364

KARL DONITZ`S GRAND ADMIRAL`S HEADQUARTERS FLAG

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:3,000.00 - 5,000.00 USD
KARL DONITZ`S GRAND ADMIRAL`S HEADQUARTERS FLAG
<b>364. KARL DONITZ'S GRAND ADMIRAL'S HEADQUARTERS FLAG. KARL DONITZ </b>(1891 - 1980)<b> </b>German admiral who headed the U-Boat arm of the German Navy, later succeeded Hitler as Fuehrer after Hitler's suicide. A most important Donitz relic, his personal standard which flew over Donitz's headquarters at Plon, Holstein in northern Germany, from where he assumed leadership of Hitler's crumbled empire and later ordered Gen. Alfred Jodl to surrender. The flag measures approx. 94" x 94" with a white field at center, a large gold armed forces eagle atop a gold swastika, with overlaying crossed batons on a Maltese cross. A halyard, looped at top, threads the flag's hoist. The flag also bears the stenciled notation "<i>Flag. Grossadmiral 2.4 x 2.4</i>". In excellent condition, bearing only the slightest wear. Accompanied by a photograph, 3" x 5" color, showing the flag and bearing on verso a note on the flag's provenance: "<i>This is a photograph of the actual flag of Gross Admiral Karl Doenitz who was Commander-in-Chief of all German Naval Forces at the end of World War II. It was found at his abandoned H.Q. in Plon in Holstein, N. Germany... </i>" and bearing the name of the flag's British finder. The flag then passed into the hands of an American collector who in 1973 wrote Donitz, sending him a copy of the photo of the flag. A copy of Donitz's response is included, in which he states (in German) that the flag was indeed his standard but was not his personal property as such. This is a most significant item, likely the last Nazi German flag to fly over its country's de facto seat of government.<b>$3,000-5,000</b>