The Schlestein Reich

== Formation (April 1945) ==
Once it became apparent that Hitler intended to stay and die in the besieged city of Berlin, effective overall command of German armed forces was exercised through the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (German High Command), which had relocated to Rheinsburg. Anticipating that German-held territory would be split, separate military and civilian commands had provisionally been established on 15 April; under Field Marshal Albert Kesselring at Pullach for forces in the south and west, and under Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz at Plön for forces in the north and east; but then Hitler had stalled on transferring executive military authority to them.
On 27 April Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl, of the Army High Command, met at Rheinsburg with Karl Dönitz and Heinrich Himmler to discuss the war situation now that the fall of Berlin could not be averted. Himmler took the chair as the acknowledged deputy Führer; and, since the disgrace and dismissal of Hermann Göring, Hitler's expected successor. As they were leaving Rheinsberg on 28 April, Himmler asked Dönitz to confirm that he would be willing to serve in a successor government that Himmler might form. That day however, the British and Americans published Himmler's secret proposals for a separate peace in the West (which they had rejected). On 29 April Dönitz received a telegram from Martin Bormann announcing Himmler's dismissal from all posts, and ordering his arrest for treason. Dönitz went to Himmler's headquarters in Lübeck on 30 April to confront him with the accusations, but Himmler denied them as fabricated propaganda. When a further telegram from Bormann that day confirmed both the dismissal and Dönitz's appointment as Hitler's successor, Himmler's position became untenable, and Dönitz summoned him to Plön that night to tell him so.
With Himmler and Göring standing accused of treasonable negotiation with the enemy, Hitler in his political testament had named Grand Admiral Dönitz his successor as Reich President and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and designated Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels head of government as Reich Chancellor. Goebbels committed suicide in the Berlin Führerbunker on 1 May. The same day Dönitz accepted the offices of Supreme Commander and Head of State in separate broadcast addresses to the German armed forces, and German people. Residual ministers of the Hitler cabinet, who had fled from the fall of Berlin to join Dönitz at the Wehrmacht barracks near Plön in Holstein, resigned the next day. Suspecting that Bormann might also have escaped from Berlin and be intending to seize power, Dönitz met with Hitler's former Finance Minister Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk and asked him to constitute a new Reich government.
Von Krosigk's cabinet first met in Eutin, to which he and his ministerial staff had been evacuated, on 2 May. Later on 2 May, and in view of the rapidly advancing British Second Army forces which were approaching Lübeck, Dönitz met with von Krosigk, Paul Wegener, Himmler and Keitel to discuss the urgent necessity of a further relocation. Himmler argued for a move to Prague, then the last major central European capital city in German hands, and closer to advancing American forces with whom he hoped to negotiate personally, but Dönitz refused to sanction any move outside the borders of Germany. Moreover, the political situation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was highly unstable. Dönitz decided instead to proceed to the Mürwik naval academy in Flensburg near the Danish border. The cabinet met in the Sportschool of the naval academy; while administrative offices and accommodation for the various ministries were established on the liner Patria, moored in Flensburg harbour. The German High Command, which had moved from Rheinsburg to Neustadt in Holstein two days before, then also relocated to Flensburg, while the SS leadership had been gathering at Flensburg since 28 April.
== Post-war Government & Early Flensburg Government (May 1945-May 1950) ==
=== The Unstable Period (April 1945-May 1945) ===
Retaining some members from the previous Hitler cabinet and Goebbels cabinet, Karl Dönitz's government consisted of the following people:
Portfolio 	Minister	Minister 	Took office 	Left office 	Party
Reichspräsident 	   	Karl Dönitz 	30 April 1945 	24 December 1980 (died of heart attack)	NSDAP
"Leading Minister" 	   	Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk	2 May 1945 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister for Foreign Affairs 	   	Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk	2 May 1945 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister of the Interior 	   	Wilhelm Stuckart 	6 May 1945 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister of Justice 	   	Otto Georg Thierack 	24 August 1942 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister of Finance 	   	Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk	1 June 1932 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister of Industry and Production 	   	Albert Speer 	2 May 1945 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister for Food and Agriculture 	   	Herbert Backe 	2 May 1942 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister for Labour 	   	Franz Seldte 	2 May 1945 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister of War 	   	Karl Dönitz 	30 April 1945 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister of Transport 	   	Julius Heinrich Dorpmüller 	2 February 1937	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister for Postal Affairs 	   	Julius Heinrich Dorpmüller 	2 May 1945 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister for Armaments and War Production	   	Karl Saur 	30 April 1945 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Dönitz avoided including prominent Nazi leaders in his cabinet other than Speer, but included several serving officers in the SS and others who had been closely involved in formulating and prosecuting the genocidal policies of the former regime. Herbert Backe had been the author of the Hunger Plan of 1941, a deliberate strategy for mass elimination by starvation of Soviet prisoners of war and 'surplus' Soviet urban populations. Speer's deputy in the Economics Ministry was Otto Ohlendorf, who had personally directed the murder of hundreds of thousands of Jews and Communists in occupied Soviet territory. Wilhelm Stuckart had been a participant at the Wannsee Conference of January 1942, when the administrative responsibilities for the "Final Solution to the Jewish Problem" had been agreed. Otto Ohlendorf had transferred across directly from directing Himmler's office as Reichsführer-SS; and overall, of 350 staff working in the offices of the Flensburg government, 230 had been members of the SS or other security services. Dönitz's cabinet picks were clearly circumscribed by who was available. Otherwise, and in spite of his subsequent claim that his government was 'unpolitical', the most consistent characteristic of those chosen was a virulent opposition to Bolshevism, and a determination to ensure that the revolutionary events in Germany attending the Armistice of 1918 would not be repeated in 1945. As Dönitz did not then intend any surrender to the Soviets or Poles and continued to identify "Jews and profiteers” as enemies of the German people, he had little compunction over including in his cabinet men with blood on their hands, so long as that blood was Russian, Eastern European or Jewish. 
For the first few days the post of Minister of the Interior was kept vacant. This had been the office of Heinrich Himmler, but Himmler had been condemned as a traitor, dismissed from all functions and ordered to be arrested in Hitler's Last Testament. Dönitz did not want Himmler's name associated with his new government, but nor could he afford to alienate the SS who remained armed and powerful. He tacitly set Hitler's instructions aside and continued to see Himmler on a daily basis without according him any formal appointment. It was only on 6 May 1945, while final negotiations were in prospect for a capitulation to U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower in the west, that Dönitz dismissed Himmler from all his posts, and appointed Stuckart in his place.
Dönitz's initial priority was to open communication with the commanders of German armies, and to establish with them their acknowledgement of his new authority as sole Supreme Commander of all German armed forces. He also sought their agreement with his overall policy of negotiating successive partial surrenders with the Western Allies, while maintaining the war against Soviet forces in the east. Key to this was sidelining Heinrich Himmler, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Alfred Rosenberg and other former Nazi grandees who had fled to Flensburg, but whose continued participation in government would preclude any negotiation with the western Allies. Dönitz's intentions in this were, if possible, to split the Allies, and to offer German military units as components of a common anti-Bolshevik front. Failing that, he sought to save as many German soldiers as possible from Soviet captivity by ordering units in the east to retreat westwards and surrender to the British, Canadians or Americans, and by redoubling Operation Hannibal, the maritime evacuation of units trapped on the Baltic coast. At Dönitz's urging, Field Marshal Keitel and General Jodl attempted to direct what was left of the Wehrmacht towards these goals. On 2 May, Dönitz obtained pledges of allegiance from the commanders of German armies in Norway, Courland, East Prussia and Bohemia; these pledges were made to him personally as Supreme Commander, and not as Head of State in a forthcoming government.
Otherwise, however, Dönitz's policies chiefly demonstrated continuity with the previous regime: the Nazi party was neither banned nor dissolved; Dönitz kept a bust of Hitler in his office; and the uniforms, insignia and protocol of Nazi Germany were maintained, initially including even the 'Heil Hitler' greeting. Following a plea from Speer, Dönitz on 2 May rescinded the infamous 'Nero Decree' ordering scorched earth destruction of German infrastructure and industrial plants; but it was not until 6 May that counterpart destruction orders were rescinded for those territories remaining under German occupation, such as Norway. Moreover, neither summary courts for civil punishment, nor military discipline by summary courts martial were abolished, with military executions for insulting the memory of Hitler being confirmed even after the final capitulation on 8 May.
While the presence of SS leaders and their staffs in Flensburg had provided Dönitz with a source of personnel to support his government, otherwise they presented problems. In particular, the SS leadership had access to armed forces that were not under Dönitz's control, and remained firmly loyal to Himmler, whom Dönitz had surmised was personally unacceptable now to both the Western Allies and to the Wehrmacht. Dönitz handled the issue by stringing Himmler along for as long as he could with vague prospects of a possible function in the government. Once serious negotiations were underway for surrender to Eisenhower, Himmler and the SS apparatus had to be got out of the way. On 5 May 1945 Dönitz informed Himmler of his forthcoming dismissal, promising false papers and identities for him and his leading lieutenants if they removed themselves promptly. Himmler called his fellow SS leaders together for a last time that day, and advised them to 'dive down within the Wehrmacht'. By the next day they had fled.
This came too late for the concentration camp prisoners within the area who were now within Dönitz's nominal authority, while under the actual control of the SS. These had numbered around 10,000 when Dönitz assumed the presidency; mainly former inmates of the Neuengamme camp outside Hamburg, which had been shut down in preparation for the surrender of the city to the British. Between 16 and 28 April, the prisoners had been moved eastwards and concealed by the SS in a flotilla of unseaworthy ships anchored in the Bay of Lübeck, where they then remained without food or medical attention. At the time, this action had been opposed by Rear Admiral Konrad Englehardt on Dönitz's staff, but when the Flensburg government came into being, Dönitz made no attempt to free the prisoners, and his government avoided any subsequent acknowledgement that they had known they were there. On 3 May 1945, the prison flotilla was sunk by the Royal Air Force in the mistaken belief that the ships were being prepared to evacuate leading SS personnel. Over 7,000 prisoners drowned, mainly on the former liner Cap Arcona.
=== Surrender To The Allies (May 1945) ===
On 2 May, while still at Plön, Dönitz was surprised to learn that German forces in Italy had surrendered unconditionally to the Western Allies. The capitulation had been negotiated without Hitler's knowledge or consent, and signed at Caserta on 29 April, but it did not come into effect for three days. While Hitler had been still alive, Dönitz had followed absolutely his commands to fight on to the last on all fronts. However, he now realized that the Wehrmacht's position in the West was untenable. He believed that surrendering German forces only to the Western Allies could present opportunities to split the British and Americans from the Soviets. Thereon he assumed direction of further German surrender initiatives, exploring opportunities for partial surrender in the West. In the East, however, he continued to order German armies to fight on. On 2 May, he tried unsuccessfully to countermand the decisions of the German commander in Berlin to surrender their forces to the Soviets; and on 3 May, issued orders to the besieged defenders of Courland and Breslau to maintain their resistance.
On 3 May Dönitz sent Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, his successor as naval commander in chief, to the headquarters of British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery at Lüneburg, with an offer to surrender the German forces in northwest Germany, together with the remaining elements of Army Group Vistula. Montgomery informed Admiral von Friedeburg that he could not accept the surrender of forces fighting on the Eastern Front, and that consequently Army Group Vistula would have to surrender to the Soviets, although British forces would accept the surrender of any German soldiers fleeing westwards. He proposed instead, following discussions between Eisenhower and the British government, that he would accept the surrender of all German military forces in Northwestern Germany, Schleswig-Holstein, the Netherlands and Denmark, including naval forces and warships in those areas. Von Friedeburg asked for 48 hours to consider this; Montgomery allowed him 24. The proposed inclusion of Denmark, and the German warships operating there, initially alarmed Dönitz, who wished at all costs to maintain Operation Hannibal, evacuating German troops across the Baltic to Danish ports; but on consideration, he reckoned he might secretly evade the obligation to surrender these ships if they were at sea on the date the surrender came into effect. Furthermore, as it was unlikely that Montgomery would promptly be able to deploy British forces to the Danish islands under German occupation, especially Bornholm in the central Baltic, there was every possibility that the evacuation proceeding there could continue in total disregard of the agreed surrender terms. Consequently, authorized by Dönitz, von Friedeburg returned on 4 May and signed an instrument of surrender for all German troops and ships in the Netherlands, Denmark and Northwestern Germany. This was accepted by Montgomery on behalf of Eisenhower. This 4 May surrender would become effective at 8:00 am on 5 May; so Dönitz ordered all ships involved in Operation Hannibal to undertake a covert final evacuation voyage, while also unilaterally ordering all U-boat actions to cease. One crew in the evacuation fleet refused to set sail; so Dönitz ordered the ringleaders to be arrested for mutiny, tried by summary court martial, and shot.
Also, on 5 May 1945, all German forces in Bavaria and South West Germany signed an act of surrender to the Americans at Haar, outside Munich, coming into effect on 6 May. Montgomery, always seeking to boost his own public standing at the expense of other Allied commanders, had arranged extensive media coverage of the 4 May signing, but Dönitz and von Krosigk realised that, although he had supplied von Friedeburg with a prepared German text of the surrender documents, Montgomery had failed to issue this to the press. They consequently broadcast their own, doctored, German version, which differed significantly from that signed, specifically in that warships in the Baltic were not included nor was the territory in Schleswig around Flensburg itself; and especially, the surrender was described as a 'truce', not a capitulation. As was Dönitz's intention, this broadcast exacerbated Stalin's suspicions of the partial capitulations, especially as the greater parts of the 3rd Panzer Army and 21st Army had indeed been able to surrender to the British and Americans, rather than the Soviets. Realising this, Eisenhower determined that no further partial capitulations would be negotiated.
The capitulations at Luneberg and Haar could do nothing, however, for the bulk of the German forces in Army Group Centre, fighting the Soviets in Bohemia and Saxony. On 4 May Dönitz, together with Karl Frank the Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, conceived of a device whereby Army Group Centre might be able to surrender to General George Patton's American forces, who had been entering the Sudetenland areas of former Czechoslovakia from the west, and approaching Pilsen. Dönitz proposed that Frank should dissolve the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and resign in favour of a puppet Czech government, who would then declare Prague an open city and invite the Americans in. General Patton's virulent anti-communist views were well known to the German leadership, who reckoned that with Patton in Prague it would become much easier for Army Group Centre to negotiate surrender terms with him while maintaining their resistance to the Soviets, if possible dragging American and Soviet armies into direct confrontation. Frank had hopes that "we can engineer a disagreement between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union even more serious than that of Poland". The ploy was proposed as being put into effect on 5 May, but was overtaken by the outbreak of the Prague uprising on that date; and over the succeeding three days, far from surrendering Prague as an open city, SS forces launched a savage response to the insurgents, with brutal reprisals against Czech civilians and widespread destruction in central Prague. Orders to fire-bomb the whole of the Old Town were only averted due to lack of fuel for Luftwaffe bombing units. Alerted to the German machinations through intercepted Ultra signals, Eisenhower ordered Patton to stand still in Pilsen in spite of ever more desperate calls for help from the insurgents. Prague was finally relieved by General Konev's forces on 9 May 1945.
Following the success of the two partial surrenders of 4 and 5 May, Dönitz instructed von Friedeburg to go to the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) to negotiate with General Eisenhower terms for a general surrender of all remaining German armies to the Western Allies. Since von Friedeburg's meeting with Montgomery, Eisenhower's opposition to accepting a German surrender that excluded the Soviet Union had been made clear to the German High Command, but Dönitz hoped to change his mind.
On the next day, 5 May, von Friedeburg arrived at General Eisenhower's headquarters at Reims, France, but learned that Eisenhower was resolute that only a total surrender on all fronts to all the Allies could be discussed. Jodl arrived a day later, ostensibly to sign such a general surrender. Dönitz had instructed him to draw out the negotiations for as long as possible so that German troops and refugees could move west to surrender to the Western Powers. Eisenhower made it clear that the Allies demanded immediate unconditional surrender on all fronts. When it became obvious that the Germans were stalling, Eisenhower threatened to close the western front to all surrendering Germans from the east. Had this happened, German soldiers attempting to cross the line to surrender would be fired on and all subsequent surrenders would have to be to the Soviets. When Dönitz learned this, he radioed Jodl full powers to sign the unconditional German Instrument of Surrender at 1.30 am on the morning of 7 May. Just over an hour later, Jodl signed the documents. The surrender documents included the phrase, "The German High Command will at once issue orders to all German military, naval and air authorities and to all forces under German control to cease active operations at 2301 hours Central European time on 8 May and to remain in the positions occupied at that time." The Western Allies had a unified command structure, and formed a single expeditionary force, the "Allied Expeditionary Force". U.S. Army General Walter Bedell Smith (Eisenhower's chief of staff at SHAEF) signed on behalf of the Western Allies, and General Ivan Susloparov (the Soviet liaison officer at SHAEF) signed on behalf of the Soviets. French Major General François Sevez signed as the official witness.
Although Eisenhower had sought to keep General Aleksei Antonov of the Soviet High Command fully informed of the progress of the surrender negotiations, no confirmation had been received from the Soviets that the text of the Act of Military Surrender was acceptable to them, or that Susloparov was empowered to sign it. Accordingly, Eisenhower extracted from Jodl an additional signed undertaking that the Chief of the German High Command, and the Commanders in Chief of all three German armed services would attend in person and sign a "formal ratification" of the Act of Military Surrender, at a place and date to be specified. Some six hours after the signing, a response came from Antonov that terms of surrender were unacceptable, and that Susloparov could not sign it. Eisenhower promptly agreed, and undertook to attend together with the rest of the SHAEF for the definitive signing in Berlin two days later. Antonov's response also noted that von Friedeburg had been referring matters back to Dönitz over the radio; and that Dönitz, in direct breach of the signed surrender terms, had still not issued orders for German forces in the east to remain in their positions but was instead instructing them to continue their resistance and flee westwards. Antonov stated that, while the internal discussions of the German military in no way obligated the Allied Powers, Jodl's signature could not be accepted as valid if he was doing so as Dönitz's representative since Dönitz himself was clearly acting in bad faith. He proposed that the definitive act of surrender should make it clear that the Commanders in Chief of each of the German armed services were, in signing it, surrendering their forces on the authority of the German High Command - and not as delegated by Dönitz or the purported Flensburg government.
A second, amended, instrument of surrender was accordingly signed at Karlshorst, Berlin on 8 May shortly before midnight. Marshal Zhukov signed for the Soviet High Command, and the British Marshal of the Royal Air Force A.W. Tedder signed on behalf of the Western Allies (Tedder acted as Eisenhower's representative at the Berlin ceremony, and signed "on behalf of the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force", in his capacity as Deputy Supreme Commander). French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny and U.S. Army Air Forces General Carl Spaatz signed as the official witnesses. The Allies had demanded that representatives of the German Army, Navy and Air Force, and the High Command of the Armed Forces, sign the ratification of unconditional surrender, and that they should present full powers authorizing them to do so on behalf of the German High Command. Complying with that demand Dönitz issued a telegraphed communication from his "Supreme Commander Headquarters" (Der Oberste Befehlshaber Hauptquartier) granting the necessary full powers, and accordingly the second Act of Military Surrender was signed by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel as Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces and as acting Commander in Chief of the Army; by Admiral von Friedeburg as the Commander in Chief of the Kriegsmarine (navy), by General Hans-Jürgen Stumpff as Deputy Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe (air force) as Field Marshal Robert Ritter von Greim, the Air Force Commander, had been injured. At the time specified, World War II in Europe ended. On 9 May, Dönitz issued orders to the German Armed Forces regarding the military surrender.
The text of the definitive surrender document signed in Berlin differed from that previously signed at Reims, chiefly in that, to the second article, was added the words "..and to disarm completely, handing over their weapons and equipment to the local allied commanders or officers designated by the Representatives of the Allied Supreme Command"; which had the effect of requiring German troops facing Soviet forces to hand over their weapons, disband and give themselves up as prisoners. Otherwise neither the Reims nor Berlin surrender instruments provided explicitly for the surrender of the German State, because the draft surrender document prepared by the European Advisory Commission (EAC) was not used. Instead, a simplified, military-only version had been produced by the SHAEF, based largely on the wording of the partial surrender instrument of German forces in Italy that had been signed at Caserta. This definition of the surrender as an act of military capitulation side-stepped any Allied recognition of the German Government, or of Dönitz as Head of State. The question of the civil effects of the unconditional surrender was only settled later, when the Allies decided to maintain the Flensburg Government (23 May) and issued the Berlin declaration, proclaiming the direct assumption of the supreme governmental authority in Germany, excluding Schleswig-Holstein, by the Allied Powers (5 June). The text of the Berlin Declaration was widely based on the EAC's draft instrument of surrender of Germany. The said draft was reworked into a unilateral declaration with an extended explanatory preamble, that spelled out the Allied position that as a result of its complete defeat Nazi Germany had been left without a government, a vacuum that the direct assumption of supreme authority by the Flensburg government would replace.
== The Schlestein Reich (June 1945-February 1981) ==
=== Summary Of The Reich ===
The Reich (Officially still "Deutsches Reich" although De-facto called the Schlestein Reich colloquially) was not a member of the EU or Nato and the Reichspräsident (the only non-electable position, made to replace the "Fuhrer", as the term was now considered outdated and morally unacceptable by Donitz) from 1945 - 1980 was Karl Doenitz and 1980 - 1981 Ulrich de Maizière. Throughout it's first decade of existence the Schlestein Reich would see a few small uprisings and new ideologies form. In December of 1980 following Reichspräsident Donitz's death there was an attempted Coup against the government caused by a desire to reunify with West Germany. It was put down quickly, however the recently made Reichspräsident promised he would hold a reunification referendum by January of the next year. When the referendum did happen 65% said they would want to Unify with West Germany, 30% wanted to stay independent and 5% wanted to unify with East Germany. The government of Schlestein under Karl Donitz was much more tame then Nazi Germany's and at their worst Doenitz's Government was just as bad as Putin's Russia or Lukashenko's Belarus , with Jews and other former undesirables being granted citizenship (although still living in deplorable conditions & not being allowed in government) due to pressure from NATO and the Soviet Union.
=== First Year & First Government (1945-1946) ===
The Schlestein Reich established a "elections for positions, but Reichspräsident above all" system by which any position but Reichspräsident was electable. The first five years of the Schlestein Reich the government was under an "emergency stall", meaning the first Schlestein elections wouldn't be until the date that was meant to be the second elections. The Schlestein Reich's goverment consisted of some members from the previous Hitler cabinet and Goebbels cabinet, listed here:
Portfolio 	Minister	Minister 	Took office 	Left office 	Party
Reichspräsident 	   	Karl Dönitz 	30 April 1945 	24 December 1980 (died of heart attack)	NSDAP
"Leading Minister" 	   	Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk	2 May 1945 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister for Foreign Affairs 	   	Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk	2 May 1945 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister of the Interior 	   	Wilhelm Stuckart 	6 May 1945 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister of Justice 	   	Otto Georg Thierack 	24 August 1942 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister of Finance 	   	Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk	1 June 1932 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister of Industry and Production 	   	Albert Speer 	2 May 1945 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister for Food and Agriculture 	   	Herbert Backe 	2 May 1942 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister for Labour 	   	Franz Seldte 	2 May 1945 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister of War 	   	Karl Dönitz 	30 April 1945 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister of Transport 	   	Julius Heinrich Dorpmüller 	2 February 1937	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister for Postal Affairs 	   	Julius Heinrich Dorpmüller 	2 May 1945 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
Minister for Armaments and War Production	   	Karl Saur 	30 April 1945 	23 May 1950 	NSDAP
The Schlestein Reich was allowed a small border military force, numbering a mere 120,000 total, officially formed December 30th, 1945; The "Bundeswehr Reichsland", with the "Schlestein Wermacht" made a civilian milita (numbering a meager 10,000) under Bundeswehr command. These armed border forces were only allowed light infantry weapons and Jeeps for transport. Any idea of reforming the disbanded Schutzstaffel was banned by Donitz, who saw the paramilitary organization as Nazism's "greatest failure and most atrocious idea for an armed force".
=== 1946-1947 (The Rise Of Valkism & Falangism) ===
Donitz was much more open to small political changes then Hitler was, encouraging ideas that he thought could better Schlestein. He therefore decided a parliament with various (right wing only, mind you) views was necessary to better Schlestein society and forward the German people's superiority. One day well looking for the Schlestein National Archives, Donitz would find a once popular book by German Nationalist Adam Dressler. Donitz would find many interesting ideas in this book, and decided that when he opened elections for government positions a Valkish party would be allowed to join the new Schlestein Bundestag for 1950 position elections. All Donitz had to do now was find a leader for the party, and of course there was only one option; he had to find the exiled Adam Dressler.
==== Allowed Political Ideologies: ====
==== Himmler System ====
The Himmler System is an ideology that was created by Heinrich Himmler and practiced by his SS colleagues that demands Schlestein reinstate the SS's order, and further advocates worship of the SS and it's one true leader, the one true German god, Heinrich Himmler. The Himmler System in Schlestein is represented by the Schlestein Schutzstaffel Party. Their Himmler System ideology is based on the belief that mainstream National Socialism did not go far enough towards establishing Aryan supremacy and that is why Nazi Germany fell. The Himmler System calls for extreme spartanism, which in theory would make the German people stronger through hardship. It is believed that Himmler believed in an even more extreme form, and wished to cleanse the world with nuclear fire so that only the Aryan race would survive and repopulate the earth. The SS Party refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the Falangist Party's existence as they are disgusted by a "Untermensch" being allowed to run a political party in "an Aryan nation". 
Under this system, the fat and the disabled along with any and all other Untermensch will be forced to be slaves. The Untermensch will be used as slave labor, the only class with no pay and 24 hour work days with no breaks, well the majority lower middle class people will be forced to do work for 16-18 hours per day with only a couple of short breaks, well upper middle class people will work between 8-10 hours per day with a few moderately long breaks, the wealthy Aryan master race will not work, but will focus on running the nation politically, militarily, and increasing the "Pure Aryan" population. Himmler and Heydrich believed that the Greater Germanic Reich would flourish under this system. The Himmler System's advocates emphasis of the existence of genetic racial inequality between the Aryan race and others, particularly Jews, whom the SS Party view as a disgusting, dirty race that has infiltrated multiple societies and is responsible for exploitation and repression of the Aryan race, and must be destroyed by and and all means necessary. The SS Party categorizes Slavs, Blacks and any other race or disabled group that is not explicitly excluded in the Himmler System as Untermensch (sub-human), who will be used as slave labor, with no pay and 24 hour work days with no breaks, who will live in ghettos and be consistently diseased, poor, and dying, with no services, even the most basics like running water, provided to them. British, French, Native Americans, Han Chinese, Japanese, Native American and British White Dominion peoples are viewed as second-tier "honorary" Aryans, who would be allowed to live their lives comfortably with essentials taken care of (equivalent to a lower middle class, think people with a VW Beetle to get to work) in a Himmler System state but never be allowed to run for political positions or serve in the military. 
Aryans who are not deemed "Genetically Perfect", but have no debilitating disabilities, will make up the equivalent of an upper middle class and live with some more expensive luxuries like low-tier Mercedes cars for example, but will also not be allowed to run for any political positions, however will be allowed to serve in the regular military (but not in the SS unless under extremely exceptional circumstances) if they can pass the rigorous and unmerciful physical testing.
"Genetically Perfect" blonde haired, blue eyed Aryans are the only race that can live wealthy, extravagant and political lives under this system. The Aryan master race will not work, but will focus on running the nation politically, militarily, and increasing the "Pure Aryan" population. Mothers will receive benefits for having more children, and these people will have everything given to them on a silver plate, for they are the masters of the world according to the views of the Himmler System.
The Schlestein Schutzstaffel Party that represents and advocates this system is considered a radical splinter group of the original NSDAP, and is in a loose block (political alliance) of convenience with the National Socialist Party Schlestein (NSDAP Schlestein). This party does not get along with any of Schlestein's other political parties (It is noteworthy that the Schlestein Schutzstaffel Party shows some indifference towards Valkism as a whole, although majorly disapproving and condemning it of it's more liberal racial views) in any way and views them as disgusting liberal ideologies with no place in a German nation.
The ideology's warship of Himmler is mainly because as he grew in power, being one of the most close to Hitler in his inner circle, he was granted the New Order Führerbefehle, which originally gave Himmler the power of using the states funds to further his researches on human experiments and genetical enhancement, that showed to be very useful especially when it came to the Hitler Youth section of the Reich. With time, especially towards the end of the Second World War, the New Order grew in size and power until it became almost a different government because of its different ideology and the worship of Himmler, the Schutzstaffel, and belief in the Wunderwaffen. However, at war's end, Himmler had to flee and was marked a traitor by Hitler, who is viewed by the Schlestein Schutzstaffel Party as a dismal failure of a Fuhrer who brought upon the downfall of the Third Reich and the Nazi ideology with his incompetence. The Schlestein Schutzstaffel Party, inline with the Himmler System, promises to continue Himmler's experiments and work on creating the ultimate Super-Soldat. Belief in the Wunderwaffen (nuclear bomb) is also at the heart of the Himmler System.
==== Neo-Nazism ====
Neo-Nazism consists of post-World War II militant, social or political movements seeking to revive and implement the ideology of Nazism. Neo-Nazis seek to employ their ideology to promote hatred and attack minorities, or in some cases to create a fascist state. It is a global phenomenon, with organized representation in many countries and international networks. It borrows elements from Nazi doctrine, including ultranationalism, racism, xenophobia, ableism, homophobia, anti-Romanyism, antisemitism, anti-communism and initiating the Fourth Reich. Holocaust denial is a common feature, as is the incorporation of Nazi symbols and admiration of Adolf Hitler.
Neo-Nazis in Schlestein, led by Karl Ritter, splintered from the regular NSDAP right after the founding of the Schlestein Reich, due to differing views involving the wish to mimic all of the old government's policies, although without directly and actively killing millions of minority people, instead just not giving them any resources to live off of and killing them that way. The Neo-Nazi party's worship of Hitler insists that he would've completely succeeded in conquering Europe had it not been for his military generals. They view the acceptance of immigration of minorities to live in Schlestein by the NSDAP as disgusting and refuse to recognize Donitz's central government having authority over Schlestein.
Neo-Nazis view the Third Reich's failure as a product of overconfidence and ignorance by the SS and Wehrmacht generals, stating that Hitler saw this overconfidence and tried to fix the military's mistakes, but his orders were constantly undermined and he was misinformed by his generals and later forced to watch the Reich he'd worked so hard to build be killed due to his military's incompetence. Neo-nazis support minimal Schlestein rearmament, calling for a small Bundeswehr border force to protect Schlestein's border but no active military. There would be no upper generals to corrupt and misinform the Fuhrer in the Neo-nazi system.
Neo-Nazis still use the term Fuhrer despite the international community and Donitz's disapproval of the term, they also deny the holocaust was ever committed and blame Soviet propaganda and craving for eastern territories for the accusations and evidence. Neo-Nazis dislike the SS Party Schlestein for the misinforming Hitler reason, but also dislike the regular NSDAP Schlestein due to Donitz's less extreme racial policies.
In some European and Latin American countries, laws prohibit the expression of pro-Nazi, racist, anti-semitic, or homophobic views. Many Nazi-related symbols are banned in European countries (especially West and East Germany) in an effort to curtail neo-Nazism.
==== Nazism ====
Nazism is headed by the NSDAP Schlestein, currently the largest Schlestein political party.
Nazism emphasizes German nationalism, including both irredentism and expansionism. Nazism held racial theories based upon a belief in the existence of an Aryan master race that was superior to all other races. The Nazis emphasize the existence of racial conflict between the Aryan race and others—particularly Jews, whom the Nazis viewed as a mixed race that had infiltrated multiple societies and was responsible for exploitation and repression of the Aryan race. The Nazis also categorise Slavs as Untermensch (sub-human). 
In its racial categorization, Nazism views what it calls the Aryan race as the master race of the world—a race that was superior to all other races. It views Aryans as being in racial conflict with a mixed race people, the Jews, whom the Nazis identify as a dangerous enemy of the Aryans. It also views a number of other peoples as dangerous to the well-being of the Aryan race. In order to preserve the perceived racial purity of the Aryan race, a set of race laws was introduced in 1935 which came to be known as the Nuremberg Laws. At first these laws only prevented sexual relations and marriages between Germans and Jews, but they were later extended to the "Gypsies, Negroes, and their bastard offspring", who were described by the Nazis as people of "alien blood". Such relations between Aryans (cf. Aryan certificate) and non-Aryans were now punishable under the race laws as Rassenschande or "race defilement". After the war began, the race defilement law was extended to include all foreigners (non-Germans). At the bottom of the racial scale of non-Aryans were Jews, Romanis, Slavs and blacks. To maintain the "purity and strength" of the Aryan race, the Nazis eventually sought to exterminate Jews, Romani, Slavs and the physically and mentally disabled. Other groups deemed "degenerate" and "asocial" who were not targeted for extermination, but were subjected to exclusionary treatment by the Nazi state, included homosexuals, blacks, Jehovah's Witnesses and political opponents. One of Hitler's ambitions at the start of the war was to exterminate, expel or enslave most or all Slavs from Central and Eastern Europe in order to acquire living space for German settlers.
Nazism later, in the postwar era, under Donitz, has relaxed it's racial prosecution, and allows Jews and other undesirables to live in the state, although in ghettos under much worse conditions, with only minimal essentials required for life ensured, then the newly created "Aryan/honorary Aryan" class, who all live an upper middle class style life, with some luxuries and typically 6-8 hour workdays. The ideology is now open to some Democratic tendencies, and is much more inline with the Valkist view of Fascism then it's own former views on the ideology, which were more inline with the Himmler System.
==== Valkism ====
Valkism is an authoritarian ultra-nationalist political ideology, to be headed by the Schlestein Valkist Party that proposes a system where the political power is centralised under a strong leader that, with the state in a totalitarian system, controls and guides the nation. Nonetheless, Valkists fundamentally defend socially progressive ideals and the leader grants liberties to the people. Valkism is the product of the German philosopher Adam Dressler, who imagined the idea of a Valkist state of Germany. Dressler's ideology was quite popular even into the first couple of years of Nazi rule, but shortly after Nazi rule began, on June 30, 1934 somebody (it is still unknown who exactly) informed Dressler that he was a target in the Night Of The Long Knives purge due to differing ideological beliefs with Hitler and his government and so had to flee his home country of Germany, hiding in Austria where he would meet Hermann Ehrhardt, who is a close friend of Dressler's despite some differing views on how Schlestein should be govern.
Although sharing many characteristics with National Socialism, Valkism differs by borrowing some syncretic policies from the radical left of the political spectrum, and has often been quoted as National Socialism of the People. Some examples of borrowed policy include progressive ideals like women's equality and often non-racist beliefs, that would almost certainly not be experienced in a Himmler System or National Socialist state. However it does not sit to the left of the political spectrum and is violently anti-communist. One essential part of Valkism is the nation's cultural supremacy, whereby Valkists believe in their people's culture being superior to all others rather than the National Socialist belief in racial superiority by genetics.
==== Falangism ====
Falangism was another ideology that would be forming a party, and was also a more tolerant right-wing ideology, which would be headed by the Falangist Party Of Schlestein (Falangistische Partei Schlestein). Taking ideas from the Spanish Falangist system, this party would be headed by Bolesław Piasecki, who was exiled to Schlestein from Poland by the Soviets after the Berlin Conference formally established the nation.
Some of the Falangists in Spain had supported racialism and racialist policies, viewing races as both real and existing with differing strengths, weaknesses and accompanying cultures inextricably obtained with them. However, unlike other racialists such as the National Socialists, Falangism is unconcerned about racial purity and does not denounce other races for being inferior, claiming "that every race has a particular cultural significance" and claiming that the intermixing of the Spanish race and other races has produced a "Hispanic supercaste" that is "ethically improved, morally robust, spiritually vigorous". It was less concerned about biological Spanish racial regeneration than it was in advocating the necessity of Spanish Catholic spiritual regeneration. Some have nonetheless promoted eugenics designed to eliminate physical and psychological damage caused by pathogenic agents. Falangism did and still does support natality policies to stimulate increased fertility rate among ideal physically and morally fit citizens.
In Poland the RNR-Falanga was formed in the spring of 1935 following a split by members of the National Radical Camp held in Detention Camp Bereza Kartuska. Adopting the name of Oboz Narodowo-Radykalny (National Radical Camp), it soon became known as Falanga after the title of its journal (the rival group would also soon be named after its own journal, thus becoming known as National Radical Camp-ABC).
Largely based in university campuses, the Falanga followed a policy of anti-Semitism and although it had few members, from its power bases in schools it attempted to launch attacks on Jewish students and businesses. Left-wing activists were also as part of this violent activity. The group soon came under scrutiny from the Polish government. Indeed, unlike similar movements in other European countries who regularly held public rallies, the ONR-Falanga held only two such gatherings, in 1934 and 1937, both of which were quickly broken up by the police.
For a time the movement became associated with the Camp of National Unity (Polish: Obóz Zjednoczenia Narodowego, OZN) as Colonel Adam Koc, impressed by the organisation of the ONR-Falanga, placed Piasecki in charge of the OZN youth group. Koc called for the creation of a one-party state and hoped to use the youth movement to ensure this although his pronouncements upset many pro-government moderates. As such, Koc was removed from the leadership of the OZN in 1938 and replaced by General Stanisław Skwarczyński who quickly severed any ties to the RNR-Falanga.
As a Polish nationalist movement the RNR-Falanga opposed the German occupation of Poland after the 1939 invasion, and thus was quickly subsumed by the Konfederacja Narodu, a group within the Polish resistance that retained certain far right views.
Following the war the NKVD found Piasecki and exiled him to Schlestein, where, shortly after getting Schlestein citizenship, he renounced his Polish citizenship (despite the fact he'd have never been allowed back in Poland under the new communist regime regardless) out of disgust for the lack of resistance towards the new Communist government by the Polish people. It was then decided Piasecki would lead a culturally and ethnically broad Falangist movement in his new country of Schlestein, modelling it's system after his old Falanga party in Poland but leaving out the ethnic hatred towards Jews that the old model had incorporated.
==== German Party ====
The German Party (Deutsche Partei, DP) was a national-conservative political party in West Germany, with a popular branch in the Schlestein Reich during the post-war years that would eventually become the only remaining part of the party, with the original West German party dying off in the late 1950's.
The party opposes a planned economy, land reform and co-determination and seeks to represent those who had served in the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS, although without any avocation of Nazi or Himmler System ideas, at least in the Schlestein branch. The German Party Schlestein of the 1940s and 1950s has been characterized as a "party of indigenous Lower Schlestein middle class", that features "states' rights, monarchist and partially also Valkish positions" (the Valkish Party and the German Party are in a loose coalition directly opposing the SS Party and NSDAP Schlestein's coalition). The German Party leader in Schlestein is Hermann Ehrhardt, a devote Monarchist who advocates Schlestein return to it's traditional German roots by reinstating the von Preußen royal house, with German Prince Louis Ferdinand taking the Schlestein Crown. Ehrhardt is well known for evading the Nazis throughout World War 2, having become close friends with Valkist Party leader Adam Dressler well both were hiding in Austria, despite differing views on how Schlestein should be governed.
==== Christian democracy ====
The Christian Democratic Union Party Of Schlestein (CDUPS) is the most centrist (or in this case, least right-wing) party to be allowed by Donitz in the Schlestein Reich. It was only allowed to appeal to the large Christian population of Schlestein and is still largely frowned upon by the leading National Socialist Party. In Schlestein the party is headed by Andreas Hermes who fled from Berlin to Schlestein with his family on January 11th, 1945 to avoid a trial that he believed would've undoubtedly ended in his execution. He would hide in the region until he was pardoned by Donitz in April 1945 after Hitler's suicide and the Soviet capture of Berlin.
Initially, many Catholic political movements in the 19th century had opposed capitalism and socialism equally as both were seen as based on materialism and social conflict. They instead preferred the ideal of self-sufficient peasants and the guild-organized craftsmen that many Catholic 
encyclicals advocated. However, by 1914 many of these movements had later reconciled themselves to capitalism as the prevailing economic system while at the same time helping to organize Catholic workers and peasants within that system, as socialism came to be seen as the greater threat.
The market is seen not so much an end in itself but as a means of generating wealth in order to achieve broader social goals and to maintain societal cohesion. This particular model of capitalism, which is sometimes called Rhine–Alpine capitalism or social capitalism, is contrasted to Anglo-American capitalism or enterprise capitalism. Whereas the former stresses partnership and cooperation, the latter is based on the unrestricted workings of market economics and as a consequence there is a willingness on the part of Christian democratic parties to practice Keynesian and welfarist policies.
Christian democrats are usually socially conservative and generally have a relatively skeptical stance towards abortion and same-sex marriage, although some Christian democratic parties have accepted the limited legalization of both. Christian Democrats have also supported the prohibition of drugs. Christian democratic parties are often likely to assert the Christian heritage of their country, and to affirm explicitly Christian ethics, rather than adopting a more liberal or secular stance; at the same time, Christian Democratic parties enshrine confessional liberty. Christian Democracy fosters an "ecumenical unity achieved on the religious level against the atheism of the government in the Communist countries.
Christian Democrats' views include: Traditional moral values (on marriage, abortion, prohibition of drugs etc.), opposition to secularization, opposition to state atheism, a view of the evolutionary (as opposed to revolutionary) development of society, an emphasis on law and order, and a rejection of communism. Christian democrats are open to change (for example, in the structure of society) and not necessarily supportive of the social status quo, and have an emphasis on human rights and individual initiative. A rejection of secularism, and an emphasis on the fact that the individual is part of a community and has duties towards it. An emphasis on the community, social justice and solidarity, support for a welfare state, labor unions and support for regulation of market forces. Most European Christian Democrats reject the concept of class struggle (although less so in some Latin American countries, which have been influenced by liberation theology), opposing both excessive State institutions and unregulated capitalism in favor of robust non-governmental, non-profit, intermediary institutions to deliver social services and social insurance.
==== Politically Banned Ideologies (Not Allowed To Enter Into The Schlestein Bundestag elections) ====
* Socialism or left-wing ideologies of any form.
* Democratic parties or parties that advocate to further increase Democracy, consisting of any views, exclusively excluding the aforementioned CDUPS which is forbidden from advocating for such.
* Any party run by an ethnic minority citizen that is not nationalist or that is advocating for equal minorities' rights is strictly forbidden from being formed in any way (punishment is jail time that varies based on how extreme the parties' views are but not punishable by deportation or death, excluding parties that advocate exclusively for Jews).
==== Legally Banned Ideologies (Punishable By Deportation Or Death) ====
* Communist views of any and all sorts are punishable by deportation or death depending on severity.
* Actively or forcefully anti Nationalist views, parties or organizations are punishable by death.
* Exclusively Jewish minority advocacy is punishable by deportation.
* Anti military views, parties or organizations are punishable by deportation.
* Anti Donitz parties or establishments are punishable by death, anti Donitz views (if proven) are punishable by deportation.
=== Elections of 1950 ===
Federal elections were held in Schlestein on the 23rd May, 1950. The Nazi Party saw its vote share fall by four percent, while there were high increases for the Valkist Party, making them the second most popular party and the national conservative German Party (DP) third, mostly due to Erwin Rommel's membership after the war. The results were a great disappointment for the Nazis, who lost 34 seats and failed to form a coalition government in the Schlestein Reichstag. Karl Ritter of the Neo-nazi Party was elected Leading Minister of the nation, effectively overseeing the nation's internal affairs and governance and only answering to Donitz.
Portfolio 	Minister	Minister 	Took office 	Left office 	Party
Reichspräsident 	   	Karl Dönitz 	30 April 1945 	24 December 1980 (died of heart attack)	NSDAP
Leading Minister 	   	Karl Ritter 	23 May 1950 	23 May 1955 	NNSP
Minister for Foreign Affairs 	   	Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk	23 May 1950 	23 May 1955 	NSDAP
Minister of the Interior 	   	Hermann Ehrhardt 	23 May 1950 	23 May 1955 	DP
Minister of Justice 	   	Otto Georg Thierack 	24 August 1950	23 May 1955 	SSP
Minister of Finance 	   	Otto Strasser 	1 June 1950 	23 May 1955 	VKP
Minister of Industry and Production 	   	Albert Speer 	23 May 1950 	23 May 1955 	NSDAP
Minister for Food and Agriculture 	   	Kurt Daleuge 	2 June 1950 	23 May 1955 	SSP
Minister for Labour 	   	Adam Dressler 	23 May 1950 	23 May 1955 	VKP
Minister of War 	   	Erwin Rommel 	30 May 1950 	23 May 1955 	DP
Minister of Transport 	   	Andreas Hermes 	2 June 1950 	23 May 1955 	CDUPS
Minister of Communications 	   	Bolesław Piasecki 	23 May 1950 	23 May 1955 	FGPS
Minister for Armaments and War Production	   	Hermann Göring 	30 Mayl 1950 	23 May 1955 	NSDAP
Category:The Schlestein Reich