Archive/File: imt/nca/nca-02/nca-02-16-responsibility-14-02
Last-Modified: 1997/05/13

   Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Volume Two, Chapter XIV
                                                  [Page 816]

B. INDOCTRINATION OF NAVAL PERSONNEL WITH NAZI POLITICAL
IDEOLOGY.

Doenitz's attitude to the Nazi Party and its creed is shown
by his public utterances. In a speech -- subsequently
circulated by Doenitz as a Top Secret document for senior
officers only and by the hand of officers only at a meeting
of commanders of the Navy in Weimar on 17 December 1943,
Doenitz stated (D-443):

     "*** I am a firm adherent of the idea of ideological
     education. For what is it in the main? Doing his duty
     is a matter of course for the soldier. But the whole
     importance, the whole weight of duty done, are only
     present when the heart and spiritual conviction have a
     voice in the matter. The result of duty done is then
     quite different to what it would be if I only carried
     out my task literally, obediently, and faithfully. It
     is therefore necessary for the soldier to support the
     execution of his duty with all his mental, all his
     spiritual energy, and for this his conviction, his
     ideology are indispensable. It is therefore necessary
     for us to train the soldier uniformly, comprehensively,
     that he may be adjusted ideologically to our Germany.
     Every dualism, every dissension in this connection, or
     every divergence, or unpreparedness, imply a weakness
     in all circumstances. He in whom this grows and thrives
     in unison is superior to the other. Then indeed the
     whole importance, the whole weight of his conviction
     
                                                  [Page 817]
                                                            
     comes into play. It is also nonsense to say that the
     soldier or the officer must have no politics. The
     soldier embodies the state in which he lives; he is the
     representative, the articulate exponent of this state.
     He must therefore stand with his whole weight behind
     this state.

     "We must travel this road from our deepest conviction.
     The Russian travels along it. We can only maintain
     ourselves in this war if we take part in it with holy
     zeal, with all our fanaticism.
     
     "Not I alone can do this, but it can only be done with
     the aid of the man who holds the production of Europe
     in his hand, with Minister Speer. My ambition is to
     have as many warships for the Navy as possible so as to
     be able to fight and to strike. It does not matter to
     me who builds them." (D-443)

In a speech on the same subject by Doenitz as Commander-in-
Chief of the Navy to the Commanders in Chief on 15 February
1944, he had this to say:

     "From the very start the whole of the officer corps
     must be so indoctrinated that it feels itself co-
     responsible for the National Socialist State in its
     entirety. The officer is the exponent of the state; the
     idle chatter that the officer is nonpolitical is sheer
     nonsense." (D-640)

Doenitz's position was made unmistakably clear in a speech
which he made to the German Navy and the German people on
Heroes' Day,

     "German men and women!
     
     "*** What would have become of our country today, if
     the Fuehrer had not united us under National-Socialism
     ! Split into parties, beset with the spreading poison
     of Jewry and vulnerable to it, and lacking, as a
     defense, our present uncompromising world outlook, we
     would long since have succumbed to the burdens of this
     war and been subject to the merciless destruction of
     our adversaries. ***" (2878-PS)

A speech by Doenitz to the Navy on 21 July 1944 shows his
fanaticism:

     "Men of the Navy ! Holy wrath and unlimited anger fill
     our hearts because of the criminal attempt which was
     intended to have cost the life of our beloved Fuehrer.
     Providence wished it otherwise -- watched over and
     protected our Fuehrer, and did not abandon our German
     fatherland in the fight for its destiny." (2878-PS)

                                                  [Page 818]
                                                            
And then he goes on to deal with the fate which should be
meted out to the traitors.

The abolition of the German military salute and the adoption
of the Nazi salute in the German forces was due to Doenitz
along with Goering and Keitel (2878-PS).

When Adolf Hitler was reported dead, Doenitz spoke over the
German radio announcing the Fuehrer's death and his own
succession. The German announcer made this statement:

     "It has been reported from the Fuehrer's Headquarters
     that our Fuehrer Adolf Hitler has died this afternoon
     in his battle headquarters at the Reichschancellery
     fighting to the last breath for Germany against
     Bolshevism.
     
     "On the 30th April the Fuehrer nominated Grand Admiral
     Doenitz to be his successor. The Grand Admiral and
     Fuehrer's successor will speak to the German nation."
     (D-444)
     
Whereupon Doenitz spoke as follows:

     "German men and women, soldiers of the German Armed
     Forces. Our Fuehrer Adolf Hitler is dead. The German
     people bow in deepest sorrow and respect. Early he had
     recognized the terrible danger of Bolshevism and had
     dedicated his life to the fight against it. His fight
     having ended, he died a hero's death in the capital of
     the German Reich, after having led an unmistakably
     straight and steady life." (D-444)

Doenitz proceeded to issue an order of the day, to the same
effect (D-444).

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