Alexander TSYGANOV, political analyst
In April 1945, the founder of the Third German Reich, Adolf Hitler, spent his last days in the bunker of the Reich Chancellery at a depth of 12 meters. The directors are not lying - he is truly a wreck: he moves with great effort, bends his body forward and drags his legs with difficulty, saliva often drips from the corners of his mouth, and his cheeks are full of gas. The trembling paralysis of the left arm and left leg was getting stronger.
But the Führer had not yet lost the last remnants of his intellectual adequacy. It is true that after analyzing the map of the situation on the fronts on April 21, he admitted that "under these conditions he was no longer able to command" and the war was lost, he developed an obsessive desire: during his remaining days he constantly talked about the best way to commit suicide. However, this did not prevent him from creating a kind of political will and dictating to whom he would hand over power after his suicide.
The problem was serious. His closest and long-time associate, Hermann Göring, attempted to seize power on April 23, but was accused of treason by Hitler and arrested. The head of the Nazi repressive apparatus, Heinrich Himmler, contacted the Americans through the Swedes, announcing that Hitler would soon be dead, after which Germany would be ready to "surrender" to the Western Allies. The Führer learned of this and declared Himmler the perpetrator of the "greatest betrayal" and removed him from all his posts. From the inner circle of the head of the Third Reich, only Goebbels and Bormann remained - Hitler appointed them as his successors. But he also appointed, at first glance, a rather unexpected figure to the post of formal head of state - President of the Reich.
Thus, the name of Karl Dönitz unexpectedly appeared on the political horizon of the Reich. In 1945 he turned 54. After beginning his military career as a lieutenant in the surface fleet, then serving as a gunner and navigator in aviation, in December 1916 he turned his attention to the submarine fleet. After serving as an officer on one submarine and receiving command of another in March 1918, he managed to achieve five victories in seven months, sinking British ships with a total displacement of over 16 thousand tons.
After being captured by the British and commanding various surface ships between the world wars, Dönitz was appointed “Führer of the U-boats“ in 1936. By the beginning of World War II, he not only headed Germany's powerful submarine fleet, but also developed the concept of uniting submarines in groups for the most effective destruction of enemy ship convoys. These groups were aptly called by some "wolf packs".
They shed a lot of blood on the Anglo-American allies. In "unrestricted submarine warfare" from September 3, 1939 to May 7, 1945, the Germans sank over 3,000 enemy ships and vessels with a total tonnage of over 14 million gross tons. At the same time, Dönitz personally distinguished himself as a war criminal, issuing a personal order prohibiting his submariners from providing assistance to the crews of the ships they sank.
However, the Allies also reacted harshly and skillfully: during the war, the Germans lost 648 submarines and from 30 to 40 thousand of their sailors. On January 30, 1943, Karl Dönitz received the rank of Grand Admiral and was appointed commander of all naval forces of the Reich. In this rank, he rose to the political pinnacle of post-Hitler Germany.
When the Soviet command was notified of the change of power in Germany, Stalin sent a categorical response demanding unconditional surrender. Thus, the new Reich Chancellor Joseph Goebbels realized that everything was over for him and committed suicide.
Bormann tried to escape from Berlin, but was killed while trying to pass through the battle lines of the Soviet troops. Thus, Karl Dönitz, who was not in Berlin at the time, found himself alone at the head of post-Hitler Germany. On April 21, he flew north to the Danish border to lead the defense there.
The unconditional surrender was signed on May 9, 1945. only on behalf of the German armed forces. Thus, formally the Reich as a state continues to exist, and Dönitz is its head, despite the creation of the Allied occupation administrations.
Having settled in the city of Flensburg, becoming not only president but also chancellor, the Grand Admiral gathered the surviving heads of ministries and departments there. He tasked the former Finance Minister Ludwig Schwerin von Krosig with forming a new government.
The cabinet was preserved almost entirely, including even the Ministry of Armaments. Only three departments were abolished: the Ministry of the Occupied Eastern Territories, which is obviously no longer relevant, the Ministry of Public Education and Propaganda, which is hated by the Allies, and Göring's personal Aviation Ministry, which is already toxic after his betrayal.
The new Reich administration immediately began to function as if nothing had changed with the military defeat in Germany. In addition, Dönitz never had any particular personal objections to the Nazi regime, he respected Hitler and was considered the fight against communism the duty of every worthy European.
But the most important thing is that Dönitz first contacted the British command, whose future sphere of occupation included Flensburg. He expected that British Prime Minister Churchill would certainly want to rely on the new, no longer Hitlerite Germany in his fears and dislike of the Russians. And in general, he was not so far from implementing his plan.
In the spring of 1945, German prisoners of war in British captivity were already treated as if they had never left the ranks of the Wehrmacht. They retained their own military organization, their own military administration, even their own military jurisdiction. The fact is that Winston Churchill was already hard at work, considering a plan for the post-war repulsion of Soviet troops from Eastern Europe. First of all, from Poland.
Moreover, Churchill was thinking actively - his generals were already developing options for a possible future offensive against the Russians together with the Americans. In addition, with his first orders, Dönitz called on the Wehrmacht to fight to the last on the Eastern Front, in Berlin, in Czechoslovakia, but on May 3 he sent his envoy to the British commander, Field Marshal Montgomery, with a proposal for the surrender of the German troops in northwestern Germany to the British.
The proposal was accepted - the next day Montgomery accepted the surrender. Together with the Reich's ground forces, the fleet also surrendered to the British and retained its military organization. But at that time the military and international authority of the Soviet Union and its army was too great. This evaporated the desire of the Allies to try against the Russians immediately after the destruction of Germany, which had recently conquered all of Europe.
Thus the Dönitz government had to come to terms with the hopelessness of its plans. The Russians were too strong. On June 23, 1945, the British were forced to arrest the Dönitz government and Dönitz himself. The Third Reich was now dead for good.