Funeral of Admiral Donitz, near Hamburg, Germany

Feb. 28 Former Admiral of the Fleet Karl Donitz laid to rest in Aumihle near Hamburg, West Germany.: About 5000 people paid the last honours to the former Admiral of the Fleet Karl Donitz, when laid to rest on January 6th, 1981 in the churchyard of Aumihle near Hamburg. Numerous highly-decorated officers (in civilian clothes) of the second world war were funeral guests - under them also the former combat pilot Colonel Rudel. Delegations of former submariners of West Germany, of Austria and representatives of soldier-associations of Great Britain, France and Italy laid down garlands. Although attendance in uniform was forbidden for members of the West German Defence Forces, some unknown people wearing uniform were seen in the crowd. Karl Donitz, supreme commander of the German navy, at the end of the second-world-war in the succession to Adolf Hitler as President of the Reich, died on December 24th, 1980 at the age of 89 years. At the war crimes trial in Nuremberg Karl Donitz was sentenced to an imprisonment of ten years. and since his release from military prison in Spandau in 1956 he lived in Aumuhle near Hamburg

Restrictions Only for United Kingdom

5000 Attendance Churchyard Delegations Donitz Forbidden Honours Laid Lived Numerous Paid Representative Rudel Saluting Second-world-war Sentenced Spandau Submariners Succession World-war

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