HITLER'S HENCHMEN: DOENITZ: THE SUCCESSOR {DER NACHFOLGER: KARL DÖNITZ} (TV)
Summary
One in this six-part German-produced documentary series about the men who engineered and ruled Hitler's Third Reich. Using recently discovered archival footage, rare biographical material, and newly recorded testimony from firsthand witnesses, the series profiles six members of Hitler's inner circle and architects of Third Reich. This program examines the life and career of Karl Dönitz (Doenitz; Donitz). In the early days of the war, Admiral Karl Dönitz's U-boat armada prowls the Atlantic with bloodthirsty ferocity. Promoted to chief naval commander in 1943, Dönitz, the epitome of the stoic Prussian warrior, is one of the few in the Nazi hierarchy who never loses the respect or admiration of Hitler -- Hitler even changes his will to designate Dönitz, rather than Göring, as the head of state after his suicide. Dönitz, who begins his Navy career before the outbreak of World War I and despises the leadership of Germany at its end, is pleased to see Adolf Hitler take control of the German state. Given the job of creating German superiority under water, Dönitz quickly sets to work. He constantly requests that Hitler and his high officers order the building of more U-boats for his fleet, but doesn't get his wish. Dönitz is treated as a hero and his crewmen are the favorite of the German people, especially after his fleet sink a British ship, The Royal Oak. He fosters an even greater sense of pride among his men by creating propaganda films about the German Navy and honoring his men with medals. When the British board U-boat 110 and discover ENIGMA, which proves to be the key to the Wehrmacht secret code, the British are able to understand everything being communicated to the German fleets. Dönitz, unaware of what is happening, refused to give up the fight for superiority in the sea. His admiration and dedication to the Fuhrer eclipse any sense of humanity: He orders his men to destroy ships carrying Jewish refugees and forbids them to rescue anyone whose ship had been hit. Becoming more ruthless and anti-Semitic as time passes, eventually Dönitz is named Hitler's successor in the Fuhrer's will. After Hitler's suicide, Dönitz makes one last ambitious and lunatic attempt to fight for his state. However, when he discovers that his efforts are futile, he orders his generals to slowly surrender in the West so that he can transport German refugees back West from the East in order to save them from Soviet captivity. At the same time, he executes young soldiers who returned home without orders to do so after hearing that Germany is to surrender. At the end of the program, the narrator relates the fate of Dönitz after the war ended. During the program, the narrator also makes brief comments about Operation Drumbeat, and an officer of the watch comments on a chestful of watches Dönitz offered his men. The program includes commentary by the following individuals: Karl Bohm-Tettelbach, a staff officer; Lother-Gunther Buchheim, a war correspondent; Otto Kretschmer, a U-boat commander; Ursual Hessler, Dönitz's daughter; Horst von Schroeter, a U-boat commander; Hans-Rudolf Rosing, the head of U-boats West; Ludovic Kennedy, an officer in the Royal Navy; Adolf Clasen, an officer of the watch; Reinhard Hardegen, a U-boat commander; Klaus Hessler, Dönitz's grandson; Sir Harry Hinsley, a British chief code-breaker; Hans Lautenbach, a doctor; Ernest Reimann, a survivor of the Scharnhorst; and Otto Kranzbuhler, who represented Dönitz at the Nuremberg trials. Also included in this program is footage of the following: German U-boats; Karl Dönitz at the Nuremberg Trial on May 8th, 1946; Berlin at the turn of the century; the 1933 film "Rosy Dawn"; the Bismarck boat; the Olympic Games in Berlin; propaganda against Jews; Germany's preparations for war; Hitler visiting Dönitz's men, Gunther Prien reporting the sinking of The Royal Oak in October 1939; Winston Churchill; the inside of German submarines; London in flames; the Britain war room; British Naval officers being pulled from fiery waters; Dönitz awarding his men with medals; piles of glasses and watches taken lawlessly by the Third Reich; the 1985 film "The Boat" ("Das Boat"); Grand Admiral Dönitz leaving his post in France on January 300, 1943; concentration camp prisoners building submarines; Dönitz representing Hitler on Memorial Day 1944 and giving an anti-Semitic speech; the Allied Forces entering France; Dönitz testing smaller implements of war on the home front; German ruins at the end of the war; the arrest of Hitler's administrators; Dönitz meeting the press after being imprisoned for ten years; and the Memorial Wall to the U-boat officers who perished. In addition, a speech by Churchill in which he states Britain will "never surrender" is heard and stills of U-boat men celebrating success with Dönitz are shown.
(This program is in German with English narration and subtitles.)
(This program was originally telecast on the ZDF German Television Network as "Der Nachfolger: Karl Dönitz" on February 25, 1997.)
Details
- NETWORK: History Channel
- DATE: October 23, 1997 Thursday 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:53:36
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:50252
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Anti-Semitism; Germany - History - 1933-1945; Nazism; World War II
- SERIES RUN: History Channel - TV, 1997
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Andrew McDonald … Producer, Writer, Subtitles by
- Guido Knopp … Producer, Created by
- Ursula Nellessen … Producer, Director, Writer, Researcher
- Thorsten Jess … Producer, Director, Writer
- Rosamund Ziegert … Writer, Subtitles by
- Peter Templeton … Writer, Subtitles by
- Klaus Doldinger … Music by
- David Richie … Narrator
- Geraint Evans … Narrator
- Karl Bohm-Tettelbach … Guest
- Lother-Gunther Buchheim … Guest
- Adolf Clasen … Guest
- Reinhard Hardegen … Guest
- Klaus Hessler … Guest
- Ursula Hessler … Guest
- Harry Hinsley … Guest
- Hans Lautenbach … Guest
- Ludovic Kennedy … Guest
- Otto Kranzbuhler … Guest
- Otto Kretschmer … Guest
- Ernest Reimann … Guest
- Hans-Rudolf Rosing … Guest
- Horst von Schroeter … Guest
- Adolf Hitler
- Dšnitz, Karl (See also: Donitz; Doenitz)
- Winston Churchill
- Gunther Prien