A Stamp & Seal Of The Office Of Reichs-Minister Of Finance; Graf Schwerin Von Krosigk

This is an ink stamp constructed of a wooden handle and with a metal (magnetic) stamp of the negative of the Office of the Reichs Minister of Finance Lutz Graf of Schwerin von Krosigk. The stamp reads “Reichsminister Schwerin v. Krosigk” with a National Eagle perched atop an oak wreath containing a mobile swastika (Hakenkreuz). With its period-original handle and die; marked “181” with a miniature national eagle on the rim;  measuring 134 mm x 37 mm; very fine condition.

Footnote: Johann Ludwig Graf Schwerin von Krosigk (August 22, 1887 - March 4, 1977) served as the Minister of Finance from 1932 to 1945, and as the Leading Minister of the German Reich (Chancellor) in May 1945. He was born in Rathmannsdorf to his father’s noble family of Anhalt, and his mother’s noble family of Schwerin. He studied law and political science in Germany, and then as a Rhodes Scholar at oriel College in Oxford. Krosigk served in the German Army, attaining the rank of Lieutenant, and was awarded the Iron Cross. Following the war, he worked as a senior government official, eventually joining the department of reparations payments, formed to pay the reparations Germany owed to the Allied Powers following the First War. Franz von Papen appointed Krosigk in 1932 to serve as the national Minister of Finance, at the personal request of President Paul von Hindenburg. Following Goebbels suicide on May 1, 1945, Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz offered the position to Chancellor of the Acting Government to Krosigk, but he declined, accepting the position of “Leading Minister”. Dönitz and Krosigk negotiated the armistice with the Western allied, while attempting to prevent Germany from falling completely into Soviet hands. On May 23, 1945, Dönitz and Krosigk were released from their position when the acting Flensburg Government was dissolved by order of the Supreme Allied Commander. Krosigk was put on trial at Nuremberg, and was found guilty in the Ministries Trial in 1949. He was sentenced to 10 years of prison, but was released during an amnesty in 1951. He later published several books on economic policy and multiple memoirs. Krosigk died in 1977 in the city of Essen, in West Germany, aged 89.