Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk

Born as Johann Ludwig von Krosigk on 22 August 1887 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. 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. Krosigk studied law and political science at Halle and Lausanne and then, as a Rhodes Scholar, at Oriel College, Oxford. During World War I, Krosigk served in the German Army, attaining the rank of Lieutenant, and was awarded the Iron Cross, 1st class. 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. 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. 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. == Nazi years ==

Pre-World War II 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. Several members of his family took part in assassination attempts against Adolf Hitler, but not Krosigk himself. He was rarely seen in public, and Hitler did not hold regular cabinet meetings. 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. Krosigk held his position under both Schleicher and Hitler as a representative of the conservative movement in Germany. 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. These included measures targeting Germany's Jewish community. 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. 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. He argued that Germany should instead "await her hour" and initiate war once it had completed building up its military and economy. World War II , Krosigk, Goebbels, Ribbentrop and Neurath salute at the Reichstag, 4 May 1941 From 1939, Krosigk's ministry was increasingly focused on persecuting Jews and stealing their belongings as well as illegally laundering money. In a broadcast to the German people on 2 May 1945, he became one of the first commentators to refer to an "Iron Curtain" across Europe, a phrase he had picked up from an article by Joseph Goebbels and which was later made famous by Winston Churchill. 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 7 May 1945, Dönitz authorised the signature of the German Instrument of Surrender to the Allies, which took place in Reims before General Dwight D. Eisenhower; Dönitz would later authorise the Wehrmacht to sign another instrument of surrender in Berlin, in a ceremony presided over by the Soviets. On 23 May 1945, the Flensburg Government was dissolved by order of the Supreme Allied Commander, General Eisenhower, and its members arrested. == Post-World War II ==

Krosigk was put on trial at Nuremberg, along with other surviving leading members of the Nazi government. At the conclusion of the Ministries Trial in 1949 he was found guilty of laundering property stolen from Nazi victims and financing the concentration camps, and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. His sentence was reviewed by the "Peck Panel". He was released during an amnesty in 1951. In later years, Schwerin von Krosigk wrote several books on economic policy and two versions of his memoirs. Schwerin von Krosigk died on 4 March 1977 in Essen, West Germany, at the age of 89. == Private life ==

He was married to his cousin, Baroness Ehrengard von Plettenberg-Heeren (1895–1979), daughter of Count Friedrich von Plettenberg-Heeren (1863–1924) and his wife, Countess Ehrengard von Krosigk (1873–1943). They had nine children. Among them, his daughter, Felicitas-Anita, Countess Schwerin von Krosigk (b. 1941), is the mother of Alternative for Germany Member of the German Bundestag Beatrix von Storch. His other daughter, Countess Ehrengard Bertha Minetta Schwerin von Krosigk (1922–2012), married Gottfried von Bismarck (1921–2001), younger brother of Klaus von Bismarck and Philipp von Bismarck, brother in law of Gottfried von Einem and uncle of Caspar von Einem, Minister of the Interior of Austria. == 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. == Notes ==