Karl Dönitz was a curious guy, born into a middle-class German family, served on destroyers in World War I, built and deployed Hitler's U-boats in the war of the Atlantic, was designated Hitler's successor, and immediately brought the war to an end. An important figure in the war, he's not often brought to public attention, perhaps because he had nothing to do with the extermination of Hitler's enemies.
He was graduated from the Naval Academy, where he was noted for hard work and ambition, and hated the Weimar Republic of the early 1930s, which seemed impotent in the face of monstrous inflation and the Great Depression, but he remained in the Navy anyway. His allegiance was not to any political party but to the state. After Hitler's rise to power in 1933, the German Navy was built up, chiefly in the form of big battleships. Dönitz disagreed with the program, reckoning that in a war with England and its superior Navy, the U-boat was the weapon of choice. He was right, of course. Hitler eventually gave up the building of capital ships and followed Dönitz' advice. At the start of the war, Germany had only about 60 operational U-boats but their construction was soon given precedence.
One of his U-boat penetrated the British screen at Scapa Flow, sank the Battleship Royal Oak, and returned safely to Germany. The incident brought Dönitz's name into prominence. Hitler was far more concerned about the war on land but it must have made him realize that England was, after all, and island nation that depended now on North America for almost all its supplies -- food as well as military equipment. In other words, England might be starved into submission, the rest of Western Europe already having been conquered. And so it went for the early years of the war. More ships were sunk than were being built. U-boat crews, which never amounted to more than a relative handful, were an elite group of volunteers and were treated as heroes, the way air aces had been. It was dirty, dangerous work. There are few means of escape from an imploding U-boat. By the end of the war, three out of four U-boat crews had not returned from their missions.
After the fall of France, U-boats operated out of French ports directly on the Atlantic and in port the men enjoyed themselves. Dönitz himself joined the parties and everyone seemed to dine on champagne, oysters, and lobsters. French cooking is unbeatable, let's face facts, especially after a diet of ox-tail soup and himmel und erde. But Dönitz was so successful he was appointed Chief of the Navy and left France for Berlin. This was at a point in mid-war when Hitler's distrust of his generals was increasing, and the Grand Admiral was welcomed into Hitler's inner circle.
May of 1943 was the turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic. Technological advances in anti-submarine warfare and a vast increase in the number of Allied ships and airplanes made U-boat patrols extremely dangerous and, later, suicidal. Dönitz himself lost two sons in submarines. The celebrations ended. In the Spring of 1944, almost 8,000 U-boat sailors died. Dönitz's speeches had become anti-Semitic and fully in support of the Nazi party. When Hitler committed suicide and the Reich disintegrated, Dönitz, as Hitler's successor, ordered the fighting in the east against the vengeful Russians to continue, while he surrendered to Montgomery in the West. It allowed innumerable German refugees to escape the punishment inflicted by the Soviet Union. Eventually a total ceasefire was arranged.
Dönitz never seems to have expressed any remorse and in truth had nothing to do with the war crimes on the Nuremberg trials, but he did spend ten years in prison.
This is a German production. Most of the witnesses are Germans who can speak from personal experiences. There's no attempt to justify the actions of the political or military functions of Hitler's subordinates. It's wrenchingly honest.
He was graduated from the Naval Academy, where he was noted for hard work and ambition, and hated the Weimar Republic of the early 1930s, which seemed impotent in the face of monstrous inflation and the Great Depression, but he remained in the Navy anyway. His allegiance was not to any political party but to the state. After Hitler's rise to power in 1933, the German Navy was built up, chiefly in the form of big battleships. Dönitz disagreed with the program, reckoning that in a war with England and its superior Navy, the U-boat was the weapon of choice. He was right, of course. Hitler eventually gave up the building of capital ships and followed Dönitz' advice. At the start of the war, Germany had only about 60 operational U-boats but their construction was soon given precedence.
One of his U-boat penetrated the British screen at Scapa Flow, sank the Battleship Royal Oak, and returned safely to Germany. The incident brought Dönitz's name into prominence. Hitler was far more concerned about the war on land but it must have made him realize that England was, after all, and island nation that depended now on North America for almost all its supplies -- food as well as military equipment. In other words, England might be starved into submission, the rest of Western Europe already having been conquered. And so it went for the early years of the war. More ships were sunk than were being built. U-boat crews, which never amounted to more than a relative handful, were an elite group of volunteers and were treated as heroes, the way air aces had been. It was dirty, dangerous work. There are few means of escape from an imploding U-boat. By the end of the war, three out of four U-boat crews had not returned from their missions.
After the fall of France, U-boats operated out of French ports directly on the Atlantic and in port the men enjoyed themselves. Dönitz himself joined the parties and everyone seemed to dine on champagne, oysters, and lobsters. French cooking is unbeatable, let's face facts, especially after a diet of ox-tail soup and himmel und erde. But Dönitz was so successful he was appointed Chief of the Navy and left France for Berlin. This was at a point in mid-war when Hitler's distrust of his generals was increasing, and the Grand Admiral was welcomed into Hitler's inner circle.
May of 1943 was the turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic. Technological advances in anti-submarine warfare and a vast increase in the number of Allied ships and airplanes made U-boat patrols extremely dangerous and, later, suicidal. Dönitz himself lost two sons in submarines. The celebrations ended. In the Spring of 1944, almost 8,000 U-boat sailors died. Dönitz's speeches had become anti-Semitic and fully in support of the Nazi party. When Hitler committed suicide and the Reich disintegrated, Dönitz, as Hitler's successor, ordered the fighting in the east against the vengeful Russians to continue, while he surrendered to Montgomery in the West. It allowed innumerable German refugees to escape the punishment inflicted by the Soviet Union. Eventually a total ceasefire was arranged.
Dönitz never seems to have expressed any remorse and in truth had nothing to do with the war crimes on the Nuremberg trials, but he did spend ten years in prison.
This is a German production. Most of the witnesses are Germans who can speak from personal experiences. There's no attempt to justify the actions of the political or military functions of Hitler's subordinates. It's wrenchingly honest.
