How a conservative finance minister became the architect of Nazi Germany's stolen wealth
In short: Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk served as Germany's finance minister from 1932 until the regime's collapse in 1945. A non-partisan conservative, he facilitated the systematic theft of Jewish property and the financing of concentration camps. Yet, he survived the war, prison, and decades of post-war life as an author.
Born in 1887, Johann Ludwig von Krosigk was a career bureaucrat who rose through the ranks of the German finance ministry. Appointed by Franz von Papen in 1932, he maintained his position under Kurt von Schleicher and Adolf Hitler. Although he later claimed he stayed in office to prevent worse outcomes, he actively supported Nazi policies, including the persecution of the Jewish community. By 1939, his ministry was deeply involved in the illegal laundering of money and the seizure of assets from Nazi victims.
As the Third Reich crumbled in May 1945, Krosigk briefly served as the Leading Minister of the Flensburg Government under President Karl Dönitz. During this period, he notably used the term "Iron Curtain" in a radio broadcast—a phrase he had adopted from Joseph Goebbels before it was popularized by Winston Churchill. His administration, confined to a small area near the Danish border, was dissolved by General Dwight D. Eisenhower on 23 May 1945, leading to the arrest of its members.
Following the war, Krosigk was tried at the 1949 Ministries Trial. He was convicted of financing concentration camps and laundering stolen property, receiving a ten-year prison sentence. However, his term was commuted, and he was released in 1951. He spent his remaining years as a publicist and author, writing memoirs and studies on economic policy until his death in 1977 at age 89. His legacy remains tied to his role in the financial machinery that sustained the Nazi regime's atrocities.
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