Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk

Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk was a German senior government official who served as the minister of finance of Germany from 1932 to 1945 and de facto chancellor of Germany during May 1945. He was born in Rathmannsdorf, a village in the Duchy of Anhalt, to a noble family. He studied law and political science at the universities of Halle, Lausanne and Oxford. He served as a reserve officer in the German army during World War I and was awarded the Iron Cross. He married Ehrengard von Plettenberg in 1918 and they had nine children. He joined the Reich Finance Ministry in 1920 and rose to become the director of the budget department in 1929. He was appointed as the finance minister by Franz von Papen in 1932 and retained his position under Kurt von Schleicher and Adolf Hitler. He signed the Enabling Act of 1933 that gave Hitler dictatorial powers. He also accepted the Golden Party Badge from Hitler in 1937, which made him a member of the Nazi Party. He and his ministry were involved in the persecution of Jews, confiscating their property and laundering money. After Hitler's suicide, he was named as the leading minister and foreign minister by Karl Dönitz, who assumed the presidency of Germany. However, his authority was limited to a small area of northern Germany that was not occupied by the Allies. He was arrested by British troops on May 23, 1945 and later tried at the Ministries Trial for war crimes. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but his sentence was commuted in 1951. He was released in 1954 and lived in Essen until his death in 1977. He wrote several books and memoirs about his political career and the Nazi era.