Foreign News: The Lion Is Out

Before committing suicide in his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler made a will naming as his successor one of his most ruthless military associates: Grand Admiral of the German Fleet Karl Dönitz. Known as der Löwe (the Lion), Donitz had masterminded the submarine campaign that destroyed about 15 million tons of Allied and neutral shipping, with a loss of tens of thousands of Allied lives in World War II. “Kill and keep on killing,” jug-eared, ice-blue-eyed Dönitz had exhorted his U-boat captains. “Remember, no survivors. Humanity is a weakness.” The U-boatmen responded by firing on torpedoed crews struggling in the water.

On the radio Dönitz told the German people that Hitler had died a hero’s death in besieged Berlin. Said Dönitz: “The fight goes on.” Captured by the British three weeks later, he was arraigned as a war criminal at Nürnberg. His sentence: ten years. At Spandau prison in West Berlin in July, 1947, he clicked his heels and handed over to the warders his diamond-studded grand-admiral’s baton, a silver alarm clock and 15,000 gold marks, donned prisoner’s uniform. Unrepentant and spouting hatred, he took exercise to keep fit, read to keep his mind alert (favorite works: Jack London’s dog stories), while his old submarine officers and neo-Nazi organizations still claimed his leadership, and lawyers sought means to free him. The last of these efforts failed in 1955 when the Allied authorities ignored a plea that Dönitz’ Nurnberg imprisonment be considered part of his court sentence and indicated that they would keep the Lion in Spandau to the last day of his legal term. Last week his penalty was almost paid. Announcing that Dönitz will be released on Oct. 1, the authorities were less apprehensive about his political future. Said the aging (64) onetime Reichs President of his plans: “I think I shall start a kindergarten—a mixed one for puppies as well as children.”