Alfred Rosenberg

Alfred Rosenberg (January 12, 1893–October 16, 1946) was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi party, who later held several important posts in the Nazi government. At Nuremberg he was tried and sentenced to death as a war criminal. He is considered the main author of key Nazi ideological creeds, including its racial theory, persecution of the Jews, Lebensraum, abolition of the Versailles Treaty, and opposition to "degenerate" modern art. In his public statements Hitler distanced himself from Rosenberg's rejection of orthodox Christianity in favour of a Nordic "religion of the blood", but in practice Rosenberg's neo-Paganism remained an important influence on Nazi policy.

Wartime activities

In 1940 he was made head of the Hohe Schule (literally "high school"), the Centre of National Socialistic Ideological and Educational Research. Rosenberg 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.

Related Topics:
1940 - Centre of National Socialistic Ideological and Educational Research - Sonderstab Musik - Musical instrument - Linz, Austria - Loot - Jew - Berlin

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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.

Related Topics:
USSR - Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories - Alfred Meyer - Wannsee Conference - Georg Leibbrandt

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Rosenberg had presented Hitler with his plan for the organization of the conquered Eastern territories, suggesting the establishment of new administrative districts in future, to replace the Soviet territories in new Reichskommissariats. These would be:

Related Topics:
Soviet - Reichskommissar

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• Ostland (baltic states),
• Ukraine (Ukraine and nearest territoires),
• Kaukassus (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.

Related Topics:
Russia - German - Aryan - Lebensraum - Communism - Bolshevism

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Following these plans, when Wehrmacht forces invaded Soviet territory, they immediately implemented the first of the proposed Reichskomissariats in the Baltic states and Ukraine, under the leadership of Heinrich Lohse and Erich Koch respectively. The organization of these territories led to conflict between Rosenberg and the SS over the treatment of Slavs under German occupation. Having been born in a non-German country and having once been married to an ethnic Estonian woman, 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 fully 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 in the Holocaust.

Related Topics:
Wehrmacht - Heinrich Lohse - Erich Koch - Holocaust

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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 guilty co-defendants at Nuremberg on the morning of October 16, 1946.

Related Topics:
Allied - Nuremberg - Conspiracy to commit crimes against peace - Planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression - War crimes - Crimes against humanity - Sentenced to death - October 16 - 1946

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