KARL DONITZ IS APPOINTED GROSSADMIRAL KARL DONITZ
(1891-1980) German admiral who headed the U-Boat arm of the German Navy, later succeeded Hitler as Fuehrer after Hitler's suicide. Most important partial D.S., 1p. 15" x 19 1/2". [n.p., n.d.. though almost certainly ca. Jan. 30, 1943], what is believed to be the bottom portion of a document presented to Donitz upon his promotion to Grossadmiral (Grand Admiral) of the Reichsmarine. This impressive document is signed by 46 members of the elite of Germany's government and navy, including KARL DONITZ at top, followed by Field Marshal JOHANNES BLASKOWITZ (1883-1948), SS Lt. Gen. and "Fifth Column" organizer ERNST WILHELM BOHLE (1903-1960), puppet jurist WALTER BUCH (1883-1949), Jodl's aide HERBERT BUECHS, intelligence chief Vice Admiral LEOPOLD BURKNER, Reich Health Leader and euthanasia advocate LEONARDO CONTI (1900-1945), Chief of Security Police, war criminal KURT DALUEGE (1897-1946), Generalmajor DETHLESSON[?], Nazi politician and general, Governor of Bavaria and Reichsleiter of the NSDAP FRANZ RITTER VON EPP (1868-1947), genocidal occupational Governor of Poland HANS FRANK (1900-1946), Minister of the Interior and author of the Nuremburg Laws WILHELM FRICK (1877-1946), Minister of Economics WALTHER FUNK (1890-1960), Luftwaffe head HERMANN GOERING (1893-1946), Governor of Hesse-Nassau PRINCE PHILIPP OF HESSE-KASSEL (1896-1980), Keitel aide ERNST JOHN VON FREYAND, Chief of Operations ALFRED JODL (1890-1946), army chief Field Marshal WILHELM KEITEL (1882-1946), Field marshal ALBERT KESSELRING, (possibly) NSKK Korpsfuhrer ERWIN KRAUSS, Wannsee participant and deputy head of the Reichs Chancellery FRIEDRICH WILHELM KRITZINGER (1890-1947), non-Nazi Minister of Finance LUTZ GRAF SCHWERIN VON KROSIGK (1887-1977), Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellory HANS LAMMERS (1879-1962), Labor Front leader and war criminal DR. ROBERT LEY (1890-1945), 18th Army Commander GEORG LINDEMANN (1884-1963), Korvettenkapitan NEUKATA[?], Reichsminister and Minister of the Presidential Chancellory OTTO MEISSNER (1880-1953), DR. ING. NAGEL[?], [unknown infantry general], Foreign Minister JOACHIM VON RIBBENTROP (1893-1946), Food and Agriculture Chief HANS JOACHIM RIECKE, ideologist and war criminal ALFRED ROSENBERG (1893-1946), U-boat captain and Knight's Cross holder OTTO SALMAN (1908-1970), Stahlhelm founder and labor minster FRANZ SELDTE (1882-1947), Governor of Holland and deputy governor of Poland ARTUR SEYSS-INQUART (1892-1946), rabidly anti-Semitic journalist and politician JULIUS STREICHER (1885-1946), Stuttgart Mayor KARL STROLIN, Wannsee Conference participant, lawyer and state secretary in the German Interior Ministry WILHELM STUCKART (1902-1953), [unknown, "President"], Nazi Party Treasurer FRANZ XAVER SCHWARZ (1875-1947); ambassador EDMUND VON THERMANN, Gauleiter and Hess staffer PAUL WEGNER, Senior Operations Staff Officer to Keitel WALTER WARLIMONT (1894-1976), [unknown "Kouteradmiral"], and an unknown "Staatssekretar". Six tiny bits of toned tape remnant at extreme top and bottom margins affect nothing, otherwise very good. Frankly, we believe it would be impossible to obtain as many important Third Reich signatures.