Schrötter was born in Wohnsdorf near Friedland (today Kurortnoye, Pravdinsky District, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia)[1] and served in a dragoon regiment of the Prussian Army[2] during the Seven Years' War.
Appointed as minister in charge of East Prussia after the death of King Frederick the Great, he followed the free trade economic policies then coming into vogue, loosening restrictions on the grain trade in that province.
In 1941 the Polish city of Płock, which was annexed to the Province of East Prussia after the Poland Campaign in 1939, was renamed Schröttersburg in honor of Schrötter.
Before the August 1919 abolition of nobility as a legal class, titles preceded the full name when given (Graf Helmuth James von Moltke).
), can be used, but are regarded as a dependent part of the surname, and thus come after any given names (Helmuth James Graf von Moltke).