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Nikolaus zu Dohna-Schlodien
File:Zudohna.jpg
Born (1879-04-05)5 April 1879
Died 21 August 1956(1956-08-21) (aged 77)
Place of birth Mallmitz, Province of Silesia, Imperial Germany
Place of death Baierbach, West Germany
Allegiance German Empire Imperial Germany
Service/branch War Ensign of Germany 1903-1918 Kaiserliche Marine
Years of service 1896-1919
Rank Fregattenkapitän
Commands held SMS Tsingtau
SMS Möwe
Battles/wars

Boxer Rebellion
World War I

Awards Pour le Mérite
Military Order of Max Joseph
Military Order of St. Henry
Military Merit Order (Württemberg)
Military Karl-Friedrich Merit Order

Nikolaus Burggraf und Graf zu Dohna-Schlodien (5 April 1879 – 21 August 1956) was a German naval officer and author.

Biography[]

Nikolaus zu Dohna-Schlodien was born in Mallmitz (today Małomice, Poland) to Alfred zu Dohna-Schlodien (1849–1907) and Margarethe née von der Hagen (1845–1932).[1] Dohna-Schlodien joined the German Imperial Navy in 1896, became a Second Lieutenant in 1899 and First Lieutenant in 1902.[1] Immediately after the Boxer Rebellion he served on SMS Tiger in East Asia in 1901/02 and became the Commander of the Kanonenboot SMS Tsingtau in 1910-12. In 1913 he became the Navigation officer of the SMS Posen and was promoted to a Korvettenkapitän.[2]

World War I[]

In 1915, after the outbreak of World War I, the banana freighter Pungo of the F. Laeisz line was reconstructed as a minelayer and armed merchantman, renamed SMS Möwe, and placed under Dohna’s command.[3] Through his success as commander of the Möwe, Dohna and his crew became popular war heroes like the crews of SMS Wolf (commanded by Karl August Nerger) and SMS Seeadler (commanded by Felix von Luckner). A motion picture was made in 1917 about Dohna's exploits,[4] and he was appointed naval adjutant to the German emperor, Wilhelm II.

Later life[]

After World War I Dohna-Schlodien commanded a Freikorps in the Silesian Uprisings and retired from the Navy in 1919. He worked as a merchant in Hamburg and moved to Baierbach in the 1930s, where he died in 1956.

He married Hilde von Laffert, the widow of one of his good friends and colleagues, Captain Hans von Laffert, commander of the SMS Leopard in the Action of 16 March 1917. Hilde had one daughter, Marion von Laffert, and Nikolaus and Hilde had two additional daughters together, Hildegarde and Margaret.

Dohna-Schlodien was well remembered and respected by British naval officers. He always made sure to rescue every last survivor of any ships that he had sunk. When the Allies had invaded the Bavarian area, the Dohna-Schlodien family were treated with respect. Special instructions had been given by Allied generals to not interfere with the family and to allow them to remain in their home unfettered during the invasion.[citation needed]

Decorations and awards[]

Nikolaus Graf Dohna-Schlodien was one of only two German officers of the First World War who received the highest military awards of the five main German states:

Publications[]

  • S. M. S. Möwe. Perthes, Gotha 1916
  • Der Möwe zweite Fahrt. Perthes, Gotha 1917
  • Der Möwe Fahrten und Abenteuer. Erzählt von ihrem Kommandanten. Perthes, Stuttgart 1927 (Republication of 1916 und 1917)

References[]

External links[]

Notes[]

Regarding personal names: Graf was a title, before 1919, but now is regarded as part of the surname. It is translated as Count. Before the August 1919 abolition of nobility as a separate estate, titles preceded the full name when given (Prinz Otto von Bismarck). After 1919, these titles, along with any nobiliary prefix (von, zu, etc.), could be used, but were regarded as part of the surname, and thus came after a first name (Otto Prinz von Bismarck). The feminine form is Gräfin.

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