THE LEGEND OF THE TITANIC

Antoinette Flegenheim was born on May 11, 1863, in Himmelpfort near Berlin. A German-American high-society woman and Titanic survivor, her life spanned two continents and was marked by wealth, tragedy, and resilience.

At 27, she emigrated to the U.S. and arrived in New York in 1890. That same year, she married Alfred Flegenheim, likely contributing to her rise in high society.

In April 1912, at age 48, she boarded the Titanic in Southampton as a first-class passenger. Antoinette was among the fortunate survivors, escaping aboard Lifeboat 7—one of the first launched from the sinking ship.

George Rosenshine was a 45-year-old Jewish businessman born on December 21, 1866, in Germany. He immigrated to the U.S. as a child and later co-founded Rosenshine Bros., a company specializing in ostrich feathers—a highly coveted luxury item at the time.

He boarded the Titanic in Cherbourg, France, returning from a business trip and vacation in Europe. However, he traveled under the name “George Thorne,” due to the strict social norms of the era, as he was accompanied by his lover, Maybelle Thorne, though unmarried.

While Maybelle survived, George perished in the icy waters of the North Atlantic. His body was recovered by the Mackay-Bennett. His brother arranged for it to be returned to New York, where he was buried at Bayside Cemetery in Queens, beside his parents and siblings.

His story is a touching reminder of those lost aboard the Titanic—not just the wealthy and famous, but also those whose secrets and fears were long forgotten.

Emilie Kreuchen emigrated from Germany to the U.S. in 1897. After a trip to Europe, she boarded the Titanic in Southampton with her niece, Elisabeth Allen.

Here is Emilie’s own account of the night of April 14–15, 1912:

“As I left my cabin, I saw water filling the corridor. Alarmed, I looked for a steward to ask what was happening. He told me to return to my cabin and said some parts of the ship were being sealed to slow the flooding. I ignored his advice and ran to Elisabeth Allen’s cabin to warn her that the baggage hold was flooded. She tried to calm me, but I remained concerned. When I returned to my cabin, it was already underwater. I realized we had to escape and made my way to the upper decks. Eventually, I boarded Lifeboat 2 with about 20 other passengers.”

Was the disaster predicted? Yes. In 1898—nearly 15 years before the sinking—an obscure writer named Morgan Robertson published Futility, a novel about the world’s largest and most luxurious ship, the Titan, which sank on its maiden voyage from New York to Liverpool after hitting an iceberg. The number of similarities is astonishing.

The testimonies of some of the boats that came to the rescue or later travelled around the area are shocking. On the same Monday, 15 April 1912, the steamer California reported: ‘We see several empty boats, floating planks, deck chairs and life jackets’. Two days later, on Wednesday 17 April 1912, the steamship Princess Irene reported new details of a rescue operation: "Intercepted message from an unidentified steamship stating that an iceberg was sighted 50 miles (92 kilometres) from the scene of the sinking with more than a dozen men with life jackets piled on it.

The remains began to spread across the northern Atlantic, washed away by the water. The steamer Cestrian reported on Monday 22 April, a week after the disaster, that ‘accessories of the deck fittings, bedding, life jackets and chairs’ had been sighted over a wide area.

Almost two weeks later, on Friday 3 May, the steamship Minia reports parts of the large first class staircase - most of the debris coming from the lower deck area. ‘There must have been a terrible explosion and some parts of the deck panelling seem to have broken into small pieces’.

Not even those lucky enough to gain a place in the lifeboats could tell the story. Almost a month later, on Monday 13 May, the steamer Oceanic claimed to have discovered a ‘lifeboat with three bodies at 47°01 ́N and 42°29 ́W’.