Model of the MS VÖLKERFREUNDSCHAFT ex STOCKHOLM passenger ship

• scale: 1:100; length: 163 cm

In 1960 the GDR acquired the Swedish passenger ship STOCKHOLM, which had been damaged in 1956 and repaired at a cost of 20 million Swedish Krone. After being converted to a one-class ship for 568 passengers it was primarily used, under the name of VÖLKERFREUNDSCHAFT, for holiday voyages of the GDR unified trade union or also chartered as the “FDGB holiday ship.” The first passenger ship in the DDR was operated by the Deutsche Seereederei Rostock (DSR). In 1985 the GDR bought the ASTOR modern cruise ship and renamed it the ARKONA. The VÖLKERFREUNDSCHAFT was sold.

After various changes of name it is still being used and is the longest operating cruise ship in the world.

In the night of 25th July 1956 the STOCKHOLM, a Swedish passenger ship on a voyage from New York to Stockholm, collided with the Italian luxury liner ANDREA DORIA, which was on its way from Genoa to New York. As a consequence of the collision the Italian ship sank into the Atlantic the following morning. Beforehand all passengers on board the ANDREA DORIA were rescued. Five crew members on board the STOCKHOLM died.