Dönitz, Karl Großadmiral Karl Dönitz. Mein wechselvolles Leben

The memoirs of the Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy and the last President of the German Reich. Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz (1891-1980), who had been Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy since January 1943 and who, after Hitler's death, had to take over the leadership of the Reich for 23 days as President of the German Reich and Commander-in-Chief of the German Wehrmacht, leaves behind with his memoirs a valuable document of contemporary and military history that can both contribute to an understanding of German naval warfare during both World Wars and describe in detail the catastrophic military and political situation of Germany at the end of the Second World War from the perspective of its highest leadership.

Dönitz gives a detailed account of his military career: he joined the Kaiserliche Marine as a naval cadet in 1910, and towards the end of the First World War he was employed as a submarine commander and successfully fought in the Adriatic. Participated in the establishment of a small Reichsmarine during the Weimar Republic. In 1936 he became leader of the submarines in the Third Reich, conceived both the armament and the strategy and tactics of this weapon and, after the beginning of the Second World War, forced the development of an initially very successful submarine fleet, which was to break the superiority of the Allied naval forces in the Atlantic. Towards the end of the war, Dönitz, as commander-in-chief of the Kriegsmarine, deployed hundreds of ships to evacuate the civilian population and wounded soldiers from East Prussia, Danzig and Pomerania. Millions of people were rescued by sea across the Baltic. They were spared the fate of coming under Soviet rule.
After the Second World War, Grand Admiral Dönitz was sentenced to 10 years in prison at the Nuremberg trial. The Federal Ministry of Defence refused to bury Dönitz with military honours after his death. Numerous former opponents of the war, on the other hand, including many generals and admirals, paid tribute to Dönitz and the German navy for their brave and honourable fight.