Johannes Krohn

Krohn obtained an entry level position with the Weimar Republic's Reich Insurance Office in 1919, and became a Regierungsrat (Government Councilor) the next year. In 1921, he entered the Reich Labor Ministry, advancing to Oberregierungsrat in 1921 and Ministerialrat (Ministerial Councilor) in 1923. From 1923 to 1928, he headed a sub-department of social insurance, advancing to director of the Social Insurance Department from 1928 to 1932. Promoted to Ministerial Director, he became head of Main Department II (Social Insurance and Social Welfare) on 15 June 1932.[2]

Shortly after the Nazi seizure of power on 30 January 1933, Krohn was promoted to State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of Labor under Reichsminister Franz Seldte on 24 February. As the ministry's senior civil servant, he was involved in implementing the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service of 7 April 1933 that provided for the dismissal from the ministry of Jews, Communist Party members, and other perceived opponents of the regime. He also was instrumental in drafting the law of 19 May 1933 that established the Trustees of Labor, by which the government sought to control labor relations. In October 1933, Krohn became a founding member of Hans Frank's Academy for German Law. Following the merger of the Prussian Ministry of Labor with the Reich Ministry of Labor on 1 April 1935, Krohn was named to the Prussian State Council by Prussian Minister president Hermann Göring. On 30 January 1938, Krohn became a member of the Nazi Party.[2]

During his tenure as State Secretary, Krohn was largely given a free hand to develop policy due to his expertise in the area and to Seldte's relative disinterest in the specifics of social policy. Thus, Krohn was involved in the development of many discriminatory health care policies, such as the third implementing decree of the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring, which he signed in February 1935. It mandated that state health insurance funds could be used to cover the costs of sterilizing those considered to have an hereditary illness. In October 1938, he likewise signed the Decree Concerning the Participation of Jews in Health Insurance Funds, thereby severely restricting the ability of Jewish doctors to practice medicine by refusing them the right to claim payment from the state health insurance fund. Krohn also was involved in formulating discriminatory social legislation. The Law Concerning Tenancy Arrangements for Jews, for example, was signed by Krohn in April 1939 and provided for the eviction of Jews from their homes if their landlord was German. The resultant homeless families then had to be sheltered by those Jews still in possession of their apartments. Krohn was eventually forced out of his position in mid-1939, following a years-long turf battle with Robert Ley, the head of the German Labor Front, who sought to progressively usurp the functions of the Ministry of Labor, as he attempted to turn his organization into a shadow labor ministry.[3]

After the beginning of the Second World War, Krohn was transferred to the General Government in October 1939 to set up the social administration in the occupied territory but personal and professional conflicts with Governor-General Hans Frank led to his removal in November.[4] He then volunteered for military service and was severely wounded in 1940, earning the Clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st and 2nd class.[5] After recovery from his wounds, he left the Wehrmacht and was appointed Reichskommissar for Administration of Enemy Assets in the Reich Ministry of Justice on 1 November 1941, serving there for the remainder of the war. In this position, he was active in the expropriation of assets in the occupied territories.[6]