Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk

Johann Ludwig Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, born Johann Ludwig von Krosigk and known as Lutz von Krosigk (22 August 1887 – 4 March 1977) was a German jurist and senior government official, who served during May 1945 in the historically unique position of Leading Minister of the German Reich, the equivalent of a Chancellorship in the short-lived Flensburg government of Reich President Karl Dönitz. Schwerin von Krosigk was also Foreign Minister in the provisional government, an office which had next to no purpose given the state of Germany and its administration at the time. In addition, he remained at his post as Finance Minister of Germany, which he had assumed in 1932 (under Reich Chancellor Franz von Papen) and held throughout the span of the Third Reich. Besides Adolf Hitler himself, he and Wilhelm Frick were the only members of the Third Reich's cabinet to serve continuously from Hitler's appointment as Chancellor until his death.

Early life

He was born Johann Ludwig von Krosigk in Rathmannsdorf, Anhalt, Germany to a father from an old noble family of Anhalt and a mother who was a daughter and heiress of a Count (Graf) von Schwerin. He studied law and political science at Halle, at Lausanne and as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. During World War I, he served in the German Army, finally as a First Lieutenant, and was awarded the Iron Cross. In 1918, Krosigk married Baroness Ehrengard von Plettenberg (1895–1979), with whom he had four sons and five daughters. In 1922 he became an Oberregierungsrat (senior government official) and 1929, ministerial director and superior of the budget department at the German Reichs finance ministry. In 1931, he joined the department of reparations payments, formed to deal with the reparations Germany owed the Allied Powers after World War I.

During the Nazi years

Pre-World War II

Schwerin von Krosigk was appointed Minister of Finance by Franz von Papen in 1932, and continued in that office at the request of President Paul von Hindenburg under Kurt von Schleicher and throughout the period of Nazi rule. Several members of his family took part in assassination attempts against Adolf Hitler. Schwerin von Krosigk was rarely seen in public appearances and Hitler did not have regular Cabinet meetings.

World War II

On May 1, 1945, after Goebbels's suicide, President (Reichspräsident) Karl Dönitz asked Schwerin von Krosigk to become the Chancellor (Reichskanzler) of the Acting Government. He declined but did accept the position of "Leading Minister".

Rapidly advancing Allied forces limited the jurisdiction of the new German government to an area around Flensburg near the Danish border, where Dönitz's headquarters were located, along with Mürwik. Accordingly, this administration was referred to as the Flensburg government. Dönitz and Schwerin von Krosigk attempted to negotiate an armistice with the Western allies while continuing to resist the Soviet Army. On May 7, 1945, Dönitz authorized the signature of the German Instrument of Surrender to the Allies, which took place in Rheims before General Dwight D. Eisenhower; Dönitz would later authorize the German military to sign another instrument of surrender in Berlin, in a ceremony presided over by the Soviets. The speech by Winston Churchill announcing victory to the British people is evidence of a de facto recognition of the Flensburg Government's authority, for Churchill stated that the surrender was authorized by "Grand Admiral Dönitz, the designated Head of the German State". However, after the unconditional surrender, the Flensburg government was mostly treated as inconsequential by the western military command. On May 23, 1945, the Flensburg Government was dissolved by order of the Supreme Allied Commander and its members arrested as prisoners of war.

Schwerin von Krosigk was tried at Nuremberg along with other leading members of the German government during the time of Nazi government. Found guilty in the Ministries Trial in 1949, he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, but was released during an amnesty in 1951.

After World War II

In later years Schwerin von Krosigk wrote several books on economic policy, as well as two versions of his memoirs. He was one of the first to refer to an "Iron Curtain" coming down across Europe, in a broadcast to the German people on May 2, 1945, a phrase which he had picked up from an article by Joseph Goebbels,^[1] and which was later made famous by Winston Churchill.

Schwerin von Krosigk died in 1977 in the city of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany, at the age of 89.

Works

• Es geschah in Deutschland, 1951
• Die große Zeit des Feuers - Der Weg der deutschen Industrie, 3 volumes, 1959
• Alles auf Wagnis - der Kaufmann gestern, heute und morgen, 1963
• Persönliche Erinnerungen, memoirs, 3 volumes, 1974
• Staatsbankrott (Studie über die deutsche Finanzpolitik von 1920 bis 1945), 1975
• Memoiren (short version of Persönliche Erinnerungen), 1977

Footnotes

Terminology note

• Regarding personal names, Graf is a German noble title, translated as Count, but is now (since 1918, the end of the German monarchy) seen as part of the person's family name. The feminine form is "Gräfin".

External links

• Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Lutz_Schwerin_von_Krosigk Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk] at Wikimedia Commons
• Biography (Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin)