Alfred Rosenberg
A chief Nazi ideologue whose racist theories provided a pseudo-intellectual foundation for the Third Reich's persecution and genocide.
1893–1946 (age 53)·Nazi theorist and war criminal·Birthday: January 12·The Lost Generation
Biography
Alfred Rosenberg, born in Estonia when it was part of the Russian Empire, carried a deep resentment against both Bolshevik communism and what he saw as Jewish influence. He drifted to Munich after World War I, falling in with early Nazi circles and introducing Dietrich Eckart to Adolf Hitler. As the party's self-appointed 'philosopher,' Rosenberg poured his prejudices into 'The Myth of the Twentieth Century,' a dense, poorly written but ideologically central text that promoted a racial hierarchy with Aryans at the top and Jews as a destructive force. His influence was more bureaucratic than personal; Hitler found him dull but useful. Rosenberg held key posts, editing the party newspaper and later, during the war, serving as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, where his brutal policies facilitated the Holocaust and the enslavement of millions. At the Nuremberg trials, his theoretical work was directly tied to practical atrocities, and he was convicted of crimes against humanity and hanged.
The Lost Generation
1883–1900
Came of age during World War I. Disillusioned by the carnage, they rejected the certainties of the Victorian era and built modernism from the wreckage — in art, literature, and politics.
Alfred was born in 1893, placing them squarely in The Lost Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Alfred Was Born
The biggest hits of 1893
Alfred's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1893Born
World's Columbian Exposition dazzles Chicago
President: Grover Cleveland
1898Started school
Spanish-American War; US emerges as a world power
President: William McKinley
1906Became a teenager
San Francisco earthquake devastates the city
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1909Could drive
Robert Peary claims to reach the North Pole
President: William Howard Taft
1911Could vote
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 in New York
President: William Howard Taft
1914Turned 21
World War I begins
President: Woodrow Wilson
1923Turned 30
The Great Kanto earthquake devastates Tokyo
President: Calvin Coolidge"Yes! We Have No Bananas" — Billy Jones
1933Turned 40
FDR's New Deal launches; Prohibition ends
Gas: $0.18/galPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Stormy Weather" — Ethel WatersBest Picture: Cavalcade
1943Turned 50
Allies invade Sicily; Battle of Stalingrad ends
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $3,290Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"I've Heard That Song Before" — Harry JamesBest Picture: Casablanca
1946Died at 53
United Nations holds its first General Assembly
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $5,150Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Prisoner of Love" — Perry ComoBest Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives
Key Achievements
- Authored 'The Myth of the Twentieth Century' (1930), a core text of Nazi racial ideology that sold over a million copies.
- Served as the editor of the Nazi Party's primary newspaper, the 'Völkischer Beobachter,' from 1923 to 1938.
- Appointed Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories in 1941, overseeing a brutal administration that plundered resources and enabled genocide.
- Founded and led the 'Fighting League for German Culture,' an organization aimed at purging 'degenerate' art and ideas from public life.
Did You Know?
He was the first recipient of the Nazi Party's newly created National Prize for Art and Science in 1937, which he designed to rival the Nobel Prize.
His personal diary, lost after the Nuremberg trials, was rediscovered in upstate New York in 2013 and used by researchers.
He was hanged at Nuremberg on October 16, 1946, the first of the condemned to be executed that morning.
Despite his high position, he was often sidelined by more pragmatic Nazis like Goebbels and Bormann, who considered him an ineffectual theorist.
“The myth of the blood is the myth of the people, the soul of the race.”
