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Alfred Rosenberg around 1935

Alfred Rosenberg (help· info) (January 12, 1893 Reval (today Tallinn) – October 16, 1946) was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi party, who later held several important posts in the Nazi government. He is considered one of the main authors of key Nazi ideological creeds, including its racial theory, persecution of the Jews, Lebensraum, abolition of the Treaty of Versailles, and opposition to "degenerate" modern art. He is also known for his rejection of Christianity.^[1] He also played an important role in the development of Positive Christianity.^[2] At Nuremberg he was tried, sentenced to death and executed by hanging as a war criminal. Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Alfred_Rosenberg. ... is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... County Area 159. ... is the 289th day of the year (290th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Nazism in history Nazi ideology Nazism and race Outside Germany Related subjects Lists Politics Portal         Nazism or National Socialism (German: Nationalsozialismus), refers primarily to the ideology and practices of the Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers Party, German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) under Adolf Hitler. ... Nazis claimed to scientifically measure a strict hierarchy among races; at the top was the Aryan race (minus the Slavs, who were seen as below Aryan), then lesser races. ... Related articles: Anti-Semitism; History of anti-Semitism; Modern anti-Semitism This article deals with various persecutions that the Jewish people have experienced throughout history. ... Nazism in history Nazi ideology Nazism and race Outside Germany Related subjects Lists Politics Portal           (German for habitat or literally living space) was one of the major political ideas of Adolf Hitler, and an important component of Nazi ideology. ... This article is about the Treaty of Versailles of June 28 1919, which ended World War I. For other uses, see Treaty of Versailles (disambiguation) . The Treaty of Versailles (1919) was a peace treaty which officially ended World War I between the Allied and Associated Powers and Germany. ... Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler and Adolf Ziegler visit the entartete Kunst exhibition. ... Dejeuner sur lHerbe by Pablo Picasso At the Moulin Rouge: Two Women Waltzing by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1892 The Scream by Edvard Munch, 1893 I and the Village by Marc Chagall, 1911 Fountain by Marcel Duchamp, 1917 Campbells Soup Cans 1962 Synthetic polymer paint on thirty-two... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is... A Sun cross, adopted as the sign of the German Faith Movement because it resembles both a cross and a swastika Positive Christianity is a term used in Nazi ideology to refer to a form of Christianity consistent with Nazism. ... For the 1947 Soviet film about the trials, see Nuremberg Trials (film). ...

Early career

Rosenberg was born to a family of Baltic Germans. His father was a wealthy merchant from Latvia, his mother from Reval (today's Tallinn, in Estonia, then part of the Russian Empire). He studied architecture at the Riga Polytechnical Institute and engineering at Moscow High Technical School, completing his Ph.D. studies in 1917. Buildings that he designed in this period still stand in the central part of Tallinn. During the Russian Revolution of 1917, he supported the counter-revolutionaries and, following their failure, Rosenberg emigrated to Germany in 1918 along with Max Scheubner-Richter who was something of a mentor to Rosenberg and his ideology. He arrived in Munich and contributed to Dietrich Eckart's publication, the Völkischer Beobachter (People's Observer). By this time, he was both an antisemite, influenced by Houston Stewart Chamberlain's book The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century (one of the key proto-Nazi books of racial theory) and an anti-bolshevist as a result of his family's exile^[3]. The Baltic Germans (German: Deutsch-Balten, Deutschbalten, sometimes incorrectly Baltendeutsche), were ethnically German inhabitants of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea which forms today the countries of Estonia and Latvia. ... County Area 159. ... County Area 159. ... The subject of this article was previously also known as Russia. ... This article is about building architecture. ... For other uses, see Riga (disambiguation). ... Engineering is the discipline of acquiring and applying knowledge of design, analysis, and/or construction of works for practical purposes. ... Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated Ph. ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a series of political and social upheavals in Russia, involving first the overthrow of the tsarist autocracy, and then the overthrow of the liberal and moderate-socialist Provisional Government, resulting in the establishment of Soviet power under the control of the Bolshevik party. ... A counterrevolutionary is anyone who opposes a revolution, particularly those who act after a revolution to try to overturn or reverse it, in full or in part. ... 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Ludwig Maximilian Erwin von Scheubner-Richter or Max Scheubner-Richter, born Ludwig Maximilian Erwin Richter (January 9, 1884 - (November 9, 1923) was an early member of the Nazi party. ... For other uses, see Munich (disambiguation). ... Dietrich Eckart Dietrich Eckart (March 23, 1868 - December 26, 1923) was one of the early key members of the National-Socialist German Workers Party and one of the participants in the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. ... One of the last editions of the Völkischer Beobachter (April 20, 1945) hails Adolf Hitler as man of the century on the occasion of his 56th birthday, ten days before his suicide. ... Houston Stewart Chamberlain Houston Stewart Chamberlain (September 9, 1855 - January 9, 1927) was a British author noted for his works concerning the Aryan race. ... The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century (1899) is a popular scientific work by an English writer Houston Stewart Chamberlain. ...

Rosenberg was one of the earliest members of the German Workers Party (later the National Socialist German Workers Party, better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party), joining in January 1919; Hitler did not join until October 1919. Rosenberg had also been a member of the Thule Society, with Eckart. Rosenberg became editor of the Völkischer Beobachter, the Nazi party newspaper, in 1921. The Nazi swastika The National Socialist German Workers Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. ... Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... Thule Society emblem The Thule Society (German: Thule-Gesellschaft), originally the Studiengruppe für germanisches Altertum Study Group for Germanic Antiquity, was a German occultist and Völkisch group in Munich, named after a mythical northern country from Greek legend. ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ...

In 1923 after the failed Beer Hall Putsch and Hitler's subsequent imprisonment, Hitler appointed Rosenberg as a leader of the Nazi movement, a position he held until Hitler was released. Hitler remarked privately in later years that his choice of Rosenberg was strategic, based on Rosenberg's weak personality and lack of self-motivation. Hitler did not want the temporary leader of the Nazis to be a very popular or power-hungry man, as a person with either of the two qualities might not want to cede the party leadership after Hitler's release. Year 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Beer Hall Putsch was a failed coup détat that occurred between the evening of Thursday, November 8 and the early afternoon of Friday, November 9, 1923, when the Nazi partys leader Adolf Hitler, the popular World War I General Erich Ludendorff, and other leaders of the Kampfbund...

In 1929, Rosenberg founded the Militant League for German Culture. He later formed the Institute for the Study of the Jewish Question, dedicated to identifying and attacking "Jewish" influence in German culture and to recording the history of Judaism from an anti-Semitic perspective. He became a Reichstag Deputy in 1930 and published his book on racial theory The Myth of the Twentieth Century (Der Mythus des 20. Jahrhunderts) which deals with key issues in the national socialist ideology, such as the Jewish question. It was intended as a sequel to Houston Stewart Chamberlain's above cited book. Despite selling more than a million copies by 1945, its influence within Nazism is doubtful. It is often said to have been a book that was officially venerated within Nazism, but that few actually read beyond the first chapter or even found comprehensible.^[4] Hitler called it "stuff nobody can understand"^[5] and disapproved of its pseudo-religious tone.^[6] Year 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Reichstag may refer to: Reichstag (institution), the Diets or parliaments of the Holy Roman Empire, of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy and of Germany from 1871 to 1945 Reichstag building, Berlin location where the German legislature met from 1894 to 1933 and again since 1999 The Reichstag fire in 1933, which... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The master race (German: die Herrenrasse,  ) is a concept in Nazi ideology, which holds that the Germanic and Nordic people represent an ideal and pure race. It derives from nineteenth century racial theory, which posited a hierarchy of races placing African Bushmen and Indigenous Australians at the bottom of the... The Myth of the Twentieth Century (Ger. ... Houston Stewart Chamberlain Houston Stewart Chamberlain (September 9, 1855 - January 9, 1927) was a British author noted for his works concerning the Aryan race. ...

More influential were Rosenberg's attitude towards Soviet Bolshevism. He persuaded Hitler of the threat of Communism and the supposed fragility of the Soviet political structure. "Jewish-Bolshevism" was accepted as a target for Nazism during the early 1920s^[7].

He was named leader of the Nazi Party's foreign political office in 1933 but he played little practical part in the role. His visit to Britain in that year was designed to reassure the British that the Nazis would not be a threat, and to encourage links between the new regime and the British Empire. It was a notable failure. When Rosenberg laid a wreath bearing a Swastika at the tomb of the unknown soldier, a British war veteran threw it into the Thames.^[8] In January 1934 he was deputized by Hitler with responsibility for the spiritual and philosophical education of the Party and all related organizations. Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the symbol. ... The British tomb of The Unknown Warrior holds an unidentified British soldier killed on a European battlefield during World War I.[1] He was buried in Westminster Abbey, London on November 11, 1920, the earliest such tomb honouring the unknown dead of World War I. Even the battlefield the Warrior... Year 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Racial theories

Rosenberg was also the Nazi Party's chief racial theorist, in charge of building a human racial ladder that justified Hitler's policies. Rosenberg built on the works of Arthur de Gobineau, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, and Madison Grant, as well as the beliefs of Hitler. Rosenberg, lacking knowledge of anthropology, did not have the scientific resources over which Grant and others disposed, and thus chose to base his racial theories on philosophical ideas rather than scientific research. Rosenberg considered blacks as well as Jews to be at the very bottom of the ladder. At the very top was the white or Aryan race. Rosenberg promoted the Nordic theory which considered Nordic peoples to be the master race, superior to all others, including other Aryans. This master race included the Scandinavians (including Finns), Estonians, Baltic nations, Germans, Dutch (including the Flemish people of Belgium), and the British Isles. Rosenberg would reshape Nazi racial policy throughout the years, but it would always consist of White Supremacism, extreme German nationalism, and harsh anti-Semitism. Rosenberg was also an outspoken opponent of both male and female homosexuality, notably in his pamphlet "Der Sumpf" ("The Swamp"), viewing homosexuality (particularly lesbianism) as a hindrance to the expansion of the Nordic population. Arthur de Gobineau. ... Houston Stewart Chamberlain Houston Stewart Chamberlain (September 9, 1855 - January 9, 1927) was a British author noted for his works concerning the Aryan race. ... Madison Grant in the early 1920s. ... A Nazi illustration of the perceived Nordic master race. ... The Nordic countries (Greenland not shown) The Nordic countries, sometimes also called Scandinavia, is a region in the North of Europe that consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. ...

Rosenberg's attitude towards the Slavs of Eastern Europe was more uncertain. Many Nazis, including Hitler himself, considered Slavs to be part of an inferior race to be subjugated^{[citation needed]}, but Rosenberg suggested that they were also Aryans. Distribution of Slavic people by language The Slavic peoples are a linguistic and ethnic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly in Europe, where they constitute roughly a third of the population. ...

Religious theories

Rosenberg argued for a new "religion of the blood," based on the supposed innate promptings of the Nordic soul to defend its noble character against racial and cultural degeneration. He believed that this had been embodied in early Indo-European religions, notably ancient European (Celtic, Germanic, Baltic, Roman) paganism, Zoroastrianism and Vedic Hinduism. Unlike Himmler, he had less attachment to Buddhism^{[citation needed]}. Following the ideas of Chamberlain, he condemned what he called "negative Christianity," the orthodox beliefs of Protestant and Catholic churches, arguing instead for a so-called "positive" Christianity based on Chamberlain's claim that Jesus was a member of a Nordic enclave resident in ancient Galilee who struggled against Judaism. For Rosenberg religious doctrine was not important, what mattered was that a belief should serve the interests of the Nordic race, connecting the individual to his racial nature. Rosenberg stated that "The general ideas of the Roman and of the Protestant churches are negative Christianity and do not, therefore, accord with our (German) soul."^[9] Indo-Europeans are speakers of Indo-European languages. ... This is a list of Celtic tribes with their geographical localization. ... The Baltic Sea The Balts or Baltic peoples are a group of Indo-European tribes who settled the area between lower Vistula and upper Dvina and Dneper. ... For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ... Pagan and heathen redirect here. ... Zoroastrianism is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zoroaster (Zarathustra, Zartosht). ... This article discusses the historical religious practices in the Vedic time period; see Dharmic religions for details of contemporary religious practices. ... A statue of the Sakyamuni Buddha in Tawang Gompa, India. ... A Sun cross, adopted as the sign of the German Faith Movement because it resembles both a cross and a swastika Positive Christianity is a term used in Nazi ideology to refer to a form of Christianity consistent with Nazism. ... For other uses, see Galilee (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Wartime activities

In 1940 Rosenberg was made head of the Hohe Schule (literally "high school"), the Centre of National Socialist Ideological and Educational Research. He created a "Special Task Force for Music" (Sonderstab Musik) to collect the best musical instruments and scores for use in a university to be built in Hitler's hometown of Linz, Austria. The orders given the Sonderstab Musik were to loot all forms of Jewish property in Germany and of those found in any country taken over by the German army and any musical instruments or scores were to be immediately shipped to Berlin. Year 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ... This article is about the city of Linz in Austria. ... Looting (which derives via the Hindi lut from Sanskrit lung, to rob), sacking, plundering, or pillaging is the indiscriminate taking of goods by force as part of a military or political victory, or during a catastrophe or riot, such as during war,[1] natural disaster,[2] or rioting. ... For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital of Germany. ...

Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories

Following the invasion of the USSR, Rosenberg was appointed head of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories. Alfred Meyer was his deputy and represented him at the Wannsee Conference. Another official of the Ministry, Georg Leibbrandt, also attended the conference, at Rosenberg's request. Combatants Germany Romania Finland Italy Hungary Slovakia  Soviet Union Commanders Adolf Hitler Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb Fedor von Bock Gerd von Rundstedt Heinz Guderian Günther von Kluge Franz Halder Ion Antonescu C.G.E. Mannerheim Giovanni Messe, CSIR Italo Garibaldi, ARMIR Iosef Stalin Kliment Voroshilov Semyon Timoshenko Fyodor Kuznetsov... Dr. Alfred Meyer ( October 5, 1891 - April 11, 1945) was a Nazi official, achieving the rank of Staatssekretär and Deputy Reichsminister in the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories (Reichministerium für die Besetzten Ostgebiete or Ostministerium). ... The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior officials of the Nazi German regime, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. ... Georg Leibbrandt (September 5, 1899 - June 16, 1982) was a scholar and politician in the Nazi Party. ...

Rosenberg had presented Hitler with his plan for the organization of the conquered Eastern territories, suggesting the establishment of new administrative districts, to replace the previously Soviet-controlled territories with new Reichskommissariats. These would be: Soviet redirects here. ... Reichskommissar (Commissionary of the Empire) was an official title of authorized representative of the Deutsches Reich (after 1871) who was appointed to a special task, e. ...

• Ostland (Baltic countries and Belarus),
• Ukraine (Ukraine and nearest territories),
• Kaukasus (Caucasia area),
• Moskau (Moscow metropolitan area and the rest of nearest Russian European areas)

Such suggestions were intended to encourage non-Russian nationalism and to promote German interests for the benefit of future Aryan generations, in accord with geopolitical "Lebensraum im Osten" plans. They would provide a buffer against Soviet expansion in preparation for the total eradication of Communism and Bolshevism by decisive pre-emptive military action. Reichskommissariat Ostland was the German name for the Nazi civil administration of so called Eastern Territories of the Third Reich dring World War II, where Ostland (German for Eastern Territories) was the name given to the German occupied territories of the Baltic states, Belarus and Eastern Poland. ... The three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania The terms Baltic countries, Baltic Sea countries, Baltic states, and Balticum refer to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea. ... This article contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Caucasus Mountains. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... For other uses, see Moscow (disambiguation). ... The Aryan race is a concept in European culture that was influential in the period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. ... Nazism in history Nazi ideology Nazism and race Outside Germany Related subjects Lists Politics Portal           (German for habitat or literally living space) was one of the major political ideas of Adolf Hitler, and an important component of Nazi ideology. ... This article is about the form of society and political movement. ... Bolshevik Party Meeting. ...

Following these plans, when Wehrmacht forces invaded Soviet-controlled territory, they immediately implemented the first of the proposed Reichskomissariats of Ostland and Ukraine, under the leadership of Hinrich Lohse and Erich Koch respectively. The organization of these administrative territories led to conflict between Rosenberg and the SS over the treatment of Slavs under German occupation. Rosenberg was appalled at the displacement, enslavement, and sometimes genocide of non-Jews in occupied Eastern countries. As Nazi Germany's chief racial theorist, Rosenberg considered Slavs, though lesser than Germans, to be Aryan. Rosenberg often complained to Hitler and Himmler about the treatment of non-Jewish occupied peoples. He made no complaints about the murders of Jews. At the Nuremberg Trials he claimed to be ignorant of the Holocaust, despite the fact that Leibbrandt and Meyer were present at the Wannsee conference. The straight-armed Balkenkreuz, a stylized version of the Iron Cross, the emblem of the Wehrmacht. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Erich Koch (June 19, 1896, Elberfeld - November 12, 1986, Barczewo) was a Gauleiter of the NSDAP in East Prussia from 1928 until 1945, and Reichskomissar in Ukraine from 1941 until 1944. ... SS or ss or Ss may be: The Schutzstaffel, a Nazi paramilitary force Steamship (SS) (ship prefix) The United States Secret Service A submarine not powered by nuclear energy (SS) (United States Navy designator), see SSN A Soviet/Russian surface-to-surface missile, as listed by NATO reporting name Shortstop... The Slavic peoples are the most numerous ethnic and linguistic body of peoples in Europe. ... For the 1947 Soviet film about the trials, see Nuremberg Trials (film). ... For other uses, see Holocaust (disambiguation) and Shoah (disambiguation). ...

Wartime propaganda efforts

Because the invasion of the USSR was essentially a war of conquest and extermination, German propaganda efforts designed to win over Russian opinion were patchy and inconsistent. Alfred Rosenberg was one of the few in the Nazi hierarchy who advocated a policy designed to encourage anti-Communist opinion. For other uses, see Propaganda (disambiguation). ...

Amongst other things, Rosenberg issued a series of posters announcing the end of the kolkhoz, the Soviet collective farms. He also issued an Agrarian Law in February 1942, annulling all Soviet legislation on farming, restoring family farms for those willing to collaborate with the occupiers. But decollectivisation conflicted with the wider demands of wartime food production, and Hermann Göring demanded that the kolkhoz be retained, save for a change of name. Hitler himself denounced the redistribution of land as "stupid". A kolkhoz (Russian: IPA: ), plural kolkhozy, was a form of collective farming in the Soviet Union that existed along with state farms (sovkhoz). ... Hermann Wilhelm Göring ( ) (also Goering in English) (January 12, 1893 – October 15, 1946) was a German politician and military leader, a leading member of the Nazi Party, second in command of the Third Reich, and commander of the Luftwaffe. ...

There were also numerous Wehrmacht posters asking for assistance in the Bandenkrieg, the war against the Soviet partisans, though, once again, German policy had the effect of adding to their problems. Posters for "volunteer" labour, with inscriptions like "Come work with us to shorten the war", hid the appalling realities faced by Russian workers in Germany. Many people joined the partisans rather than risk being sent to an unknown fate in the west. The Soviet partisans were members anti-fascist resistance movement which fought against the occupation of the Soviet Union by Axis forces during World War II. At the end of June 1941, immediately after the Germans crossed the Soviet border, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolshevik) (see...

Another of Rosenberg's initiatives, the "Free Caucasus" campaign, was rather more successful, attracting various nationalities into the so-called Ostlegionen, though in the end this made little difference. Ostlegionen or Ostgruppen (literally Eastern Legion) were conscripts and volunteers from occupied territories who fought in the Wehrmacht of the Third Reich during the Second World War. ...

Trial and execution

Alfred Rosenberg at the Nuremberg trials. Rosenberg is first from right, with Hans Frank (centre) and Alfred Jodl (left)

Rosenberg was captured by Allied troops at the end of the war. He was tried at Nuremberg and found guilty of conspiracy to commit crimes against peace; planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression; war crimes; and crimes against humanity. He was sentenced to death and executed with other condemned co-defendants at Nuremberg on the morning of October 16, 1946. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Hans Frank (May 23, 1900 – October 16, 1946) was a lawyer for the Nazi party during the 1920s and a senior official in Nazi Germany. ... Alfred Jodl (May 10, 1890 – October 16, 1946) was a German military commander, attaining the position of Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces High Command (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, or OKW) during World War II, acting as deputy to Wilhelm Keitel. ... Look up ally in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the 1947 Soviet film about the trials, see Nuremberg Trials (film). ... A crime against peace, in international law, consists of starting a war. ... In international law, a war of aggression is generally considered to be any war for which the purpose is not to repel an invasion, or respond to an attack on the territory of a sovereign nation. ... In the context of war, a war crime is a punishable offense under International Law, for violations of the laws of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty, is the judicially ordered execution of a prisoner as a punishment for a serious crime, often called a capital offense or a capital crime. ... is the 289th day of the year (290th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

He and Hermann Göring were born on the same day (12 January 1893), and had Göring not committed suicide the night before his planned execution, they would also have died the same day. Hermann Wilhelm Göring ( ) (also Goering in English) (January 12, 1893 – October 15, 1946) was a German politician and military leader, a leading member of the Nazi Party, second in command of the Third Reich, and commander of the Luftwaffe. ...

Nazi Policy and Rosenberg's Views

Hitler was a leader oriented towards practical politics, whereas, for Rosenberg, religion and philosophy were key.

Rosenberg's influence in the National Socialist German Workers' Party is controversial. He was perceived as lacking the charisma and political skills of the other Nazi leaders, and was somewhat isolated. In some of his speeches Hitler appeared to be close to Rosenberg's views: rejecting traditional Christianity as a religion based on Jewish culture, preferring an ethnically and culturally pure "Race" whose destiny was supposed to be assigned to the German people by "Providence". In others, he adhered to the NSDAP's Party line, which advocated a "positive Christianity". This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Hitler felt compelled to appeal to Christian voters as well, who in 1933 still made up a majority of the German population. After his assumption of power he moved to reassure the Protestant and Catholic churches that the party was not intending to reinstitute Germanic paganism. He placed himself in the position of being the man to save Christianity from utter destruction at the hands of the atheistic Communists of the Soviet Union.^[10] This was especially true immediately before and after the elections of 1932; Hitler wanted to appear non-threatening to major Christian faiths and consolidate his power. Further, Hitler felt that Catholic-Protestant infighting had been a major factor in weakening the German state and allowing its dominance by foreign powers. Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... ROSIE IS A GERMN LADYGermanic paganism refers to the religion of the Germanic nations preceding Christianization. ... “Atheist” redirects here. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ...

Some Nazi leaders, such as Martin Bormann, were anti-Christian and sympathetic to Rosenberg.^[11] Once in power, however, Hitler and most Nazi leaders sought to unify the Christian denominations in favor of "positive Christianity." They privately complained about Rosenberg's radical, openly anti-Christian views and did not support small neo-pagan groups, supported by the latter, seeking parity with Christianity. However, Goebbels and Hitler both agreed that after the Endsieg (Final Victory) the Reich Church should be pressed into evolving into a German social evolutionist organisation proclaiming the cult of race, blood and battle, instead of Redemption and the Ten Commandments of Moses, which they deemed outdated and "Jewish."^[12] Martin Bormann Martin Bormann (June 17, 1900 - c. ... Endsieg is German for final victory. The term is today almost exclusively used with reference to its meaning under Nazi doctrine: Temporary losses (including of civilian lives) nonwithstanding, the Third Reich would ultimately prevail, and thus any breakdown in allegiance to Nazi ideology was not to be tolerated. ... The Protestant Reich Church was formed by Adolf Hitler in 1933, by merging 29 regional churches into one church. ... Social Evolutionism is a athropological and sociological social theory that holds that societies progress through stages of increasing development, i. ... For other uses of the word, see Redemption Redemption is a religious concept referring to forgiveness or absolution for past sins and protection from eternal damnation. ... For other uses, see Ten Commandments (disambiguation). ... Moses with the Tablets, 1659, by Rembrandt This article is about the Biblical figure. ...

While Rosenberg knew that he had powerful enemies in Goering, Himmler, and Goebbels, he believed that he still maintained favor with Hitler to the end according to his autobiography which he wrote shortly before his execution.^{[citation needed]}

Lieutenant-Colonel W.H. Dunn wrote a medical and psychiatric report on him in prison to evaluate him as a suicide risk:

He gave the impression of clinging to his own theories in a fanatical and unyielding fashion and to have been little influenced by the unfolding during the trial of the cruelty and crimes of the party. (Cecil, p.219)

Summarizing the unresolved conflict between the personal views of Rosenberg and the pragmatism of the Nazi elite:

The ruthless pursuit of Nazi aims turned out to mean not, as Rosenberg had hoped, the permeation of German life with the new ideology; it meant concentration of the combined resources of party and state on total war. (Cecil, p.160)

Family life

Rosenberg was married twice. He married his first wife, Hilda Leesmann, an ethnic Estonian, in 1915; after eight years of marriage, they divorced in 1923. He married his second wife, Hedwig Kramer, in 1925; the marriage lasted until his death. He and Kramer had two children; a son, who died in infancy, and a daughter, Irene; who was born in 1930. His daughter has refused contact with anyone seeking information about her father. Hilda Leesmann, was an Estonian ballet student and an accomplished classical pianist who in 1915 married Alfred Rosenberg, the later leading German National Socialist (Nazi) ideologist and politician. ... Year 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Quotes

• "I didn't say that the Jews are inferior. I didn't even maintain they are a race. I merely saw that the mixture of different cultures didn't work." (12 January 1946)
• "We let 50,000 Jewish intellectuals get across the border. Just as I wanted Lebensraum for Germany, I thought Jews should have a Lebensraum for themselves - outside of Germany." (15 December 1945)
• "No." (When asked if he had any last words. 16 October 1946)

is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 349th day of the year (350th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... is the 289th day of the year (290th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

Irving Hexham (April 14, 1943) is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. ... Leon Goldensohn Leon N. Goldensohn (October 19, 1911 – October 24, 1961) was an American psychiatrist charged with caring for the mental health of the twenty-one Nazi defendants awaiting trial at Nuremburg in 1946. ... Colophon of the publisher Alfred A. Knopf. ... For the son of Albert Speer, also an architect, see Albert Speer (the younger). ... Professor Sir Ian Kershaw (born April 29, 1943 in Oldham, Lancashire, England) is a British historian, noted for his biographies of Adolf Hitler. ... Oxford University Press (OUP) is a highly-respected publishing house and a department of the University of Oxford in England. ... The Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) was founded in 1967 and originally named the Ohio College Library Center. ...

Further reading

• Cecil, Robert (1972). The Myth of the Master Race: Alfred Rosenberg and Nazi Ideology. Dodd Mead & Co.. ISBN 0-396-06577-5. 
• Chandler, Albert R. (1945). Rosenberg's Nazi Myth. Greenwood Press. 
• Gilbert, G. M. (1995). Nuremberg Diary. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80661-4. 
• Goldensohn, Leon (2004). Nuremberg Interviews. Knopf. ISBN 0-375-41469-X. 
• Nova, Fritz (1986). Alfred Rosenberg: Nazi Theorist of the Holocaust. Buccaneer Books. ISBN 0-87052-222-1. 
• Rosenberg, Alfred (1930). Der Mythus des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts. 
• Rothfeder, Herbert P. (1963). A Study of Alfred Rosenberg’s Organization for National Socialist Ideology (Michigan, Phil. Diss. 1963). University Microfilms, Ann Arbor. 
• Rothfeder, Herbert P. (1981). Amt Schrifttumspflege: A Study in Literary Control, in: German Studies Review. Vol. IV, Nr. 1, Febr. 1981, p. 63–78. 
• Steigmann-Gall, Richard (2003). The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-82371-4. 
• Whisker, James B. (1990). The Philosophy of Alfred Rosenberg. Noontide Press. ISBN 0-939482-25-8. 

Gustave M. Gilbert Gustave Mark Gilbert (1911 - 1977) was a New York-born, German-speaking intelligence officer and psychologist who was granted free access by the Allies to all the prisoners held in the Nuremberg jail. ... Nuremberg Diary is Gustave Gilberts account of and interviews he conducted during the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi Leaders, including Hermann Göring, involved in World War II and the Holocaust. ... Leon Goldensohn Leon N. Goldensohn (October 19, 1911 – October 24, 1961) was an American psychiatrist charged with caring for the mental health of the twenty-one Nazi defendants awaiting trial at Nuremburg in 1946. ... The Myth of the Twentieth Century (Ger. ...

See also

• Anti-Semitism
• Myth of the Twentieth Century
• Racism

The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ... The Myth of the Twentieth Century (Ger. ... Manifestations Slavery Racial profiling Lynching Hate speech Hate crime Genocide (examples) Ethnocide Ethnic cleansing Pogrom Race war Religious persecution Gay bashing Blood libel Paternalism Police brutality Movements Policies Discriminatory Race / Religion / Sex segregation Apartheid Redlining Internment Anti-discriminatory Emancipation Civil rights Desegregation Integration Equal opportunity Counter-discriminatory Affirmative action Racial...

External links

• Alfred Rosenberg at the Internet Movie Database
• Rosenbergs 1946 memoirs, at archive.org
• Der Protestantische Rompilger at archive.org. In German.
• An die Dunkelmaenner unserer Zeit at archive.org. In German.
• Tradition und Gegenwart - Reden und Aufsaetze 1936-1940 at archive.org. In German.
• Die Protokolle der Weisen von Zion und die juedische Weltpolitik at archive.org. In German.
• Unmoral in Talmud at archive.org. In German.
• Wesen, Grundsaetze und Ziele der NSDAP - Das Programm der Bewegung at archive.org. In German.
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - Alfred Rosenberg

v • d • e The Hitler Cabinet – 30 January 1933 to 30 April 1945

Adolf Hitler | Franz von Papen | Konstantin von Neurath | Joachim von Ribbentrop | Wilhelm Frick | Heinrich Himmler | Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk | Alfred Hugenberg | Kurt Schmitt | Hjalmar Schacht | Hermann Göring | Walther Funk | Franz Seldte | Franz Gürtner | Franz Schlegelberger | Otto Georg Thierack | Werner von Blomberg | General Keitel | Freiherr von Eltz-Rübenach | Julius Heinrich Dorpmüller | Wilhelm Ohnesorge | Richard Walther Darré | Herbert Backe | Joseph Goebbels | Bernhard Rust | Fritz Todt | Albert Speer | Alfred Rosenberg | Hanns Kerrl | Hermann Muhs | Otto Meißner | Hans Lammers | Martin Bormann | Karl Hermann Frank | Rudolf Hess | Ernst Röhm