Death on the Black Sea

Douglas Frantz, Catherine Collins

HarperCollins, Oct 13, 2009 - History - 384 pages

On the morning of February 24, 1942, on the Black Sea near Istanbul, an explosion ripped through a decrepit former cattle barge filled with Jewish refugees. One man clung fiercely to a piece of deck, fighting to survive. Nearly eight hundred others -- among them, more than one hundred children -- perished.

In Death on the Black Sea, the story of the Struma, its passengers, and the events that led to its destruction are investigated and fully revealed in two vivid, parallel accounts, set six decades apart. One chronicles the international diplomatic maneuvers and callousness that resulted in the largest maritime loss of civilian life during World War II. The other recounts a recent attempt to locate the Struma at the bottom of the Black Sea, an effort initiated and pursued by the grandson of two of the victims. A vivid reconstruction of a grim exodus aboard a doomed ship, Death on the Black Sea illuminates a forgotten episode of World War II and pays tribute to the heroes, past and present, who keep its memory alive.

What people are saying

Review: Death on the Black Sea: The Untold Story of the 'Struma' and World War II's Holocaust at Sea

User Review - Goodreads

Gripping. For some reason, I am drawn to anything written about WWII and the especially the holocaust. If you see some of the books I've read, I'm intriqued by the human mind and how evil it can be.

Review: Death on the Black Sea: The Untold Story of the 'Struma' and World War II's Holocaust at Sea

User Review  - Nathan - Goodreads

So much potential, so little accomplishment. The Struma affair is one of those nasty little secrets of history that need to be made public knowledge. This book is one of those histories that can't ...

About the author

Douglas Frantz, the investigations editor at the New York Times, is the newspaper's former Istanbul bureau chief and a former investigative reporter the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune.

Catherine Collins covers Turkey for the Chicago Tribune and has written for the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. Frantz and Collins have written several nonfiction books, most recently Celebration, U.S.A.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Death on the Black Sea
• Authors: Douglas Frantz, Catherine Collins
• Publisher: HarperCollins, 2009
• ISBN: 0061736961, 9780061736964
• Length: 384 pages
• Subjects: History / Holocaust; History / Jewish; History / Military / World War II