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Count Johann Ludwig (Lutz) Schwerin von Krosigk, EK, (August 22, 1887–March 4, 1977) was a German politician. He was born in Rathmannsdorf in the Kingdom of Saxony, and studied law and political science in Halle, Lausanne and Oxford. During the first world war, he served in the Army, finally as a First Lieutenant, and was awarded the Iron Cross. He married baroness Ehrengard von Plettenberg in 1918.
A non-partisan conservative, he was appointed Minister of Finance by Franz von Papen in 1932, and continued in that office on request by Hindenburg, throughout the period of Nazi Rule. Several members of his family took part in assassination attempts against Hitler.
In May 1945, Krosigk was appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Karl Dönitz after the suicides of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. The two presided over the surrender to the Allies. His government was not recognised by the Allied powers and was dissolved when its members were captured by British forces on May 23, 1945 at Flensburg.
Krosigk referred to the 'Iron Curtain' coming down, a phrase which he had picked up from Goebbels anti-Soviet propaganda, and was later picked up by Winston Churchill in a speech that made the phrase famous. He died in Essen in 1977.
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