Karl Dönitz
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/* War crimes trial */
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{{Copyedit|date=October 2007}}<!--Italicization, in particular, is overdone. -->
{{Infobox President
| name = Karl Dönitz
| nationality = German
| image = Donitz.jpg|220px|
| caption = [[Grand Admiral|''Großadmiral'']] Karl Dönitz, [[Admiral]] and ''[[Reichspräsident]]'' of [[Nazi Germany]]
| order = 4th [[President of Germany]]
| term_start = [[30 April]] [[1945]]
| term_end = [[23 May]] [[1945]]
| vicepresident =
| predecessor = [[Adolf Hitler]]<br />''[[Führer]] und [[Reichskanzler]]''
| successor = [[Allied Occupation Zones in Germany|Allied military occupation 1945-1949]]<br />[[Theodor Heuss]] ([[West Germany]])<br />[[Wilhelm Pieck]] ([[East Germany]])
| birth_date = {{birth date|1891|9|16|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Berlin]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1980|12|24|1891|09|16}}
| death_place = [[Aumühle]], near [[Hamburg]]
| party = [[Golden Party Badge|Honorary Member]] of the [[National Socialist German Workers Party]]<ref name="Avalon Project">"DOENITZ: On 30 January 1944 I received from the Fuehrer, as a decoration, the Golden Party Badge; and I assume that I thereby became an honorary member of the Party.". [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/05-09-46.htm The Avalon Project at Yale Law School]</ref>
}}
'''Karl Dönitz''' ({{pronounced|ˈdøːnɪts}} {{Audio|De-Karl_Dönitz.ogg| }}) ([[16 September]] [[1891]] – [[24 December]] [[1980]]) was a [[Germany|German]] naval Commander who served in the [[Kaiserliche Marine|Imperial German Navy]] during [[World War I]] and commanded the German Navy (''[[Kriegsmarine]]'') during the second half of [[World War II]].
In the [[End of World War II in Europe|final days of the war]], Dönitz became the [[President of Germany|President]] (''[[Reichspräsident]]'') of [[Nazi Germany]]. He held this position for about 20 days after the [[death of Adolf Hitler|death of]] [[Adolf Hitler]].<ref>{{cite web| url=http://uboat.net/men/doenitz.htm| title=Karl Dönitz| work=uboat.net| accessdate=2007-12-21|}}</ref>
After the war, Dönitz was convicted of [[war crimes]] at the [[Nuremberg Trials]] and served ten years in prison.<ref name="NTrials">[http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/juddoeni.htm Judgement: Dönitz] the [[Avalon Project]] at the [[Yale Law School]].</ref>
==Early life and career==
Dönitz was born in Grünau in [[Berlin]], [[German Empire|Germany]] to Anna Beyer and Emil Dönitz, an engineer. Karl had an older brother, Friedrich.
===Imperial navy===
In 1910, Dönitz enlisted in the [[Kaiserliche Marine|Imperial German Navy]] (''[[Kaiserliche Marine]]''). He became a [[Cadet|sea-cadet]] ([[Cadet|''Seekadett'']]) on [[4 April]]. On [[15 April]], [[1911]], he became a [[midshipman]] (''Fähnrich zur See''), the rank given to those who had served for one year as officer's apprentice and had passed their first examination.
On [[27 September]] [[1913]], Dönitz was [[Commissioned officer|commissioned]] as an Acting Navy [[Second Lieutenant]] (''Leutnant zur See''). When [[World War I]] began, he served on the [[light cruiser]] [[SMS Breslau|SMS ''Breslau'']] in the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. In August 1914, ''Breslau'' and the battlecruiser [[SMS Goeben|SMS ''Goeben'']] were sold to the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] navy; the ships were retitled the ''Midilli'' and the ''Yavuz Sultan Selim'', respectively. They began operating out of [[Constantinople]], under Rear Admiral [[Wilhelm Souchon]], engaging [[Russian Empire|Russian]] forces in the [[Black Sea]]. On [[22 March]], [[1916]], Dönitz was promoted to Navy [[First Lieutenant]] (''Oberleutnant zur See''). When ''Midilli'' put into dock for repairs, he was temporarily assigned as airfield commander at the [[Dardanelles]]. From there, he requested a transfer to the submarine forces, which became effective in October 1916. He served as watch officer on ''[[Unterseeboot 39 (1915)|U-39]]'', and from February 1918 onward as commander of ''UC-25''. On [[5 September]] [[1918]], he became commander of ''UB-68'', operating in the Mediterranean. On [[4 October]], this boat was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner.
==Interwar period==
The war ended in 1918, but Dönitz remained in a British camp as a [[prisoner of war]] until his release in July 1919. He returned to Germany in 1920.
===Weimar republic's navy===
During the [[Interwar Period]], Dönitz continued his naval career in the naval arm of the [[Weimar Republic]]'s Armed Forces (''[[Reichswehr]]''). On [[10 January]] [[1921]], he became a [[Lieutenant]] (''Kapitänleutnant'') in the new [[Reichsmarine|German Navy]] (''[[Vorläufige Reichsmarine]]''). Dönitz commanded [[torpedo boat]]s by 1928, becoming a [[Lieutenant-Commander]] (''Korvettenkapitän'') on [[1 November]] of that same year.
On [[1 September]] [[1933]], Dönitz became a full [[Commander]] (''[[Fregattenkapitän]]'') and, in 1934, was put in command of the cruiser [[German cruiser Emden|''Emden'']]. ''Emden'' was the ship on which cadets and midshipmen took a year-long world cruise in preparation for a future officer's commission.
On [[1 September]] [[1935]], Dönitz was promoted to [[Captain (naval)|Captain]] (''Kapitän zur See''). He was placed in command of the 1st U-boat Flotilla Weddigen, which included [[Unterseeboot 7|''U-7'']], [[Unterseeboot 8|''U-8'']], and [[Unterseeboot 9|''U-9'']].
During 1935, the Weimar Republic's [[Reichsmarine|Navy]] (''[[Reichsmarine]]'') was replaced by the Nazi German Navy (''Kriegsmarine'').
Throughout 1935 and 1936, Dönitz had misgivings regarding submarines due to German overestimation of the capabilities of British [[ASDIC]]. In reality, ASDIC could detect only ten percent of submarines during exercises. In the words of [[Alan Hotham]], British Director of [[Naval Intelligence Division|Naval Intelligence]], ASDIC was a "huge bluff".{{Fact|date=September 2007}}
German doctrine at the time, based on the work of American Naval Captain [[Alfred Mahan|Alfred T. Mahan]] and shared by all major navies, called for the submarines to be integrated with the surface fleet and employed against enemy warships. By November 1937, Dönitz became convinced that a major campaign against merchant shipping was practical and began pressing for the conversion of the German fleet almost entirely to U-boats.<ref>Dönitz, Karl, ''Grossadmiral'', translated by Stevens, R.H. ''Memoirs: Ten Years and Twenty Days''. (Cleveland: World Publishing, 1959) (tr from ''Zehn Jahre und Zwanzig Tage'').</ref> He advocated a strategy of attacking only merchant ships, targets relatively safe to attack. He pointed out destroying Britain's fleet of oil tankers would starve the [[Royal Navy]] of supplies needed to run their ships, which would be just as effective as sinking them. He thought a German fleet of 300 of the newer [[Type VII U-boat]]s could knock Britain out of the war.<ref>Dönitz, ''Memoirs''.</ref>
Dönitz revived the World War I idea of grouping several subs together into a "[[wolf pack (submarines)|wolf pack]]" to overwhelm a merchant convoy's defensive escorts. Implementation of wolf packs had been difficult in World War I due to the limitations of available radios. In the interwar years, Germany developed ultra high frequency transmitters which it was hoped made their radio communication unjammable, while the [[Enigma machine|Enigma code machine]] made communications secure (or so it was believed). Dönitz also adopted [[Wilhelm Marschall]]'s 1922 idea (claiming credit for it) of attacking convoys using surface or very near surface night attacks. This tactic had the added advantage of making a submarine undetectable by sonar.<ref>[[Otto Kretschmer]] preferred to run surfaced for exactly that reason. Robertson, Terrence. ''The Golden Horseshoes''. (London, Pan, 1957).</ref>
At the time, many, including [[Erich Raeder]], felt such talk marked Dönitz as a weakling. Dönitz was alone among senior naval officers, including some former submariners, in believing in a new submarine war on trade. He and Raeder constantly argued over funding priorities within the Navy, while at the same time competing with Hitler's friends, such as [[Hermann Göring]], who received greater attention.
Since the surface strength of the ''Kriegsmarine'' was much less than that of the British [[Royal Navy]], Raeder believed any war with Britain in the near future would doom it to uselessness, once remarking all the Germans could hope to do was die valiantly. Raeder based his hopes on war being delayed until the German navy's extensive [[Plan Z|"Z Plan"]], which would have expanded Germany's surface fleet to where it could effectively contend with the Royal Navy, was implemented. The "Z Plan", however, was not scheduled to be completed until 1945.<ref>Dönitz, ''Ten Years and 20 Days''.</ref>
Dönitz, in contrast, had no such fatalism and set about intensely training his crews in the new tactics. The marked inferiority of the German surface fleet would leave submarine warfare as Germany's only naval option once war broke out.
===Commodore and leader of the submarines===
On [[28 January]] [[1939]], Dönitz was promoted to [[Commodore (rank)|Commodore]] (''Kommodore'') and "Leader of the Submarines" (''Führer der Unterseeboote'').
==Role in World War II==
{{main|Battle of the Atlantic (1939–1945)}}
[[Image:Donitz with hitler.jpg|right|thumb|200px|With Hitler]]
In September 1939, [[Invasion of Poland (1939)|Germany invaded Poland]], Britain and France declared war on Germany, and [[World War II]] began. Having anticipated the war to begin in 1945, The ''Kriegsmarine'' was caught unprepared for war. The Z Plan was tailored for a war beginning in 1945, not 1939. The plan called for a balanced fleet with a greatly increased number of surface capital ships, including several aircraft carriers. At the time war did start, Dönitz's U-boat force included only 57 boats, many of them short-range, and only 22 oceangoing [[German Type VII submarine|Type VIIs]]. He made do with what he had, while being harassed by Raeder and with Hitler calling on him to dedicate boats to military actions against the British fleet directly. These operations were generally unsuccessful, while the other boats continued to do well against Dönitz's primary targets of merchant shipping.
===Rear admiral, vice admiral, and commander of the submarines===
On [[1 October]] [[1939]], Dönitz became a [[Rear Admiral]] (''Konteradmiral'') and "Commander of the Submarines" (''Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote''); on [[1 September]] the following year, he was made a [[Vice Admiral]] (''Vizeadmiral'').
By 1941, the delivery of new Type VIIs had improved to the point where operations were having a real effect on the British wartime economy. Although production of merchant ships shot up in response, improved torpedoes, better U-boats, and much better operational planning led to increasing numbers of "kills". On [[11 December]] [[1941]], following [[Adolf Hitler]]'s declaration of war on the [[United States]], Dönitz immediately planned for implementation of [[Operation Drumbeat]] (''Unternehmen Paukenschlag'').<ref>Commonly Drumbeat, with connotations of "tattoo" or "thunderbolt" in [[German language|German]]</ref> This targeted shipping along the [[East Coast of the United States]]. Carried out the next month, with only nine U-boats, it had dramatic and far-reaching results. The [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] was entirely unprepared for [[antisubmarine warfare]], despite having had two years of British experience to learn from, and committed every imaginable mistake. Shipping losses which appeared to be coming under control as the [[Royal Navy|British Navy]] gradually adapted to the new challenge instantly skyrocketed.
On at least two occasions, [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] success against U-boat operations led Dönitz to investigate possible reasons. Among those considered were espionage and Allied interception and [[decoding]] of German Navy communications (the naval version of Enigma). Both investigations into communications security came to the conclusion espionage was more likely, if Allied success had not been accidental. Nevertheless, Dönitz ordered his U-boat fleet to use an improved version of the Enigma machine (intended to be even more secure), the M4, for communications within the fleet, on [[1 February]] [[1942]]. The navy was the only branch to use the improved version; the rest of the [[Wehrmacht|German armed forces]] (''[[Wehrmacht]]'') continued to use their then-current versions of Enigma. The new system was termed "Triton" ("Shark" to the Allies). For a time, this change in encryption between submarines caused considerable difficulty for Allied [[codebreaker]]s; it took ten months before ''Shark'' traffic could again be read (see also [[Ultra (WWII intelligence)|Ultra]] and [[Cryptanalysis of the Enigma]]).
By the end of 1942, the production of Type VII U-boats had increased to the point where Dönitz was finally able to conduct mass attacks by groups of submarines, a tactic he called "Rudel" and became known as "wolfpack" (''Wolfsrudel'') in English. Allied shipping losses shot up tremendously, and there was serious concern for a while about the state of British fuel supplies.
During 1943, the war in the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] turned against the Germans, but Dönitz continued to push for more U-boat construction and technological development.{{Fact|date=March 2007}} At the end of the war, the German submarine fleet was by far the most advanced in the world, and late war examples, such as the [[Type XXI U-boat]], served as models for [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] and American construction after the war. These, the [[submarine snorkel|Schnorchel]] boats, and the [[Type IX U-boat]], appeared very late because of Dönitz's indifference, even hostility, to new technology.<ref>von der Porten, ''op. cit.''</ref>His opposition to the larger Type IX was not unique; Admiral [[Thomas Hart]], who commanded the United States [[Asiatic Fleet]] in the [[Philippines]] at the outbreak of the [[Pacific War]], opposed fleet boats as "too luxurious".<ref>Blair, ''Silent Victory''</ref>
Dönitz was very personally involved in operations, often contacting his boats up to seventy times a day with questions such as their position, fuel supply, and other "[[minutiae]]". This helped compromise his cyphers, by giving the Allies more messages to work from. The replies also enabled the Allies to use [[direction finding]] (HF/DF, called "[[Huff-Duff]]") to locate a U-boat using its radio, track it, and attack it (often with aircraft able to sink it with impunity).
===Commander-in-chief and grand admiral===
On [[30 January]] [[1943]], Dönitz replaced Erich Raeder as "Commander-in-Chief of the Navy" (''Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine'') and [[Grand Admiral]] (''[[Grand Admiral|Großadmiral]]'') of the [[Oberkommando der Marine|Naval High Command]] (''[[Oberkommando der Marine]]''). It was Dönitz who was able to convince Hitler not to scrap the remaining ships of the surface fleet. Despite hoping to continue to use them as a [[fleet in being]], the ''Kriegsmarine'' continued losing what few capital ships it had. In September, the [[battleship]] [[German battleship Tirpitz|''Tirpitz'']] was [[Operation Source|put out of action for months]] by a British [[midget submarine]]. In December, he ordered the [[battlecruiser]] [[German battlecruiser Scharnhorst|''Scharnhorst'']] (under [[Rear Admiral|''Konteradmiral'']] [[Erich Bey]]) to attack [[Arctic convoys of World War II|Soviet-bound convoys]], but she was sunk in the [[Battle of North Cape|resulting encounter]] with superior British forces led by the battleship [[HMS Duke of York (17)|HMS ''Duke of York'']].
===Hitler's successor===
[[Image:Hitler will page 7.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Scan of Hitler's original testament showing that Dönitz was chosen to succeed Hitler as Germany's president.]]
On [[30 April]] [[1945]], Hitler committed suicide. In [[last will and testament of Adolf Hitler|his last testament]], Hitler expelled both [[Hermann Göring]] and [[Heinrich Himmler]] from the Nazi Party. He surprisingly designated Dönitz his successor as [[Head of State]] (''[[Head of State|Staatsoberhaupt]]'') and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Significantly, Dönitz was not to become ''[[Führer]]''. Instead, Dönitz became President (''[[Reichspräsident]]''), a post Hitler had abolished years earlier. Propaganda Minister [[Joseph Goebbels]] became [[Head of Government]] and [[Chancellor of Germany]] (''[[Reichskanzler]]''). However, on [[1 May]], Goebbels committed suicide, the day after Hitler's death. Hitler believed the leaders of the German Army (''[[Wehrmacht Heer]]''), Air Force (''[[Luftwaffe]]''), and SS (''[[Schutzstaffel]]'') had betrayed him. So, because the German navy had been too small to affect the war in a major way, the leader of the navy became the only possible successor by default.<ref>[[William Shirer]]. ''[[The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich]]''. Fawcett Crest. New York. 1983. ISBN 0-449-21977-1</ref>
On [[1 May]], following Goebbels' suicide, Dönitz became the sole representative of the crumbling [[German Reich]]. He appointed Count [[Ludwig Graf Schwerin von Krosigk|Ludwig Schwerin von Krosigk]] as ''Reichskanzler'' and they attempted to form a government. During his brief period in office, Dönitz devoted most of his efforts to ensuring the loyalty of the German armed forces and trying to ensure German troops would surrender to the British or Americans and not the Soviets. He correctly feared vengeful Soviet reprisals. However, the Dönitz government was not recognized by the Allies and was for some days more or less ignored.{{Fact|date=September 2007}}
===Flensburg government===
{{main|Flensburg government}}
The rapidly advancing Allied forces limited the Dönitz government's jurisdiction to an area around [[Flensburg]] near the [[Denmark|Danish]] border, where Dönitz's headquarters were located, along with [[Naval Academy Mürwik|Mürwik]]. Accordingly his administration was referred to as the [[Flensburg government]]. The following is Dönitz's description of his new government:<blockquote>These considerations (the bare survival of the German people) which all pointed to the need for the creation of some sort of central government, took shape and form when I was joined by [[Ludwig Graf Schwerin von Krosigk|Graf Schwerin-Krosigk]]. In addition to discharging his duties as Foreign Minister and Minister of Finance, he formed the temporary government we needed and presided over the activities of its cabinet. Although he was restricted in his choice to those men who were in [[northern Germany]], he nevertheless succeeded in forming a workmanlike cabinet of experts.</blockquote>
<blockquote>The picture of the military situation as a whole showed clearly that the war was lost. As there was also no possibility of effecting any improvement in Germany's overall position by political means, the only conclusion to which I, as Head of the State, could come was that the war must be brought to an end as quickly as possible, in order to prevent further bloodshed.{{Specify|date=September 2007}}</blockquote>
Late on [[1 May]], Himmler attempted to make a place for himself in the Flensburg government. The following is Dönitz's description of his showdown with Himmler:
<blockquote>At about midnight he arrived, accompanied by six armed SS officers, and was received by my aide-de-camp, [[Walter Luedde-Neurath]]. I offered Himmler a chair and I myself sat down behind my writing desk, upon which lay, hidden by some papers, a pistol with the safety catch off. I had never done anything of this sort in my life before, but I did not know what the outcome of this meeting might be.</blockquote>
<blockquote>I handed Himmler the telegram containing my appointment. "Please read this," I said. I watched him closely. As he read, an expression of astonishment, indeed of consternation, spread over his face. All hope seemed to collapse within him. He went very pale. Finally he stood up and bowed. "Allow me," he said, "to become the second man in your state." I replied that that was out of the question and that there was no way in which I could make any use of his services.</blockquote>
<blockquote>Thus advised, he left me at about one o'clock in the morning. The showdown had taken place without force, and I felt relieved.<ref>Dollinger, Hans. ''The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan'', Library of Congress Catalogue Card # 67-27047, Page 242</ref> </blockquote>
Himmler was ultimately named Minister of Interior but was dismissed on [[6 May]].
On [[4 May]], German forces in the [[Netherlands]], Denmark, and northwestern Germany under Dönitz's command surrendered to [[Field Marshal]] [[Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein|Bernard Montgomery]] at [[Lüneburg Heath]] southeast of [[Hamburg]], signaling the end of World War II in western Europe.
[[Image:DönitzDetentionReport.png|Right|thumb|300px|Dönitz detention report and mugshot from 1945.]]
On [[7 May]], Dönitz authorized the [[Chief of Staff]] of the German Armed Forces (''[[Wehrmacht]]''), Colonel-General (''[[Generaloberst]]'') [[Alfred Jodl]], to sign the instrument of unconditional surrender of all German forces to the Allies. Jodl signed these surrender documents in [[Rheims]], [[France]]. The surrender documents included the phrase, "All forces under German control to cease active operations at 23:01 hours Central European Time on [[8 May]] [[1945]]." On [[May 8]], shortly before midnight, General Field Marshal (''[[Generalfeldmarschall]]'') [[Wilhelm Keitel]] repeated the signing in Berlin at [[Marshal of the Soviet Union|Marshal]] [[Georgiy Zhukov|Georgiy Zhukov's]] headquarters, and, at the time specified, [[end of World War II in Europe|World War II in Europe ended]].
On [[23 May]], the [[Flensburg government|Dönitz government]] dissolved when its members were captured and arrested by British forces at Flensburg.
===Family===
Both of Dönitz's sons died during World War II. His younger son, Peter, was a watch officer on [[Unterseeboot U-954|''U-954'']] and was killed on [[19 May]] [[1943]], when his boat was sunk in the North Atlantic with the loss of its entire crew. After this loss, the older brother, Klaus, was allowed to leave combat duty and began studying to be a naval doctor. Klaus would be killed on [[13 May]] [[1944]]. Klaus convinced his friends to let him go on the [[torpedo boat]] ''S-141'' for a raid on HMS ''Selsey'' off the coast of England on his twenty-fourth birthday. The boat was destroyed and Klaus died, even though six others were rescued. His daughter Ursula married the U-boat commander and Knight's Cross recipient [[Günther Hessler]] in November 1941.
===Relation to Jews and Nazism===
Despite his postwar claims, Dönitz was seen as supportive of Nazism during the war.<ref name="The Impact of Nazism"/> Several naval officers described him as "closely tied to Hitler and Nazi ideology".<ref name="The Impact of Nazism"/> On one occasion, he went as far as to boast about Hitler's humanity.<ref name="The Impact of Nazism"/> Another event, in which he spoke to Hitler Youth scouts in what was defined as an "inappropriate way", earned him the nickname of "Hitler Boy Dönitz".<ref name="The Impact of Nazism"/> He refused to assist [[Albert Speer]] in stopping a scorched earth policy dictated by Hitler<ref name="The Impact of Nazism"/>and is also noted as saying, "in comparison to Hitler we are all pip-squeaks...Anyone who believes he can do better than the Führer is stupid".<ref name="The Impact of Nazism"/>
There are several antisemitic statements on part of Dönitz known to historians.<ref name="The Impact of Nazism"/> When Sweden closed its international waters to Germany, he blamed this action on their fear and dependence on "international Jewish capital."<ref name="The Impact of Nazism"/> In August 1944, he declared, "I would rather eat dirt than see my grandchildren grow up in the filthy, poisonous atmosphere of Jewry".<ref name="The Impact of Nazism">''The Impact of Nazism: New Perspectives on the Third Reich and Its Legacy'' by Alan E. Steinweis, Daniel E. Rogers, University of Nebraska Press'' 2003 pages 186-188.</ref>
On German Heroes' Day ([[12 March]]) 1944, Dönitz declared, without Adolf Hitler, Germany would be beset by "poison of Jewry", the country destroyed due to lack of [[Nazism|National Socialism]] which, as Dönitz declared, gave defiance of an uncompromising ideology.<ref name="Avalon">"What would have become of our country today if the Fuehrer had not united us under National Socialism. Split by parties, beset with the spreading poison of Jewry and vulnerable to it, because we lacked the defence of our present uncompromising ideology, we would long since have succumbed under the burden of this war, and delivered ourselves up to the enemy who would have mercilessly destroyed us". [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/05-10-46.htm The Avalon Project at Yale Law School]</ref> At the [[Nuremberg Trials]], Dönitz claimed the statement about "poison of Jewry" was regarding "the endurance, the power to endure, of the people, as it was composed, could be better preserved than if there were Jewish elements in the nation". Initially he claimed, "I could imagine that it would be very difficult for the population in the towns to hold out under the strain of heavy bombing attacks if such an influence was allowed to work".
Ideologically, Dönitz was [[antisemitic]].<ref name="Nazi Personality">Eric A. Zillmer. ''The Quest for the Nazi Personality: A Psychological Investigation of Nazi War Criminals''. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 1995.</ref> He was also recorded on several occasions of speaking about Jews in the "tone of [[Gauleiter]]s".{{Fact|date=November 2007}} Later, during the Nuremberg Trials, Dönitz claimed to know nothing about the extermination of Jews and declared nobody among "his men" thought about violence against Jews.<ref name="Avalon"/>
Dönitz told [[Leon Goldensohn]], an American psychiatrist at [[Nuremberg]], "I never had any idea of the goings-on as far as Jews were concerned. Hitler said each man should take care of his business, and mine was U-boats and the navy".<ref>[[Leon Goldensohn]]. ''The Nuremberg Interviews''. Vintage Books. [[New York City|New York]]. 2004. ISBN 1-4000-3043-9</ref> To Goldensohn, Dönitz also spoke of his support for [[Bernhard Rogge]], who was of Jewish descent, when the Nazi Party began to persecute the admiral.
==War crimes trial==
[[Image:Donitz during sentence.jpg|Right|thumb|200px|Dönitz (left) during the Nuremberg trial]]
Following the war, Dönitz was held as a prisoner of war by the victorious Allies, who accused him of war crimes. He was indicted as a major war criminal at the [[Nuremberg trials]] on three counts: (1) conspiracy to commit [[crimes against peace]], [[war crimes]], and [[crimes against humanity]]; (2) [[crimes against peace|Planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression]]; and (3) [[war crimes|crimes against the laws of war]]. Among the war-crimes charges, he was accused of waging unrestricted submarine warfare for issuing [[War Order No. 154]] in 1939, and another similar order after the [[Laconia incident|''Laconia'' Incident]] in 1942, not to rescue survivors from ships attacked by submarine. By issuing these two orders he was found guilty of causing Germany to be in breach of the [[Second London Naval Treaty]] of 1936.<ref name="NTrials"/> However, as evidence of similar conduct by the Allies was presented at his trial, his sentence was not assessed on the grounds of this breach of international law.<ref name="NTrials">[http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/juddoeni.htm Judgement: Dönitz] the [[Avalon Project]] at the [[Yale Law School]].</ref><ref> In addition, Dönitz in ''Ten Years & Twenty Days'' and Edward P. Von der Porten in ''The German Navy in World War Two'' argue that by being armed and reporting the position of submarines to [[Royal Navy]] forces, British merchantmen placed themselves beyond the protection of international law.</ref>
Dönitz was found not guilty on count (1) of the Indictment, but guilty on counts (2) and (3) and was sentenced to ten years in prison. However, in view of all the facts proven, and in particular of an order of the [[British Admiralty]] announced on [[8 May]] [[1940]], according to which all vessels should be sunk on sight in the [[Skagerrak]], and the answers to interrogatories by [[Fleet Admiral (United States)|Fleet Admiral]] [[Chester Nimitz]], wartime commander-in-chief of the [[U.S. Pacific Fleet]], stating unrestricted submarine warfare had been carried on in the Pacific Ocean by the United States from the first day that nation entered the war, Dönitz's order to conduct unrestricted submarine warfare was not officially included in his sentence.<ref name="NTrials"/> Dönitz [[Nuremberg Trials#Validity of the court|disputed the righteousness of his trial at Nuremberg]], saying, "One of the ‘accusations' that made me guilty during this trial was that I met and planned the course of the war with Hitler; now I ask them in heaven's name, how could an admiral do otherwise with his country's head of state in a time of war?"<ref>Dönitz, Karl. ''Memoirs: Ten years and Twenty days''</ref>. Numerous Allied officers also sent letters to Dönitz conveying their disappointment over the fairness and verdict of his trial.[http://www.battle-fleet.com/pw/his/donitz.htm] [http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Karl%20D%F6nitz] He was imprisoned for ten years in [[Spandau Prison]] in [[West Berlin]].
==Later years==
[[Image:Karl donitz.jpg|thumb|right|A scan of the rare first edition of Dönitz's [[memoirs]] in English, ''Ten Years and Twenty Days'' (1958).]]
Dönitz was released on [[1 October]] [[1956]], and he retired to the small village of [[Aumühle]] in [[Schleswig-Holstein]] in northern [[West Germany]]. There he worked on two books. His [[memoirs]], ''Zehn Jahre, Zwanzig Tage'' (''Memoirs: Ten Years and Twenty Days''), appeared in Germany in 1958 and became available in an English translation the following year. This book recounted Dönitz's experiences as U-boat commander (ten years) and President of Germany (twenty days). In it, Dönitz explains the Nazi regime as a product of its time, but argues he was not a politician and thus not morally responsible for much of the regime's crimes. He likewise criticizes dictatorship as a fundamentally flawed form of government and blames it for much of the Nazi era's failings.
Dönitz's second book, ''Mein wechselvolles Leben'' (My Ever-Changing Life)<!--Unless this is the title of the book as published in English, it should not be italicized.--> is less known, perhaps because it deals with the events of his life before 1934. This book was first published in 1968, and a new edition was released in 1998 with the revised title ''Mein soldatisches Leben'' (My Life as a Soldier). Most editions today combine ''Mein wechselvolles Leben'' and ''Mein soldatisches Leben'' into a single volume.{{Fact|date=August 2007}}
Late in his life, Dönitz's reputation was rehabilitated to a large extent{{Fact|date=February 2007}} and he made every attempt to answer correspondence and autograph postcards for others. Unlike [[Albert Speer]], Dönitz was unrepentant regarding his role in World War II<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=qOEu4ALwR-IC&pg=PA139&lpg=PA139&dq=unrepentant+%22karl+donitz%22&source=web&ots=sgzDFd4BXc&sig=fSDwnWmODYZk4Dr-5flXewYmph4] </ref><ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,867109,00.html]</ref> since he firmly believed that no one will respect an individual who compromises with his belief or duty towards his nation in any way, whether an individual's betrayal was small or big. Of this conviction Dönitz writes (commenting on [[Himmler#Peace_negotiations|Himmler's major betrayal]]):<blockquote>The betrayer of military secrets is a [[outcast|pariah]], despised by every man and every nation. Even the enemy whom he serves has no respect for him, but merely uses him. Any nation which is not uncompromisingly unanimous in its condemnation of this type of treachery is undermining the very foundations of its own state, whatever its form of government may be.<ref>''Ten Years and Twenty Days'', page 190, first edition</ref></blockquote> Dönitz died of a heart attack on [[24 December]] [[1980]], in Aumühle. As the last German officer with the rank of [[Grand Admiral]], he was honored by many former servicemen and foreign naval officers who came to pay their respects at his funeral on [[6 January]] [[1981]]. However, he had only received the pension pay of a [[captain (nautical)|captain]] because the West German government ruled all of his advances in rank after that had been due to Hitler.
==Portrayal in popular culture==
Karl Doenitz has been portrayed by the following actors in film, television and theater productions;<ref name="imdb">{{cite web | url = http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0048225/ | title = Karl Doenitz (Character)| accessdate = May 20 | accessdaymonth = | accessmonthday = | accessyear = 2008 | author = | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | date = | year = | month = | format = | work = | publisher = [[IMDb.com]] | pages = | language = English | doi = | archiveurl = | archivedate = | quote = }}</ref>
*[[Gert Hänsch]] in the [[1976 in film|1976]] Czechoslovakian film ''Osvobození Prahy''
*[[Richard Bebb]] in the [[1973 in television|1973]] [[United Kingdom|British]] television production ''[[The Death of Adolf Hitler]]''.<ref name="imdb3">{{cite web | url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283307/ | title = The Death of Adolf Hitler (1973) (TV) | accessdate = May 8 | accessdaymonth = | accessmonthday = | accessyear = 2008 | author = | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | date = | year = | month = | format = | work = | publisher = [[IMDb.com]] | pages = | language = English | doi = | archiveurl = | archivedate = | quote = }}</ref>
*[[Raymond Cloutier ]] in the [[2000 in television|2000]] Canadian/U.S. T.V. production ''Nuremberg''
*[[Peter Rühring]] in the [[2005 in television|2005]] German T.V. miniseries ''[[Speer und er]]''
*[[David Mitchell (actor)|David Mitchell]] in the [[2006 in television|2006]] British T.V. sketch comedy ''[[That Mitchell and Webb Look]]'': Episode #1.6
*[[Simeon Victorov]] in the 2006 British television docudrama ''[[Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial]]''
==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}
{{Commons|Karl Dönitz}}
==References==
<div class="references-small">
* Dönitz, Karl, ''Grossadmiral''. ''Memoirs: Ten Years and Twenty Days''. Da Capo Press, USA, 1997. ISBN 0306807645. (reprints 1958 German-language Athenäum-Verlag edition).
* Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000). ''Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945''. Friedburg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 3-7909-0284-5.
* Guðmundur Helgason. "[http://uboat.net/men/doenitz.htm Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote (BdU) Karl Dönitz.]" at [http://Uboat.net Uboat.net]. <!-- NOTICE: Do not rewrite this as "Helgason, Guðmundur" -User:Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason -->
* Kurowski, Franz (1995). ''Knight's Cross Holders of the U-Boat Service''. Schiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-88740-748-X.
* Padfield, Peter. ''Dönitz: The Last Führer''. Cassell & Co, UK, 2001
* Range, Clemens (1974). ''Die Ritterkreuzträger der Kriegsmarine''. Stuttgart, Germany: Motorbuch Verlag. ISBN 3-87943-355-0.
</div>
==Background information==
* Cremer, Peter. ''U-Boat Commander: A Periscope View of the Battle of the Atlantic''. 1984. ISBN 0870219693
* Davidson, Eugene. ''The Trial of the Germans: Account of the Twenty-two Defendants Before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg''. 1997. ISBN 0826211399
* Hadley, Michael L. ''U-Boats Against Canada: German Submarines in Canadian Waters''. McGill-Queen's University Press: 1985. ISBN 0773508015.
* Macintyre, Donald. ''U-boat Killer''. 1999. ISBN 0304352357
* Werner, Herbert A. ''Iron Coffins: A U-boat Commander's War, 1939–45''. 1999. ISBN 0304353302
* Prien, Gunther. ''Fortunes of War: U-boat Commander''. 2000. ISBN 0752420259
* Herwig, Holger H. ''Innovation ignored: The Submarrine problem'' in Murray, Williamson and Millet Allan R. ed. "Military Innovation in the Interwar Period". Cambridge University Press 1998
* ''Failure to Learn: American Anti-submarine Warfare in 1942'' in Cohen, Eliot A. and Gooch, John. ''Military Misfortunes'' Vintage Books 1991
==Further reading==
* Jason Pipes ''[http://www.feldgrau.com/articles.php?ID=51 The Reichsmarine 1919–1935]''
* Jason Pipes ''[http://www.feldgrau.com/main1.php?ID=4 Kriegsmarine - The Navy 1935–1945]''
* [http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/atlantic/uboat.aspx Re-birth of the U-boat]
==External links==
* [http://www.karl-doenitz.com/ Archives of news and details about Karl Dönitz]
{{wikiquote}}
{{start box}}
{{succession box|
title=[[Grand Admiral]] of the Navy of [[Nazi Germany]] (''[[Kriegsmarine]]'')|
before=[[Erich Raeder]]|
after=None|
years=1943-1945
}}
{{succession box|
title=[[President of Germany]]|
before=[[Adolf Hitler]]<br />(as ''[[Führer]] and [[Reich Chancellor]]'')|
after=''Allied military occupation 1945–1949<br />Divided into [[East Germany|East]] and [[West Germany|West]] in 1949''<br />[[West Germany]]: [[Theodor Heuss]]<br />[[East Germany]]: [[Wilhelm Pieck]]|
years=1945
}}
{{end box}}
{{GFMofWWII}}
{{Uboat}}
{{Cabinet Schwerin von Krosigk}}
{{Main Nuremberg defendants}}
<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
{{BD|1891|1980|Donitz, Karl}}
{{Persondata
|NAME = Dönitz, Karl
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
|SHORT DESCRIPTION = President of Germany; Nazi military commander
|DATE OF BIRTH = [[16 September]] [[1891]]
|PLACE OF BIRTH = Berlin, Germany
|DATE OF DEATH = [[24 December]] [[1980]]
|PLACE OF DEATH = [[Aumühle]], near [[Hamburg]]
}}
[[Category:Presidents of Germany]]
[[Category:Kaiserliche Marine]]
[[Category:Kriegsmarine admirals]]
[[Category:U-boat commanders]]
[[Category:People convicted by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg]]
[[Category:German military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:German military personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Knight's Cross]]
[[Category:Order of Michael the Brave recipients]]
[[Category:People from Berlin]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Brandenburg]]
[[Category:German prisoners and detainees]]
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