Only 15 days after the end of the Second World War did the time of the Reich government in Dönitz come to an end. Soldiers arrest him and the other members of the government in Flensburg on May 23, 1945.
The Second World War ended in Europe on May 8, 1945 with the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht. But the end of the Reich government under Admiral Karl Dönitz, which was still decreed in Hitler's will, came 15 days later. Disarmed marines march through British-occupied Flensburg two weeks after the end of the war. They sing "We're going against Engeland". Just one of the bizarre events of the last days of the Dönitz government, which ended on May 23, 1945, in retrospect. This morning, British soldiers surround the special area in Flensburg-Mürwik. Grand Admiral Dönitz and with him all around 420 members of the last government of the German Reich are arrested by British soldiers.
"Flensburg Fiasco" and "Strange Show"
On May 23, 1945, British and American war correspondents were flown in from Paris. They describe what they experience as a "Flensburg Fiasco" and "Strange Show". And the day began strangely:The British occupied the Flensburg-Mürwik site in what the Germans considered to be a completely exaggerated military operation. The day before, Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz and Generaloberst Alfred Jodl had been summoned to the barge "Patria" for the coming morning. Now the British told them that they would be taken out of the country as prisoners of war on the same day. Dönitz begins to haggle. He packed twelve suitcases. But the British remain firm:one suitcase has to be enough. 420 members of the last Reich government were arrested in Mürwik.
"Irrevocable Images" for the Allies
The Allies want to create "irrevocable images" on this day. There was no pictorial evidence of Hitler's end, now symbols are needed. The inner courtyard of the Flensburg police headquarters at Norderhofenden 1 is chosen as the setting for this. Dönitz and Jodl are taken there around noon. The British bring Reich Minister Albert Speer from Glücksburg. What the reporters don't get is that, despite protests, Dönitz, Jodl and Speer have to undergo a thorough body search. The two soldiers keep their insignia of rank, but the medals and the marshal's baton are confiscated.
In proper uniform, spear in a chic trench coat, the three are now led into the courtyard at Norderhofenden 1. The yard is small. The procedure is repeated several times, as war correspondent Wickmann later recalled. Dönitz, Jodl and Speer have to go in several times. They protest vigorously, but unsuccessfully. Dönitz is still negotiating with a British officer over a suitcase of underwear. After the "irrevocable pictures" have been taken, we head out to the Schäferhaus airfield. Dönitz, Jodl and Speer are flown out to Bad Mohndorf in Luxembourg. They are now prisoners of war.
Why everything only on May 23rd?
The American magazine "Time" reported a few days later:"The German Reich died on a sunny morning of May 23 near the Baltic Sea port of Flensburg". But why did Dönitz continue to "govern" 15 days after the end of the war? Historians see this as primarily pragmatic reasons:the British wanted to use the existing structures, for example to organize the end of the Wehrmacht that still existed. It could have been helpful to rely on the still astonishingly functional German staffs. But then it wasn't. But the Dönitz government did not function as the British had hoped - which is the main reason for the end on May 23
On May 11th, soldiers under Dönitz were executed for alleged mutiny - minutes were kept neatly and with German thoroughness, counted down to the last bullet and judgments filed - the last act of the Nazi dictatorship was written on May 23rd.