Johann Ludwig "Lutz" Graf Schwerin von Krosigk
(22 August 1887 ? 4 March 1977) was a
German
politician.
Johann Ludwig von Krosigk was born in
Rathmannsdorf
, in the
Kingdom of Saxony
. His father was from a noble family in
Anhalt
, his mother was a daughter of one of the Counts ("Graf") von Schwerin. He studied law and politics in
Halle
, in
Lausanne
and, as a
Rhodes Scholar
, at the
University of Oxford
.
He became a Lieutenant in the German Army during
World War I
, and he won the
Iron Cross
. In 1918, Krosigk married Baroness Ehrengard von Plettenberg. They had four sons and five daughters.
Schwerin von Krosigkut was a conservative, but not a member of any political party when was appointed Minister of Finance by
Franz von Papen
in 1932. President
Paul von Hindenburg
asked him to stay in office under
Kurt von Schleicher
.
Hitler
kept him as finance minister throughout the period of
Nazi Party
rule, even though several members of his family took part in attempts to kill Hitler.
On 1 May 1945, Schwerin von Krosigk was asked to be the
Chancellor
(
Reichskanzler
) of the
Flensburg
cabinet by the new
President
(
Reichsprasident
)
Karl Donitz
.
On 7 May 1945, Donitz allowed the German Army to surrender at
Rheims
before
General Eisenhower
.
Winston Churchill
recognised the Flensburg Government
de facto
because he said the surrender was allowed by "Grand Admiral Donitz the designated Head of State". The government was dissolved when its members were captured by British forces on 23 May 1945, at
Flensburg
.
Schwerin von Krosigk was tried at the Ministries Trial at
Nuremberg
along with other leading members of the
Nazi
Government
. Schwerin von Krosigk was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment but was released during an amnesty in 1951.
In later years Schwerin von Krosigk wrote several books about economics policy and two versions of his memoirs.
He was one of the first to talk about an "
Iron Curtain
" coming down across Europe, in a broadcast to the German people on 2 May 1945, a phrase which he had picked up from an article by
Joseph Goebbels
,
[1]
and later used by
Winston Churchill
in a speech that made the phrase famous.
Schwerin von Krosigk died in 1977 in the town of
Essen
, Germany, aged 89.
- 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
- Personliche Erinnerungen
, memoirs, 3 volumes, 1974
- Staatsbankrott
(Studie uber die deutsche Finanzpolitik von 1920 bis 1945), 1975
- Memoiren
(short version of
Personliche Erinnerungen
), 1977
- ↑
(Joseph Goebbels, 'Das Jahr 2000,' Das Reich, 25 February 1945, pp. 1-2)
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All ministers were
NSDAP
members except where indicated ("ind" = nominally independent). Most of them later became NSDAP members, except Von Papen, Hugenberg and Von Eltz-Rubenach.
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