Dr. Alfred Meyer was a Nazi official, achieving the rank of Staatssekretär and Deputy Reichsminister
in the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories (Reichministerium
für die Besetzten Ostgebiete or Ostministerium).
He was born in Göttingen,
the son of a government official. He was
educated at the Gymnasium in Soest, graduating
in 1911. In 1912, he became a Fahnenjunker
(cadet officer) with Infanterieregiment
68 (Koblenz), passing his officer exam in
1913. During World
War I he fought with
Infanterieregiment 363 on the Western Front,
winning the Iron Cross twice. In 1917, he
was injured and captured by the French.
Released in March 1920, he left the army
with the rank of Oberleutnant.
After the war, he worked for Deutsche Erdöl AG
before studying political science at the Universities of Bonn and then
Würzburg. He graduated with a Ph.D. in 1922 and joined Gelsenkirchen
mining firm to work in the legal department. He married Dorothee Capell
in 1925.
In April 1928, he joined
the NSDAP and became a local group leader in October
1929. In September 1930, he became a member
of the Reichstag and in January 1931 NSDAP
Gauleiter in north Westphalia (Westfalen).
Following the Nazi seizure of power Meyer
was appointed Reichsstatthalter (deputy governor)
of Lippe und Schaumburg-Lippe in May 1933 and he was made Staatsminister (governor)
of the federal government for Lippe und
Schaumburg-Lippe in August 1936.
In 1939,
Meyer was made Chef der Zivilverwaltung and
in 1941 he
became deputy to Alfred Rosenberg in the
Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern
Territories. Meyer was responsible for the
departments of politics, administration
and economics. In this role he directed
the exploitation of the occupied Soviet areas, the suppression and murder of
its inhabitants, particularly Jews, and
the organization of slave
labor.
He attended the Wannsee
conference in January 1942 as a representative for Rosenberg. In
November of that year he was also made Reichsverteidigungskommissar
(Reich Defense Commissioner) of Defense District VI (northern Westphalia).
Meyer was found dead on April 11, 1945, by the River
Weser, probably a suicide.