He served as an infantry soldier in the Imperial German Army of the German Empire from 1914-1918 in Europe. He later joined National Socialist German Workers Party in 1932 and became a SS Officer in 1933 with the SS Junior Officer rank of Standartenfuhrer/Oberfuher (Colonel) from 1933-1935 he then became a Senior SS Officer with the rank Obergruppenfuhrer (General) in 1935. From 1936 to 1938, before the Second World War, he had been the ambassador to the United Kingdom while still have membership in the SS led by Heinrich Himmler until 1945 and got executed in 1946 as a convicted German Nazi War Criminal from Nazi Germany.
All ministers were NSDAP members except where indicated ("ind" = nominally independent). Most of them later became NSDAP members, except Von Papen, Hugenberg and Von Eltz-Rübenach.