A Post War Hand Written Personal Letter from AdmiralKarl Donitz to Former U-Boat Commander Heinrich Schroeder.

A hand written and signed personal letter dated 6th April 1964. A short message on official “Donitz Grossadmiral” letterhead. Together with its mailing envelope.

Dr. Heinrich Andreas Schroeteler (10 December 1915 – 19 January 2000) was a German sculptor. During World War II, he commanded U-boat and received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and during the post-war years, he pursued a career in art history and archeology.

Schroeteler was credited with damaging one merchant ship, the British steam merchant Riverton, of 7,345 gross register tons (GRT), and sinking one warship, the Norwegian minesweeper HNoMS NYMS-382, of 335 GRT. The sinking took place on 7 May 1945, three days after the U-boats had been ordered to surrender.citation needed Schroeteler had been transferred to the U-boat service in September 1941 and went on patrol from 23 April 1942 to 15 July 1942 on U-96 as a Kommandantenschüler (commander-in-training) under the command of Hans-Jürgen Hellriegel.2 He spent three years as a prisoner of war in England before returning to Germany in 1948.

Code: 797