iSwedish Maritime Museum (Sjöhistoriska museet) · Ladugårdsgärdet, Djurgården
S/S Hansa - Memory of a Shipwreck
Objects from the wreck of the Gotland ferry S/S Hansa, torpedoed by a Soviet submarine in 1944 with only two of 86 aboard surviving, shown together for the first time.
The ship's clock stopped at 05:57. On 24 November 1944 the Gotland ferry S/S Hansa, on a foggy, rough crossing from Nynäshamn to Visby, was split in two by a Soviet torpedo and sank within a minute. Of the 86 aboard, two survived, found nearly eight hours later on a life raft among the wreckage.
Objects from the ship, lent by private owners and Visby Cathedral, are shown together for the first time. You take the virtual descent to the wreck yourself, 100 metres down, built from a 2023 survey by the Voice of the Ocean foundation. Around it are photographs, relatives' voices, and a section on the Hansa Commission's 1940s investigation.
The museum's director calls it a story about long uncertainty, endless grief and keeping memories, and the museum draws the line to today's Baltic security worries. Entry is included in the 150 SEK museum ticket, under-19s go free, and Wednesdays run until 20:00 outside summer.
Look for
The virtual dive to the wreck
Steer your own way down to the hull lying 100 metres deep in the Baltic, rebuilt from Voice of the Ocean's 2023 survey of the site.
The closing portraits
The last section pairs some of those who died with the relatives left behind, including Gun-Britt Snäckerström on growing up without ever meeting her father.
The light in the sea
Look for the section on the strong light the two survivors saw in the water from their raft, one of the unanswered questions the show works through.
The Hansa Commission
A section on how the 1940s inquiry worked and how authorities handled a national trauma in wartime Sweden.
Good for
- Going Solo
- Nerding Out
Skip if
You want ship models and hands-on displays: this is testimony, photographs and a handful of salvaged objects.
With kids
Under-19s get in free. The subject is a wartime sinking in which children died, told through survivors' and relatives' testimony.
Also at Swedish Maritime Museum (Sjöhistoriska museet)
On now nearby
Nearby
Image credits
9
- S/S Hansa - Memory of a ShipwreckCourtesy of Swedish Maritime Museum (Sjöhistoriska museet)
- MUCHA – Beyond Art NouveauCourtesy of Artipelag
- Reflections through timePhoto: Karin Björkquist
- Medieval FashionPhoto: Ola Myrin, The Swedish History Museum/SHM
- Swedish Maritime Museum (Sjöhistoriska museet)Anneli Karlsson, SMM / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
- Tekniska museet (National Museum of Science and Technology)Jonas Bergsten / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
- Etnografiska museetHolger Ellgaard / Wikimedia Commons
- SkansenHolger.Ellgaard / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Nordiska museetBengt Nyman / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0