Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Successor
A brief history of the brief Nazi government that continued after Hitler’s death.
Hitler’s suicide in 1945 didn’t end Nazi rule in Germany at once. In fact, prior to his suicide, Hitler had appointed a successor, Karl Donitz, who temporarily served as the new leader. So as to preserve Hitler’s god-like legacy that was cultivated during his leadership, Donitz wasn’t appointed Führer, but instead President of Nazi Germany.
Karl Donitz
Admiral Donitz had served as Supreme Commander of the German Navy, leading the German U-Boat attacks against the Allies, ensuring they didn’t reach mainland Germany by sea. He had served in the navy during the First World War, and Hitler had chosen him to take charge of the Nazi German navy upon his rise to power. He was known as an impressive naval commander during the Second World War, using a technique called the ‘wolfpack’ that involved many U-Boats targeting, overwhelming, and destroying specific Allied ships.
For this, Donitz was held in high regard and gained the respect and trust of Hitler. Similarly, Donitz was a vehement supporter of the Führer and a dedicated and loyal Nazi.
Towards the end of the Second World War, however, the German Navy was showing a growing number of defeats, while the British Royal Air Force bombing raids on German harbours further weakened the navy’s power. Nonetheless, Donitz’s career in the Navy was still acknowledged as immensely impressive, so much so that Hitler decided to appoint him as the leader of Germany just prior to his death. It came as quite a surprise that Hitler’s two closest party officials, Himmler and Goring, were not chosen by Hitler to succeed him as the leader.
On April 30th, 1945, with Nazi defeat imminent as the British, French and Americans closed in on Germany from the West and the Soviets from the East, Adolf Hitler killed himself.
The New Nazi Government
In early May 1945, Donitz set up a new government in the small northern town of Flensburg, just north of Hamburg and on the border of Denmark, establishing a new cabinet to make decisions regarding the proposed post-war Nazi Germany. It was named the Flensburg Government. Academic Chris Madsen states that the Nazi Flensburg government was allowed by the allies to be implemented as a means for the British to allow an orderly transition from Nazi to post-war Germany, noting that Donitz was:
“…not recognised as the legitimate head of state, but was only used temporarily under the instructions of the Allied Commanders, to carry out duties with the feeding, disarmament and medical care of the German armed forces.”
The new Flensburg Government lasted a total of only three weeks, terminating on 23rd May 1945. Donitz’s rule as President of Nazi Germany was short-lived as the allied forces marched into the new government and dissolved it, while at the same time arresting its members for war crimes.
Nazi Germany was no more, the Allies had won, and the war, at least in Europe, was finally over after six long years. Like other Nazi party officials — well, those who hadn’t committed suicide by self-inflicted gunshot wounds or swallowed cyanide capsules — Donitz was tried at the Nuremberg Trials. Donitz got off lightly. He was sentenced to ten years in prison while the majority of his contemporaries were sentenced to death.
Following his release in 1956, Donitz moved to a town in West Germany, publishing two books on his life and experiences under Hitlers leadership, his time as Supreme Commander and his subsequent brief presidency. He died in 1980.
