Although VE day was on the 8th of May 1945 and the German troops had surrendered, Admiral Doenitz was still the President of the German Reich or at least what was left of it.

The government was known as the Flensburg Government sometimes also referred to as  the Cabinet of Schwerin von Krosigk after Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk who had been appointed Prime Minister by Doenitz