Karl Dönitz

German naval commander who briefly led Nazi Germany after Hitler's suicide.

Karl Dönitz was born on 16 September 1891 in Grünau, near Berlin, to Anna Beyer and Emil Dönitz, an engineer.^[1] Prior to World War I, his professional naval service started within the Imperial German Navy.^[2] When World War II commenced, Dönitz held the position of Befehlshaber der U-Boote (BdU), the supreme commander of the Kriegsmarine's submarine arm.^[3]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Office: President of Germany
Term: 30 April 1945 – 23 May 1945
Predecessor: Adolf Hitler (as de, Führer)

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Dönitz enlisted in the Kaiserliche Marine in 1910 and was commissioned as a Leutnant zur See on 27 September 1913.^[1] In 1935, he was placed in command of the U-boat flotilla Weddigen and promoted to Kapitän zur See.^[4] Dönitz revived the concept of U-boats operating in attack groups called Rudeltaktik, or "wolfpack"^[2][5] On 30 April 1945, following Adolf Hitler's suicide, Dönitz was named Hitler's successor as head of state.^[6]

He ordered Alfred Jodl to sign the German Instrument of Surrender on 7 May 1945, formally ending the war in Europe.^[6] Upon his 1920 return to Germany, he pursued his naval profession within the armed forces of the Weimar Republic.^[4] He led torpedo boats and, effective 1 November 1928, was promoted to Korvettenkapitän.^[4]

References

Wikipedia, "Karl Dönitz" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Zabecki 2014, p. 354 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Karl Dönitz" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Thames Television (9 January 1974), 10. "Wolf Pack: U-Boats in the Atlantic (1939–1944)", retrieved 16 September 2023 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Karl Dönitz" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Terraine 1989, p. 614–615 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Karl Dönitz" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Williamson 2007, p. 10 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Karl Dönitz" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rohwer 2015, p. 3–4, 257–262; Westwood 2005, p. 55–56; Haslop 2013, p. 51 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Karl Dönitz" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hamilton 1996, p. 285–286 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Karl Dönitz (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.