GRAND ADMIRAL KARL DONITZ - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 06/17/1976 - HFSID 284121

GRAND ADMIRAL KARL DÖNITZ
Signed autograph letter (in German, 1976), congratulating a general on his 90th birthday
Autograph Letter signed: "Karl Donitz", 1 page, 8¼x11¾. Aumuhle (Holstein), 1976 June 17. On personal letterhead to General Albert Shalerson. In German, translated in full: "For your 90th Birthday on 7 August 1976, I send you my heartfelt congratulations. I wish you and yours all the best, especially the best possible health. I bow in awe of your fulfilled life. In gratitude and affection, your relatives, your colleagues and friends celebrate the day with you. My warmest wishes and greetings!" During WWII, German Admiral Karl Dönitz (1891-1980, born in Grünau-bei-Berlin, Germany) developed the idea of deploying submarines in wolf packs. In January 1943, Hitler named Dönitz to replace Erich Raeder as Commander in Chief of the German Navy.In that capacity, Dönitz gave permission for a radically improved U-boat to be built in 1944. Working closely with Albert Speer, the Minister of Armaments, Germany was producing 42 of these all-electric boats a month by 1945, but it was too late to make an impact on the outcome of the war. As the war was coming to a close, Hitler selected Dönitz to succeed him as Führer. After forming a new government, Führer Dönitz negotiated Germany's surrender on May 5, 1945. At the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, Dönitz was found guilty of war crimes and was sentenced to ten years in prison. He was 79 when he died on Christmas Eve in 1980. Horizontal and vertical fold creases. Fine condition.