Alfred Rosenberg

Alfred Rosenberg (1893-1946), German National Socialist (Nazi) leader, born in Reval, Russia (now Tallinn, Estonia), of German parents. In 1919 he met Adolf Hitler and his associate, Ernst Röhm, and joined the newly formed National Socialist party. In 1921 Rosenberg became editor of the official party newspaper Völkischer Beobachter. As the chief theoretician of Hitler's movement, Rosenberg published anti-Semitic and anti-Communist propaganda. His most important work, Der Mythus des 20. Jahrhunderts (The Myth of the 20th Century, 1930), was an attempt to demonstrate the racial superiority of the Germans over all other peoples. In 1933, when the National Socialists came into power in Germany, Rosenberg was put in charge of the foreign policy office of the National Socialist party. In March 1941, during World War II, Rosenberg was appointed minister for conquered eastern territories. Prosecuted by the Allies during the war crimes trial at Nuremberg, he was convicted in 1945 and executed in 1946.