Editing Alfred Rosenberg (section)

==Pre-war years==
In November 1923, after the failed [[Beer Hall Putsch]], Hitler, who had been imprisoned for [[treason]], appointed Rosenberg as the leader of the Nazi movement. Hitler remarked privately in later years that his choice of Rosenberg, whom he regarded as weak and lazy, was strategic; Hitler did not want the temporary leader of the Nazis to become too popular or hungry for power, because a person with either of those two qualities might not want to cede the party leadership after Hitler's release. However, at the time of the appointment Hitler had no reason to believe that he would soon be released, and Rosenberg had not appeared weak, so this may have been Hitler reading back into history his dissatisfaction with Rosenberg for the job he did.{{Sfn|Cecil|1972|pp=42–43}}

On 1 January 1924, Rosenberg founded the [[Greater German People's Community]], a Nazi [[front organization]]. Headquartered in [[Munich]], it was largely limited to [[Bavaria]], the birthplace of National Socialism, had no substantial presence outside that State and became a haven for Nazi Party members from that area. Prominent members included [[Max Amann]], [[Phillip Bouhler]], [[Hermann Esser]], [[Franz Xaver Schwarz]] and [[Julius Streicher]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Orlow |first1=Dietrich |title=The history of the Nazi Party |date=1969 |location=Pittsburgh |isbn=0-8229-3183-4}}</ref>{{rp|49}} Rosenberg, one of the least charismatic of the Nazi leaders and lacking in leadership qualities, was soon pushed aside by Streicher, a far more ruthless and abrasive personality, who was elected Chairman on 9 July 1924 with Esser, also a coarse, bullying sort, as his Deputy Chairman.<ref>Michael D. Miller & Andreas Schulz: Gauleiter: The Regional Leaders of the Nazi Party and Their Deputies, 1925-1945, Volume 3 (Fritz Sauckel – Hans Zimmermann), Fonthill Media, 2021, p. 351, {{ISBN|978-1-781-55826-3}}.</ref>

[[File:Refoundation.jpg|thumb|right|Adolf Hitler (standing) delivers a speech on the occasion of the refoundation of the NSDAP in February of 1925. Next to him from the perspective of the onlooker: On the right: [[Gregor Strasser]] and [[Heinrich Himmler]]. On the left: [[Franz Xaver Schwarz]], [[Walter Buch]] and Alfred Rosenberg. Behind Hitler the Blutfahne (blood-flag), a central relique within the propaganda of the National-Socialists, can be seen attached to the wall.]]
Rosenberg was on the rostrum at the refoundation of the [[NSDAP]] in February of 1925.

In 1929 Rosenberg founded the [[Militant League for German Culture]]. He later formed the "[[Institute for Research on the Jewish Question]]", the first branch of a projected [[Advanced School of the NSDAP]],<ref name="Grimsted">Grimsted, Patricia Kennedy (2005). "Roads to Ratibor: Library and archival plunder by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg." ''Holocaust and Genocide Studies'', vol. 19, no. 3. pp. 390-458; here: p. 406.</ref><ref name="JMB">"[http://www.jmberlin.de/raub-und-restitution/en/glossar_i.php Institut zur Erforschung der Judenfrage (IEJ)]" In: ''Glossary''. [[Jewish Museum, Berlin|Jüdisches Museum Berlin (Jewish Museum Berlin)]]. Retrieved 2015-01-18.</ref> dedicated to identifying and attacking supposed Jewish influence in German culture and to recording the history of Judaism from a radical nationalist perspective. In 1930, he published his book on [[Master race|racial theory]] ''[[The Myth of the Twentieth Century]]'' (''Der Mythus des 20. Jahrhunderts'') which deals with key issues in the Nazi ideology, such as the "Jewish question". He condemned [[Islam]] in the book as well which he described as being against European races and as anti-Christian. Rosenberg intended his book as a sequel to [[Houston Stewart Chamberlain]]'s above-cited book. {{Anchor|Pseudointellectualism_and_pseudoreligion}} Despite selling more than a million copies by 1945, its influence within Nazism remains doubtful. It is often said to have been a book that was officially venerated within Nazism, but one that few had actually read beyond the first chapter or even found comprehensible.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goldensohn |first=Leon | author-link = Leon Goldensohn |editor-last=Gellately |editor-first=Robert |editor-link=Robert Gellately |title=The Nuremberg Interviews |publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf]] |year=2004 |location=New York |pages=xvii, 73–75, 108–109, 200, 284 |isbn=0-375-41469-X}}</ref> According to [[Albert Speer]], Hitler called it "stuff nobody can understand"<ref>{{cite book  |last=Speer |first=Albert |author-link=Albert Speer |title=Inside the Third Reich: Memoirs by Albert Speer |translator=[[Richard Winston]] |translator2=[[Clara Winston]] |url=https://archive.org/details/insidethirdreich00spee |url-access=registration |publisher=Macmillan |year=1970 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/insidethirdreich00spee/page/115 115]}}
</ref> and disapproved of its pseudo-religious tone.<ref name="Evans 2004 178–179"/> Contradicting this, other authors noted that Hitler considered it the most important book of party ideology. Rosenberg also played a key role in developing Hitler’s belief in Jewish conspiracies by introducing him to [[The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=FitzGerald |first1=Michael |title=The Nazis and the Supernatural: The Occult Secrets of Hitler's Evil Empire |date=9 October 2020 |publisher=Arcturus Publishing |isbn=978-1-3988-0553-8 |pages=25–35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e0gAEAAAQBAJ |access-date=19 April 2025 |language=en}}</ref>

Rosenberg was elected as a ''[[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]]'' Deputy in 1930 and would continue to serve in this capacity until the end of the Nazi regime. First elected as a representative of the [[electoral list]], from 1933 on he represented electoral constituency 33, Hesse. 

Rosenberg helped convince Hitler, whose early speeches focused on revenge against France and Britain,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Clu5vSF3IIYC&q=ian+kershaw+hitler+beerhall+agitator&pg=PR10-IA25|title=Hitler|last=Kershaw|first=Ian|date=2013-03-07|publisher=Penguin UK|isbn=978-0-14-190959-2|language=en}}</ref> that communism was a serious threat to Germany. "[[Jewish-Bolshevism]]" became an ideological target for Nazism during the early 1920s.<ref name="Evans 2004 178–179"/>

In Rome during November 1932 Rosenberg participated in the [[Volta Conference]] about Europe. British historian [[Sir Charles Petrie]] met him there and regarded him with great distaste; Petrie was a Catholic and strongly objected to Rosenberg's anti-Jewish and anti-Catholic sentiments.<ref>Sir Charles Petrie, ''A Historian Looks at His World'' (London, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1972), p. 136.</ref>

The following year, following the [[Nazi seizure of power]], Rosenberg was named leader of the [[NSDAP Office of Foreign Affairs|Nazi Party's Foreign Policy Office]] in April, and on 2 June 1933 he was named a ''[[Reichsleiter]]'', the second highest political rank in the Nazi Party.{{sfn|Orlow|1969|p=74}} In May 1933 Rosenberg visited Britain, to give the impression 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 Cenotaph, Whitehall|the Cenotaph]], [[James Edmond Sears]] a [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] candidate slashed it, later threw it in the [[Thames]] and was fined 40 shillings for willful damage at Bow Street magistrate's court.<ref>"Dr. Rosenberg's Wreath." Times [London, England] 12 May 1933: 11. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 6 February 2014. "There was a further charge against [Sears] of wilfully damaging the wreath which was laid on the Cenotaph on Wednesday by Dr Rosenberg on behalf of Herr Hitler".</ref><ref name="wordpress">{{cite web|url=http://greatwarlondon.wordpress.com/2012/11/11/hitlers-wreath-at-the-cenotaph/|title=Hitler's wreath at the Cenotaph |website=Great War London |date=11 November 2012 |access-date=10 October 2014}}</ref>

In October 1933, Rosenberg was named as a member of [[Hans Frank]]'s [[Academy for German Law]].<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/NT_Nazi-conspiracy.html Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Vol. VI, pp. 214-215, Document 3530-PS]</ref> 

On 27 January 1934, Hitler made Rosenberg the "Führer's Representative for the Supervision of Intellectual and Ideological Education of the NSDAP."<ref name=wlsp240/><ref name=ncwc42/> This was the origin of the [[Amt Rosenberg]], or Rosenberg Office, which was an official body for cultural policy and surveillance within the Nazi party. It was also known as the Reich surveillance office.<ref name=db1>[https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz108145.html#ndbcontent Alfred Rosenberg entry] in [https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/ German Biography]</ref>