Karl Dönitz Autographs
Karl Dönitz (German: ⓘ; 16 September 1891 – 24 December 1980) was a German grand admiral and convicted war criminal who, following Adolf Hitler's suicide, succeeded him as head of state of Nazi Germany during the Second World War in April 1945. He held the position until the dissolution of the Flensburg Government following Germany's unconditional surrender to the Allies weeks later. 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 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 Unterseeboote ). In January 1943 Dönitz achieved the rank of Großadmiral (grand admiral) and replaced Grand Admiral Erich Raeder as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. Dönitz 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. Dönitz 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.
Read more about Karl Dönitz on Wikipedia
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Traded items with a signature of Karl Dönitz
The most expensive item with a signature of Karl Dönitz (Admiral Karl Donitz autographed book 1978) was sold in July 2025 for $6,264.00 while the cheapest item (WWII Adm. E.T. WOOLDRIDGE Signed Authorization KARL DONITZ by H. Keith Thompson) found a new owner for $3.78 in January 2016. The month with the most items sold (7) was January 2016 with an average selling price of $4.89 for an autographed item of Karl Dönitz. Sold items reached their highest average selling price in July 2025 with $3,306.98 and the month that saw the lowest prices with $4.89 was January 2016. In average, an autographed item from Karl Dönitz is worth $170.00.
Most recently, these items with a signature of Karl Dönitz were sold on eBay - click here for more items.
