Karl Dönitz

Karl Dönitz

Karl Dönitz (sometimes spelled Doenitz; German: [ˈdøːnɪts] ; 16 September 1891 – 24 December 1980) was a German admiral who briefly succeeded Adolf Hitler as head of state in May 1945, holding the position until the dissolution of the Flensburg Government following Germany's unconditional surrender to the Allies days later. As Supreme Commander of the Navy beginning in 1943, he played a major role in the naval history of World War II. He began his career in the Imperial German Navy before World War I. In 1918, he was commanding UB-68, and was taken prisoner of war by British forces. As commander of UB-68, he attacked a convoy in the Mediterranean while on patrol near Malta. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Karl Dönitz has received more than 7,883,681 page views. His biography is available in 70 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 69 in 2019). Karl Dönitz is the 6th most popular military personnel (up from 8th in 2019), the 33rd most popular biography from Germany (up from 36th in 2019) and the most popular German Military Personnel.

Karl Dönitz was a German naval officer who served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine from 1943 to 1945. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. His most famous accomplishment is being the last German head of state in World War II.