Alfred Rosenberg was born in Tallinn, Russia (now Estonia), on 12th January, 1893. He studied architecture at the Riga Technical Institute where he joined a pro-German student group. Rosenberg supported the Whites during the Russian Revolution and after the Bolsheviks gained control of the country he escaped to France. In 1918 he moved to Germany where he settled with the large community of White Russians in Munich. He also joined the semi - occult Thule Society.He was already becoming known for his antisemitic and anti - Bolshevik views through such works as Die Spur der Juden im Wandel der Zeiten (The Track of the Jews through the Ages) and Unmoral im Talmud (Immorality in the Talmud), both published in 1919. Rosenberg joined the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) and in 1923 became editor of the party newspaper, Voelkischer Beobachter. He was one of the principal disseminators of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a forgery of the tsarist police that appealed to Rosenberg's belief in the active working of occult powers to subvert civilization ( Alfred Rosenberg's key to his rise to fame among the Nazi leadership was the possession of a manuscript he smuggled from Moscow, The Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion. It is probable that he quickly discovered that it was a forged document. Nevertheless, he also knew that he had in his hands a valuable document, full of racial and political dynamite, which, if used to his advantage, may become the key to his personal success ?) He participated in the abortive Munich Beer - Hall Putsch of November 1923 and was protected by Hitler from the attacks of other leading Nazis, who were affronted by Rosenberg's Baltic origins and his intellectual arrogance. He regularly visited Adolf Hitler in Landsberg Prison and it is claimed he helped write Mein Kampf. He also wrote several pamphlets that reflected his rabid anti-Semitism. He impressed Hitler with his theories of a Judeo - Bolshevik - Masonic conspiracy constantly engaged in "undermining the foundations of our existence." They even created a hymn for the new German Faith Movement: The time of the Cross has gone now, The Sun-wheel shall arise, And so, with God, we shall be free at last And give our people their honor back. Rosenberg's role as chief Nazi ideologist was enhanced by his founding, in 1929, of the Kampfbund fur Deutsche Kultur (Fighting League for German Culture) and, above all, by his major work, Der Mythus des 20 Jahrhunderts (The Myth of the Twentieth Century; 1930).). As an expression of Nazi philosophy this book had an influence comparable to that of Hitler's Mein Kampf. (?). It was enormously popular, and by 1942, had sold over a million copies.The book incorporated the racial theories of Joseph - Arthur de Gobineau and Houston Stewart Chamberlain, proclaiming that race was the decisive factor determining art, science, culture, and the course of world history (see racism). The Teutons represented the "master race" of "Aryans, " whose task it was to subdue Europe. This belief was combined with denunciation of Judaism and Christianity, whose ideals of compassion and charity must yield to the neo - pagan Teutonic sense of honor. The swastika was the symbol of blood and soil, and denoted the worship of Wotan and the ancient Norse gods. The Jews had subverted the ideal of race with their internationalism and a religion of humanity destructive of the Teutonic spirit. In 1930 he was elected to the Reichstag. He hoped to become Germany's foreign minister but lost out to Joachim von Ribbentrop. Instead he was given the task of supervising ideological training and education in the NSDAP.In 1934 Hitler appointed him the "Fuhrer's delegate for the supervision of the whole intellectual and philosophical education and training of the National Socialist party." In 1937, Hitler awarded the National Prize, Germany's version of the Nobel Prize, to Alfred Rosenberg, maximum foe of Christianity and leader of the Neo-Pagans. From 1933 to 1945, he also headed the party's foreign - affairs department, which gave him access especially to fascist parties in eastern Europe and the Balkans. In 1939 he established in Frankfurt the Institut zur Erforschung der Judenfrage (Institute for the Investigation of the Jewish Question). Rosenberg declared in his inaugural address there that the "Jewish question" would be considered solved "only after the last Jew has left the Greater German living space." The institute's principal task was to ransack the libraries, archives, and art galleries of European Jewry in order to promote its "research." After the fall of France, Einsatzstab Rosenberg (Operational Staff Rosenberg) seized French art treasures and sent them to Germany. In 1940 he was made head of the Hohe Schule (literally "high school"), the Centre of National Socialistic Ideological and Educational Research Alfred Rosenberg in London In November 1941, Rosenberg was appointed Reichsminister fur die Besetzten Ostgebiete (Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories), where his policy differed in detail but not in principle from the extermination policy perpetrated by Heinrich Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich, and the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Security Main Office; RSHA). Although he had always regarded the Slavs as subhuman, Rosenberg regretted the policy of Germanization, believing it politically harmful; however, he found no support for this view. Rosenberg was captured by Allied troops at the end of the Second World War. Accused of crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial he was found guilty and executed on 1st October, 1946. The journalist, Kingsbury Smith, observed the execution of Alfred Rosenberg and nine other leaders of the Nazi Party on 1st October 1946. Rosenberg was dull and sunken-cheeked as he looked around the court. His complexion was pasty-brown, but he did not appear nervous and walked with a steady step to and up the gallows. Apart from giving his name and replying 'no' to a question as to whether he had anything to say, he did not utter a word. Despite his avowed atheism he was accompanied by a Protestant chaplain who followed him to the gallows and stood beside him praying. Rosenberg looked at the chaplain once, expressionless. Ninety seconds after he was swinging from the end of a hangman's rope. His was the swiftest execution of the ten. http://www.intelinet.org/swastika/swasti07.htm http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/albums/palbum/p05/a0270p1.html http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/text/x28/xm2889.html http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERrosenberg.htm
Thanks Kai, I first thought this was about the Rosenberg, executed in the US for spying... Interesting references to a man very much at the roots of the organisation and ideology. I am reading more about this now and find it interesting to find out out what actually the roots of all this was. So thanks again, Kai, you've gotten me a lot to read up on.
You´re welcome Stevin, and I think checking the backgrounds of these nazi "bosses" is actually quite interesting.It wasn´t just Hitler and his ideas...
You are right, Kai. It is indeed very interesting. And you have posted nearly all the Nuremberg defendants. Some of the historical figures I dislike the most. And certainly, Alfred Rosenberg is amongst them. And yes, it was not only Hitler. Hitler was an angel compared to his subordinates... Hitler actually didn't do much except making some vague statements. His subordinates were the ones who interpretated Hitler's words and carried them out... Also, doesn't look like a very important person in his prisoner costume...
