Adolf Rosenberger

Adolf Rosenberger
  • Surname
    Rosenberger
  • First name
    Adolf
  • Date of birth
    08.04.1900
  • Date of death
    06.12.1967

The motorsport commitment of this Pforzheim native began in motorbike racing. After switching to car racing, he achieved a wealth of successes between 1923 and 1929 in Mercedes and Mercedes-Benz, for example winning the Kassel Herkules hillclimb races from 1923 to 1927 and the Solitude race in 1925. A serious accident at the German Grand Prix on the Berlin AVUS in 1926 cast a shadow over Rosenberger's career. Although he and his co-driver escaped with serious injuries, two students in the timekeeping hut and the sign painter at the lap board were killed.

After his recovery, he won the 1927 ADAC mountain record on the Schauinsland near Freiburg, the Klausenpass race as well as the Semmering race, in each case achieving the best time of the day and setting new course records. At the inaugural event at the Nürburgring in June of the same year, Rosenberger finished second to Caracciola in the sports cars over 5 litres and also achieved the second-best time of all sports cars.

From 1931, Rosenberger became a partner in the design office newly established by Ferdinand Porsche, Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche G.m.b.H. in Stuttgart and took over its commercial management. Because of his Jewish faith, he was persecuted by the National Socialists shortly afterwards, was arrested and narrowly escaped being sent to the Kislau concentration camp in 1935. In early 1938, he emigrated from France to the USA, where he changed his name to Alan Arthur Robert and built a new life in California.

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