Lot 231

WWII NAZI GERMAM CHRISTMAS CARD SIGNED BY DONITZ

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WWII NAZI GERMAM CHRISTMAS CARD SIGNED BY DONITZ

Estimate: $400 - $700

Starting Bid: $200

(0 Bids)

by Milestone Auctions
August 1, 2026 10:00 AM EDT
Live Auction
38198 Willoughby Parkway
Willoughby, OH, US 44094

A hand signed Christmas Card from Admiral Dönitz that reads "Grossadmiral Dönitz dank für die guten Wünsche zum Weihnachtsfest und zum neuen jahr und erwidert sie herzlich" Grand Admiral Dönitz thanks everyone for their good wishes for Christmas and the New Year and warmly returns them. The heavy card stock measures 7 3/4 X 4 7/8 inches with the insignia of Grossadmiral Dönitz in the left corner. Excellent. Karl Dönitz (16 September 1891 – 24 December 1980) was a German naval officer and politician who briefly succeeded Adolf Hitler as the head of state of Nazi Germany after the latter's suicide during the World War II in April 1945. He held this position until the dissolution of the Flensburg Government, about two weeks after Germany's unconditional surrender to the Allies. As Supreme Commander of the Navy beginning in 1943, he played a major role in the naval history of the war. He began his career in the Imperial German Navy before the First World War. In 1918, he was commanding UB-68, and was captured as a prisoner of war by British forces. As commander of UB-68, he attacked a convoy in the Mediterranean Sea while on patrol near Malta. Sinking one ship before the rest of the convoy outran his U-boat, Dönitz began to formulate the concept of U-boats operating in attack groups Rudeltaktik (German for "pack tactic", commonly called a "wolfpack") for greater efficiency, rather than operating independently. By the start of the Second World War, Dönitz was supreme commander of the Kriegsmarine's U-boat arm (Befehlshaber der U-Boote [BdU]). In January 1943, he achieved the rank of Großadmiral (grand admiral) and replaced Grand Admiral Erich Raeder as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. He was the main enemy of Allied naval forces in the Battle of the Atlantic. From 1939 to 1943, the U-boats fought effectively but lost the initiative from May 1943. He ordered his submarines into battle until 1945 to relieve the pressure on other branches of the Wehrmacht (armed forces). 648 U-boats were lost — 429 with no survivors. Furthermore, of these, 215 were lost on their first patrol. Around 30,000 of the 40,000 men who served in U-boats perished. On 30 April 1945, following the suicide of Adolf Hitler and in accordance with his last will and testament, Dönitz was named Hitler's successor as head of state in what became known as the Goebbels cabinet after his second-in-command, Joseph Goebbels, until Goebbels's suicide led to Dönitz's cabinet being reformed into the Flensburg Government instead. On 7 May 1945, he ordered Alfred Jodl, Chief of Operations Staff of the Armed Forces High Command (German: Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW)), to sign the German Instrument of Surrender in Reims, France, formally ending the War in Europe. Dönitz remained as head of state with the titles of President of Germany and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces until his cabinet was dissolved by the Allied powers on 23 May de facto and on 5 June de jure. By his own admission, Dönitz was a dedicated Nazi and supporter of Hitler. Following the war, he was indicted as a major war criminal at the Nuremberg trials on three counts: conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity; planning, initiating, and waging wars of aggression; and crimes against the laws of war. He was found not guilty of committing crimes against humanity, but guilty of committing crimes against peace and crimes against the laws of war. He was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment; following his release, he lived in a village near Hamburg until his death in late December 1980.

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $999 $25
$1,000 $1,999 $50
$2,000 $4,999 $100
$5,000 $9,999 $250
$10,000 $24,999 $500
$25,000 $49,999 $1,000
$50,000 $99,999 $2,500
$100,000 + $5,000