Lutz Graf Schwerin Von Krosigk

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 as Minister of Finance of Germany from 1932 to 1945. A non-partisan moderate conservative, he was appointed to the post by Franz von Papen in 1932. At the request of President Paul von Hindenburg, he continued in that office under Kurt von Schleicher and Adolf Hitler. During May 1945, he also served in the historically unique position of Leading Minister of the German Reich, the equivalent of a Chancellorship, in the short-lived Flensburg government of President Karl Dönitz. Schwerin von Krosigk also held the essentially nominal offices of Foreign Minister and Finance Minister in the provisional government.

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, despite not being a Nazi Party member himself. However, the cabinet rarely met and had no meetings after 1938 and Schwerin von Krosigk made few public appearances before his appointment as Leading Minister in 1945; his function thus resembled that of an administrator of the finance ministry rather than that of a political figure.