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Sole Survivor
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NOVA: Does it make a difference that you now know where your comrades lie? Was it abstract before, where it is real now?

Guschewski: Back then you thought the boat was at a depth of 4,000 meters (13,200 feet). That's how deep it is off Casablanca. Now it is only 70 meters (230 feet) down. I knew divers would go down there, and I just hope that the place where it was found and the remains of my comrades are being honored and respected and not made into a circus. I am very grateful to the divers who will take care that this place will be preserved and that only they know where it is.

NOVA: Isn't 70 meters an unusual depth? Can a submarine be navigated in that?

Why had Kapitänleutnant (Lieutenant) Helmut Neuerburg, commander of U-869, had his vessel in just 210 feet of water when it sank? The answer will likely rest with him forever.

Guschewski: Yes, right away I saw a mistake of the commander here. When I heard the boat is in 70 meters depth, I couldn't believe that a submarine would go there. One does not know how it was sunk, by a torpedo or a water bomb, but the 70 meters meant no protection for the boat. It should have been at least 200 meters (660 feet) deep. Then you could still have maneuvered around the bombs.

NOVA: Back then, how did you find out that U-869 had sunk or didn't return?

Guschewski: It was when the first books about the submarine war were published after the war that I read for the first time—I can't recall which book it was, there must be 20 by now—that U-869 sank on February 28, 1945, off Casablanca. Also known were the names of the attacking destroyers. It was said that the boat was in a depth of 4,000 meters (13,200 feet) and was destroyed. I knew back then that almost no more boats were coming home. Everybody knew that.

NOVA: When the European war was over on May 8th, 1945, did you think about what may have become of your comrades?

Guschewski: I survived U-602 and was stirred deeply by that, because I had had a great relationship with Commander [Philipp] Schüler, who wasn't really a superior but a friend to me. I was moved deeply. In the time after that I was in Flensburg in the School for Mates, and I had a chance to gain some distance. When I heard about U-869, it was also the end of the war, which meant a lot to me, the killing would finally stop. I had to accept the fact that U-869 had to still be sacrificed as well.

After questioning Guschewski in a building near the U-boat monument at Möltenort, DeNooyer then interviewed him before the memorial itself. Survivors of the U-boat service erected the monument in memory of the 28,000 U-boat sailors killed in action during World War II. Beneath each U-boat number lie the inscribed names of all crew members lost.

NOVA: What do you think of when you see this U-boat number and these names?

"You have to be very, very said when you see this," Guschewski said at the Möltenort wall, where the names of his lost comrades are listed.

Guschewski: A deep sadness. That so many young people had to lose their lives. You have to be very, very sad when you see this.

NOVA: If everything would have gone "normal," your name would be here.

Guschewski: Yes, yes. And because I am already old, and my parents and siblings have passed away, nobody would find their way here to Möltenort. It is distressing to know all that.

NOVA: What does it mean to you after 50 years, that all of this gets stirred up again? Is that difficult for you?

Guschewski: On the contrary, it is a relief for me to be able to talk to friends about that. How it was back then, and why it all happened like it did. I feel sad inside but relieved to have lightened my burden.

NOVA: Are you angry that all these young people, many of them very young, were sent to their deaths this close to the end of the war?

In Guschewski's view, his comrades aboard U-869 gave their lives in a worthy struggle, a struggle in which fascism lost.

Guschewski: No, I feel no anger. That whole time there was a confusion of political opinions. We had several dictators in Europe. This could have never worked out for the good. It had to come about this way. That's why we are happy to be living in a democracy today. Everybody that is here on this wall could now say, if they knew, that at least they gave their lives for a good cause, so that we can live in peace today.

NOVA: And really you should have been among them.

Guschewski: If I hadn't been so lucky I would now be immortalized here as well, and my skeleton would be in the wreckage off America, too. Of course, I am glad to have been able to live another 55 years, good years and bad years. I have children and a wife who takes care of me. I can be happy; all my comrades didn't have that. So I thank the Lord that I can stand here, even being myself on the verge of death because of my age.

NOVA: Is that a burden for you that you are the surviving one?

Guschewski: No, not at all. I don't think it is a burden. I see it as a mercy that I was allowed to live that long. I think that that is good and well, and I will pass my wisdom to my grandchildren and nephews so that they will live with my memories so that such a thing will never be repeated.

Photos: (2,3,10) Courtesy Herbert Guschewski Collection; (4) Courtesy Martin Horenburg Collection; (5,7) John Chatterton; (6) Corbis Images; (8) Courtesy Helmut Neuerburg Collection.

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