Karl Doenitz was a German naval officer who built Adolph Hitler's submarine fleet in the 1930s and who became Germany's chief naval officer midway through World War II. The German dictator named Doenitz his successor during the last days of the war in May 1945. Doenitz was charged with war crimes by the Allies after the war and was tried and convicted with other leading National Socialist (Nazi) officials at the Nuremberg trials in 1946.
Doenitz was born on September 16, 1891, in Grunau-Berlin. He joined the Germany navy during World War I and served as a submarine officer in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Following Germany's surrender in 1918, the Allies forced Germany to sign the Treaty of Versailles, which sought to prevent Germany from ever again becoming a military power by restricting military spending and construction. The German Navy was severely crippled by these terms, and Doenitz, like many German military officers, chafed under these limitations. After Hitler and the Nazi Party took power in the early 1930s, Hitler made clear to military leaders that he intended to ignore the Versailles treaty but wished to keep the military build up secret for as long as possible. The treaty completely banned Germany from constructing a new submarine fleet. Nevertheless, Doenitz supervised the secret construction of a new U-boat fleet. Hitler rewarded his efforts by naming him the commander of this new fleet in 1936.
After Hitler started World War II by invading Poland in September 1939, Doenitz's U-boat fleet became a central part of Germany's effort to win the war. He conceived the "wolfpack" strategy, where groups of submarines moved together through the Atlantic Ocean, attacking ship convoys. The U-boat fleets destroyed hundreds of ships containing supplies headed for Great Britain and the Soviet Union during the early 1940s.
As Germany's naval warfare began to suffer reverses, Hitler looked for new leadership. In January of 1943, Hitler named Doenitz to replace Admiral Erich Raeder as commander in chief of the Germany Navy. Working with Doenitz on a regular basis, Hitler grew to admire his abilities. During the last days of the war Hitler gave Doenitz more and more authority. In late April of 1945, Hitler named him head of the northern military and civil command. As Russian troops entered Berlin, Hitler named Doenitz his successor as president of Germany, minister of war, and supreme commander of the armed forces. Doenitz assumed these offices on May 2, 1945, three days after Hitler committed suicide. He quickly arranged the surrender of Germany, and the war ended.
In November of 1945, Doenitz stood trial with other Nazi officials at Nuremberg. The Allies prosecuted Doenitz for crimes against peace but had difficulty proving that Doenitz had participated in crimes against civilians or had participated in the mass killings of Jews. In 1946 the tribunal found Doenitz guilty of crimes against peace. He was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. He was released from prison in 1956. Two years later he published his memoirs. He died on December 22, 1980 at Aumuhle, West Germany.
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