The Nazi regime had tried a 'scorched earth' policy, and also destroyed some docks and harbors. Seyß-Inquart agreed with Armaments Minister Albert Speer that destroying everything to keep valuable materials from Allied forces or a new government after the war was wrong. Seyß-Inquart also helped in the so-called 'hunger winter' of 1945 to distribute food, and allowed Allied airplanes to drop Swedish white bread for the hungry people of occupied northern Netherlands. He remained Reichskommissar until 8 May 1945, when, after a meeting with Karl Dönitz to confirm his blocking of the scorched-earth orders, he was captured in Hamburg.