This video is sponsored by MagellanTV.
When Adolf Hitler ended his life on April 30, 1945,
Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz announced to the German people: (QUOTE) “(Hitler) died a hero’s death in
the capital of the German Reich, after having led an unmistakably straight and steady life.”
During Hitler’s last days, his closest friends had betrayed him and he had no one to trust. The Reich
was irremediably doomed, but the Fuhrer’s last wish was for Dönitz to succeed him,
and he was named President of Germany and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. The
responsibility of the entire country now laid in the hands of the former Navy Commander-in-Chief.
Dönitz came to power on May 1 with what was left of the Nazi party
and took his feeble cabinet to the undamaged town of Flensburg in the northern border.
For a while, the pretend administration, sometimes referred to as a ‘comic opera,’
was allowed to exist, even if no one cared by that point.
Daily meetings took place at 10:00am, and the so-called last Fuhrer and his officials
discussed the plans for Germany even after the country’s unconditional surrender
and with total indifference to what little leeway they actually had.
It would only be a matter of time until the whole charade came crashing down...
Much has been said about what could have been if Hitler did not get to power.
While many hypothetical scenarios have been crafted where the Fuhrer was assassinated,
there were very real attempts on the dictator’s life both by outsiders and his fellow Germans.
Now with documentary streaming service MagellanTV you can watch the complete
documentary about Operation Foxley, the British Secret Service’s mission to liquidate Hitler.
Immerse yourself in the World War II era and dive into the declassified documents
that reveal the details of an operation planned to change the course of history.
Now Dark Docs viewers can take advantage of a special holiday offer to buy one annual membership
and receive a free gift card for another annual membership by clicking the link in the description
or visiting try.magellantv.com/darkdocs. With the supply chain crisis threatening to delay
the arrival of holiday orders, MagellanTV is a gift that's sure to arrive on time!
Have a look at MagellanTV’s extensive collection of over 3,000 documentaries about world history,
military, science, mysteries, and more. And if you ever watch them all,
note that new programs are added every week. Support Dark Docs as you enjoy this exclusive
holiday offer for our viewers all the while we explore the darkest enigmas of our shared history.
Visit try.magellantv.com/darkdocs or click on the link in the description below.
The Fall
By mid-April of 1945, it was evident that Germany would fall in a matter of weeks, if not days.
However, its supreme leader would not leave the capital, and instead, Hitler opted to stay.
The command of the German armed forces then passed to the High Command, recently relocated
to Rheinsberg. However, in anticipation of the political division of German territory,
full command was provisionally bestowed to Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz in the North
and Field Marshal Albert Kesselring in the South.
A meeting then took place at Rheinsberg on April 27, just when the fall of Berlin was imminent.
Hermann Göring was the expected successor to the dictator, but after his dismissal,
Heinrich Himmler was appointed Deputy Fuhrer.
However, another unexpected act of treason was disclosed the following day,
when the Allies revealed that Himmler had tried to negotiate a separate peace treaty with the West.
By April 29, Himmler had been dismissed, and an order of arrest was issued.
When Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz confronted Himmler at his headquarters, he denied any implication
and dismissed the rumors as enemy propaganda. But the head of the Nazi Party Chancellery,
Martin Bormann, confirmed Himmler’s dismissal and appointed Dönitz as Hitler’s successor.
Hitler’s closest friends had betrayed him, and per his last will and testament, Dönitz was named
Reich President and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces right after his death on April 30.
Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels would serve as Reich Chancellor,
but he also committed suicide the following day.
Dönitz accepted the titles and addressed the German
people and servicemen in separate broadcasts.
Several ministers presented their resignations the following day, but Dönitz suspected that
Borman had ulterior intentions and resolved to constitute a new Reich government.
By then, almost every major German city had been bombed to the ground,
and the Grand Admiral met with top Nazi officials Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk,
Paul Wegener, Wilhelm Keitel, and Himmler, and decided to move the
new government to the remarkably unscarred town of Flensburg near the Danish border.
The SS leadership had already relocated there days before.
The chosen location to set up an office was the Mürwik naval academy, and the cabinet met
in its sports school. Soon after, the entire German High Command relocated to the new site.
Some members of the Nazi cabinet were retained, but several others were dismissed. Furthermore,
three ministries were immediately abolished, and only the most vital remained standing.
Navy Captain and historian Joerg Hillman would later recall of the new set-up: (QUOTE) "There
was a Minister for Finance without any money, there was a Minister for Foreign Affairs,
but there were no people working for him. There were ministers, but they didn’t have a ministry.”
The New Government
The last Fuhrer was now Nazi Germany’s last chance of survival.
Most Nazi leaders were dead or on the run, and Dönitz was now in charge of the millenary Reich.
Dönitz’s successful U-boat campaign had made him a national hero,
and he truly believed he was Germany’s new president.
Other than Albert Speer, Dönitz did not include any prominent Nazi leader in his cabinet. However,
he did include several SS officers involved in the genocidal policies of the old regime, such
as Herbert Backe, the author of the Hunger Plan, Otto Ohlendorf, who ordered hundreds of thousands
of murders, and Wilhelm Stuckart, a participant of the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem approach.
Hillman later wrote: (QUOTE) "All the rats from the Nazi regime went to Flensburg,
a lot of SS people also got new papers from this last government,
so they changed identities, then they were able to escape from the Allied troops."
In a surprising twist of fate, Dönitz himself claimed that his new government was unpolitical.
However, it strongly opposed Bolshevism and was determined to do whatever it took
to avoid repeating the events of the Armistice of 1918.
The only loose end was Himmler.
His post as Minister of the Interior remained vacant for a while, given his recent condemnation
as a traitor. The new Fuhrer didn’t want him in his government, but Himmler was a powerful figure.
Any move against him could turn his loyal followers in the SS against the new regime.
Ultimately, Dönitz overlooked Hitler’s last instructions and kept meeting Himmler informally,
offering him vague prospects of a position in his government.
As for their decaying Armed Forces, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel was appointed Commander in Chief
with the support of the Wehrmacht Chief of Operations Staff, Colonel General Alfred Jodl.
The Flensburg policies were a continuation of the Nazi ideology. Its members still wore the
uniform and followed Nazi protocols, and the initial greeting continued to be ‘Heil Hitler.’
In a desperate attempt to keep the Reich alive, the cabinet of the Flensburg Government would meet
every morning at 10:00am, harboring the delusional hope that the party could still be saved.
While they discussed the streamlining of their crippled military and the design of a new flag
that didn’t include the banned swastika, more pressing matters came to the surface.
Dönitz’s main objective was to establish his authority as Supreme Commander
and persuade his armies to partially surrender to the Western Allies. Capitulation to the
Soviets was out of the question, and the fighting kept going on the East Front.
In the Grand Admiral’s mind, this strategy could split the Allies by offering the West his support
in building an anti-Bolshevik front. But he quickly learned that such an idea was ridiculous.
The Allies in the West and the Communists stood their ground, demanding unconditional surrender.
Avoiding the Soviets
Dönitz’s first order of business was to try and save as many German soldiers as possible
before they fell to Soviet captivity. He then ordered his troops in the East
to retreat towards the West and surrender to the British or Americans.
On May 3, only two days after being appointed leader, Dönitz sent his successor as Head of
the Navy, Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, to meet British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
The Germans offered to surrender, but the British leader was reluctant,
arguing that he could not accept the surrender of troops fighting in the Eastern Front;
they would have to capitulate to the Soviets.
However, the surrender of Germans fleeing westwards and the entire
military forces in the northwest was accepted.
The following day, Friedeburg signed an instrument of surrender for all his troops and ships
in German and German-occupied territories in the area.
Montgomery accepted the agreement on behalf of then-General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Himmler was eventually dismissed after official negotiations with the Allies in the West continued
and the scene was set for a proper capitulation. He was promised false
papers in exchange for his removal, and he and his fellow SS leaders quickly fled.
On May 5, the southwest also surrendered, albeit partially.
Dönitz attempted to surrender solely to the Western Allies, but it didn’t work.
General Jodl then arrived in Reims, France, to sign the unavoidable unconditional surrender,
but Eisenhower soon noticed that he was only trying to
stall the agreement to allow his troops in the East to escape.
The General then threatened to close the Western front and have all surrendering German soldiers
shot. Dönitz had no choice but to accept the Allied terms, and Jodl signed on his behalf.
The war was officially over, and May 8, 1945, became known as Victory in Europe Day.
Last Days
Despite the surrender, Dönitz’s pretend government was allowed to continue for a few more weeks.
The American and Soviet leaders wished to finish them at once,
but the British believed that letting it stand could provide stability,
as the German population was more likely to listen to other Germans.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill expressed: (QUOTE) “We cannot go running round into
every German slum and argue with every German that it is his duty to surrender or we will
shoot [...] There must be some kind of force which will give orders which they will obey.”
The Nazi government continued to issue orders addressed to
what was left of the military and the German population until May 23,
when British occupation authorities called for a meeting in Flensburg.
Dönitz and his staff were then politely informed of their arrest in preparation for trial.
The so-called last Fuhrer was eventually spared his life on the Nuremberg trials
and only served 10 years at the Spandau prison in western Berlin.
Decades later, he would write in his postwar memoirs: (QUOTE)
“When today I look back upon what I did at the end of the war, I realize the inadequacy of all human
endeavor. (...) Though I might be prevented from exercising the practical function of government,
this did not alter the fact that I was Head of the German State.”
Thank you for watching our video! Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below,
and don’t forget to hit the like button and subscribe to all our
Dark Documentaries channels for more exciting historical anecdotes.