Even Hitler Knew When the War Was Lost
Before taking his own life on April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler appointed Admiral Karl Dönitz, commander of Germany’s U-boat fleet, as his successor. Hitler knew that World War II was lost and betrayal among his leadership surrounded him. He turned to Dönitz, a man he regarded as disciplined, loyal, and untainted by the corruption of the Nazi inner circle, to defend what remained of the collapsing Reich. Instead, when Hitler died, Dönitz accepted reality: The Nazis were beaten.
The Allies were closing in from east and west, Berlin had fallen, the German army was crushed, and the people were starving. The only rational act left was to save lives, especially those of soldiers and civilians fleeing the Soviets’ advance. Dönitz formed a caretaker administration focused solely on survival. It lacked the venomous ideology and iron grip of the Nazi regime. Days later, Dönitz’s envoys signed Germany’s unconditional surrender. The Third Reich was officially dead.
Unlike his predecessor, Dönitz didn’t cling to delusions of victory or fantasies of a “Thousand-Year Reich.” His aim was pragmatic: Stop the killing, end the madness, and allow a defeated nation to survive. History, however, has a way of repeating itself. Eight decades later, another Jew-hating ideology faces collapse.
I’m writing these words the day after President Donald Trump signed a peace agreement in Egypt, with leaders from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, aimed at ending the war in Gaza. The 20-point plan requires Hamas to return all remaining hostages, alive and dead, and to relinquish its control over Gaza.
Hamas now faces realities its leaders refuse to admit. It is surrounded by Israeli forces; key leaders have been killed; regional backers like Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Iran are battered and constrained; and Arab nations have agreed to the deal that supports its demise.
But instead of standing down, Hamas is digging in, confusing stubbornness for strength. Rather than relinquishing power, it is consolidating it. Hamas seems determined to preserve its political and military grip on Gaza, perpetuating an ideology of hatred and martyrdom.
Dönitz recognized the futility of further bloodshed. He chose surrender over slaughter. By contrast, Hamas persists in a cult of death, unable to distinguish resistance from self-destruction.
Hitler’s death marked the end of the Third Reich and unraveled his poisonous worldview. As German citizens learned of the Holocaust’s atrocities, many were horrified and ashamed. By the 1960s, a new generation had rejected Nazism altogether, denouncing it as moral evil. The Allies reinforced that rejection by rebuilding Germany on principles of democracy, free speech, and human rights. Holocaust remembrance and repentance became part of Germany’s national identity.
Hamas, however, clings to its ideology with fanatical resolve. It continues murdering fellow Gazans it brands as “collaborators with Israel” and indoctrinating its children with hatred toward the nation and the Jewish people, twisting its defeat into a false narrative of victory.
Even Hitler knew he had lost the war. Dönitz knew enough to end it. Hamas, tragically, knows neither.
The peace deal offers Gaza an opportunity to begin again—to rebuild, to live, to hope. But as long as Hamas clings to violence, the cycle of destruction will persist. For the sake of Israelis seeking security and Palestinians dreaming of dignity, I pray that this peace plan brings a measure of stability to the region. While skeptical about human peace accords, I remain hopeful in Christ, whose Kingdom alone will bring lasting, eternal peace to Israel, its neighbors, and the world. As the prophet Isaiah wrote,
He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore (Isa. 2:4).
Until that day comes, we pray for the Prince of Peace Himself to come quickly and reign forever.
