Krosigk and Goebbels salute at the Reichstagįrom 1939, Krosigk's ministry was increasingly focused on persecuting Jews and stealing their belongings as well as illegally laundering money. He argued that Germany should instead "await her hour" and initiate war once it had completed building up its military and economy. In August 1938 Krosigk sent Hitler a memorandum which strongly argued against starting a war over the Sudeten crisis as the German economy was not yet ready, and claimed that "Communists, Jews and Czechs" were seeking to lure the country into a premature conflict. While Krosigk's ability to shape Germany's fiscal policies was constrained by the influence of both the President of the Reichsbank and Hermann Göring (in his role as Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan), he was able to implement policies. These included measures targeting Germany's Jewish community. While he later claimed to have remained in the role only to prevent "worse things" from happening, he welcomed the Nazi Party's rise to power and both agreed with and contributed to many of its policies. Krosigk held his position under both Schleicher and Hitler as a representative of the conservative movement in Germany. Following the final meeting of Hitler's cabinet in 1938 Krosigk did not make any public political statements and instead focused on running his ministry. He was rarely seen in public, and Hitler did not hold regular cabinet meetings. Several members of his family took part in assassination attempts against Adolf Hitler, but not Krosigk himself. In 1932 Franz von Papen appointed Krosigk as national Minister of Finance, and at the request of President Paul von Hindenburg he continued in that office under Kurt von Schleicher and throughout the period of Nazi rule. The first meeting of Hitler's cabinet in 1933, with Krosigk standing third from left. In 1931, he joined the department of reparations payments, formed to deal with the reparations Germany still owed the Allied Powers after the Great War. In 1922, he became an Oberregierungsrat (senior government official) and in 1929, a ministerial director and head of the budget department at the finance ministry. On 7 February 1918, during the war, he married a baroness, Ehrengard Freiin von Plettenberg (1895–1979), with whom he had four sons and five daughters. Krosigk studied law and political science at Halle and Lausanne and then, as a Rhodes Scholar, at Oriel College, Oxford.ĭuring World War I, Krosigk served in the German Army, attaining the rank of Lieutenant, and was awarded the Iron Cross, 1st class. (In 1925 he was adopted by Alfred Wilhelm Detlof Graf von Schwerin, and promoted himself to a count, taking the name Johann Ludwig Graf Schwerin von Krosigk). He died on 4 March 1977.īorn as Johann Ludwig von Krosigk into a family of traditional Lutheran Protestants in Rathmannsdorf in the Duchy of Anhalt of the German Empire, his father Erich Adolf Wilhelm was a member of an old noble but untitled family of Anhalt and his mother Luise Rosalie Friederike Julie Emma Ludmilla was born a countess of the Schwerin family. He later worked as an author and publicist. He also joined the Academy for German Law in 1937.Īt the 1949 Ministries Trial, he was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to 10 years in prison his sentence was commuted in 1951. By accepting the Golden Party Badge personally bestowed by Adolf Hitler, given for honour on 30 January 1937, he automatically became a member of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) with membership number 3,805,231. Schwerin von Krosigk also held the essentially nominal offices of Foreign Minister and Finance Minister in the provisional government that controlled only a small, progressively shrinking portion of Germany, due to the rapid advance of the Allied forces who finally dissolved it and arrested its members.īesides Adolf Hitler himself, Schwerin von Krosigk was one of the few members of the Third Reich's cabinet (along with Wilhelm Frick, Konstantin von Neurath and Franz Seldte) to serve continuously from Hitler's appointment as Chancellor until his death. During May 1945, after the suicides of Hitler and his designated successor Joseph Goebbels, he also served as "Leading Minister" of the short-lived Flensburg government of President Karl Dönitz. He and his ministry were involved in the persecution of German and European Jews, including by stealing their property, and laundering money. At the request of President Paul von Hindenburg, he continued in that office under Kurt von Schleicher and Adolf Hitler. Johann Ludwig " Lutz" Graf Schwerin von Krosigk (Born Johann Ludwig von Krosigk 22 August 1887 – 4 March 1977) was a German senior government official who served as the minister of finance of Germany from 1932 to 1945 and de facto chancellor of Germany during May 1945.Ī non-partisan conservative, he was appointed to the post of Minister of Finance by Franz von Papen in 1932.
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