The non-profit company Adolf Rosenberger gGmbH

We are a company whose purpose is to promote the memory of Adolf Rosenberger, to honor his lifetime achievement, to highlight the time of his persecution and his discrimination in the automotive industry as a Jew during the Nazi era.

This purpose includes supporting research and projects that promote strategies directed against discrimination and support voices that have been disempowered or marginalized. Our goals include the establishment of an Adolf Rosenberger Museum in Pforzheim and the support of all measures that are directed against any racial persecution, especially in the automotive sector and in motor racing.

With her engagement through the Adolf Rosenberger gGmbH, Sandra Esslinger and the other descendants of Adolf Rosenberger want to honor his merits for motor racing and acknowledge and preserve his role as an entrepreneur and co-designer of one of the most successful companies in German automotive history.

About leaving Porsche you’ll find a documentary made by the german TV station ARD here

Adolf Rosenberger was born in Pforzheim in 1900. He was the son of an assimilated Jewish family, at 17 he became a combat pilot in World War I, then technician, business man and factory racing driver at Mercedes-Benz. Adolf Rosenberger founded Porsche GmbH in Stuttgart in 1930/31 together with Ferdinand Porsche and his son-in-law Anton Piëch. This was the nucleus of today’s global brand.

As a managing director, Rosenberger acquires orders from the automotive industry, is involved in the construction of the later successful Auto Union Grand Prix racing car and, as a co-founder and co-owner, holds ten percent of the company’s shares – until 1933 the Nazis come to power and the Jew Adolf Rosenberger becomes a problem as Porsche is doing good business with the Nazi state. In 1935 Rosenberger is being deported to the Kislau concentration camp. However, he manages to emigrate.

In the United States, he starts a new life under the name Alan Robert. But the longing for his lost home remains. But the longing for his lost homeland remains.

The company plans a variety of activities to provide information about Adolf Rosenberger.

The story of Adolf Rosenberger is a typical example of the fate of Jewish citizens in Germany in the first half of the 20th century: he grew up in an assimilated Jewish family, fought for his country in World War I, was successful in business, sport and society, only to be pushed out then of his position in the Nazi era. However, unlike so many others who met their death in the Holocaust, he managed to survive.

The society will hold and promote information, culture and sports events in the spirit of Adolf Rosenberger.

The company also represents the rights of Adolf Rosenberger’s descendants.

If you would like to support the charitable goals of Adolf Rosenberger gGmbH, we would be very pleased to receive your donation.