Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk
Chancellor of Germany
In office May 1 – May 23, 1945
Preceded by	Joseph Goebbels
Succeeded by	Allied military occupation 1945-1949 Konrad Adenauer (West Germany) Otto Grotewohl (East Germany) (as Chairman of the Council of State (GDR))

Born	August 22, 1887 March 4, 1977
Political party	None

Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, (August 22, 1887 – March 4, 1977), German politician, was born in Rathmannsdorf in the Kingdom of Saxony, and studied law and political science in Halle, in Lausanne and 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, with whom he had four sons and five daughters.

A non-partisan conservative, 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 Party 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, so he was more of an apolitical manager of his ministry.

On May 1, 1945, Schwerin von Krosigk was appointed Leading Minister of the Acting Government (in effect, Chancellor) by President Karl Dönitz. Dönitz and Schwerin von Krosigk attempted to negotiate an armistice with the Western allies while continuing to resist the Soviet Army, but the government was not recognised by the Allies and was dissolved when its members were captured by British forces on May 23, 1945, at Flensburg. Schwerin von Krosigk was held in captivity until he was released during an amnesty in 1951.

In later years Schwerin von Krosigk wrote several books on economic policy, as well as two versions of his memoirs. He was the first to refer to an "Iron Curtain" coming down across Europe, a phrase which he had picked up from an article by Dr. Joseph Goebbels ('Das Jahr 2000,' Das Reich, February 25, 1945, pp. 1-2) and was later used by Winston Churchill in a speech that made the phrase famous. He died in Essen, Germany, aged 89.

[edit] 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

[edit] External links

Biography (Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin)

Political offices
Preceded by: Hermann R. Dietrich	Minister of Finance 1932–1945	Succeeded by: Fritz Schäffer
Preceded by: Joseph Goebbels	Chancellor of Germany (Head of government) 1945	Succeeded by: Allied military occupation 1945-1949 Konrad Adenauer (West Germany) Otto Grotewohl (East Germany)
Preceded by: Arthur Seyß-Inquart	Minister of Foreign Affairs 1945	Succeeded by: Konrad Adenauer