i. Ostpr. Original ohne Datum’.
For some reason I just picture all the black friday footage of people trying to get into stores.