Editing Karl Dönitz (section)

==Biography==
He began his career in the Imperial German Navy before [[World War I]]. In 1918, while he was in command of ''UB-68'', the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner. While in a prisoner of war camp, he formulated what he later called ''Rudeltaktik'' ("pack tactic", commonly called "wolfpack"). At the start of World War II, he was the senior submarine officer in the ''Kriegsmarine''. In January 1943, Dönitz achieved the rank of ''Großadmiral'' (grand admiral) and replaced Grand Admiral [[Erich Raeder]] as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy.

On April 30<sup>th</sup>, 1945; after the death of Adolf Hitler and in accordance with Hitler's last will and testament, Dönitz was named Hitler's successor as head of state, with the title of President of Germany and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, while [[Joseph Goebbels]] became Chancellor of Germany (however, he would commit suicide himself only one day after Hitler had.). On May 7<sup>th</sup>, 1945; he ordered [[Alfred Jodl]], Chief of Operations Staff of the OKW, to sign the German instruments of surrender in Reims, France. Dönitz remained as head of the Flensburg Government, as it became known, until it was dissolved by the Allied powers on May 23<sup>rd</sup>. At the Nuremberg trials, he was convicted of [[war crimes]] and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment; after his release, he lived quietly in a village near Hamburg until his death from a heart attack on December 24<sup>th</sup>, 1980.

Dönitz was the only head of state to be convicted by an international tribunal until the conviction of Liberia's [[Charles Taylor]] in April 2012.