# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/robert-ley
# Generated: 2026-09-02T06:53:11.415Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/robert-ley"
name: "Robert Ley"
slug: "robert-ley"
description: "Head of the German Labour Front for its entire twelve-year existence, he replaced Germany's trade unions with a state apparatus that funneled workers into rearmament and built Strength Through Joy — then awaited trial at Nuremberg and hanged himself in his cell."
tagline: "German Nazi politician; indicted by the International Military Tribunal for war crimes (1890-1945)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-2008-0922-501%2C_Robert_Ley.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "Germany"
  isoCode: "DE"
category:
  name: "Politicians"
  slug: "politicians"
profileType:
  name: "Politician"
  slug: "politician"
birthDate: "1890-02-15"
deathDate: "1945-10-25"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           59.03
  momentum:             0
  historical:           26.575672
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Politicians"
    slug: "politicians"
  - name: "Politician"
    slug: "politician"
  - name: "Politics"
    slug: "politics"
  - name: "Chemistry"
    slug: "chemistry"
  - name: "Literature"
    slug: "literature"
  - name: "Germany"
    slug: "germany"
  - name: "Europe"
    slug: "europe"
  - name: "20th Century"
    slug: "20th-century"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q58645"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Robert%20Ley"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%AA_%D9%84%D9%89"
    title: "روبيرت لى"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%82_%D0%9B%D0%B5%D0%B9"
    title: "Роберт Лей"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Роберт Лай"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Robert Ley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Robert Ley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Robert Ley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Robert Ley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Ρόμπερτ Λάι"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Robert Ley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Robert Ley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Robert Ley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Robert Ley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%AA_%D9%84%D8%A7%DB%8C"
    title: "روبرت لای"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Robert Ley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Robert Ley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%98_%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%99"
    title: "רוברט ליי"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Robert Ley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Robert Ley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Robert Ley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Robert Ley"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%AD%E3%83%99%E3%83%AB%E3%83%88%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A9%E3%82%A4"
    title: "ロベルト・ライ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%83%A0%E1%83%9D%E1%83%91%E1%83%94%E1%83%A0%E1%83%A2_%E1%83%9A%E1%83%90%E1%83%98"
    title: "რობერტ ლაი"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://cs.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://es.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://it.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Ley"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  The son of a Rhine Province farmer, Ley flew in the First World War, earned the Iron Cross Second Class, and after the armistice finished a doctorate in chemistry and worked as a food chemist for IG Farben. Radicalized during the French occupation of the Ruhr, he joined the Nazi Party in 1925, became Gauleiter of the Southern Rhineland, entered the Reichstag in 1930, and in 1932 replaced Gregor Strasser as the party's organizational chief. In 1933 Hitler made him head of the newly founded German Labour Front after the regime crushed the unions; from that perch he oversaw rearmament programs, launched Strength Through Joy, and presided over the Volkswagen project. His influence waned after 1939 as Todt and later Speer eclipsed him and his alcoholism became conspicuous, but Hitler kept him in the inner circle until the final months. American paratroopers captured him near the Austrian border in May 1945; he committed suicide in October while awaiting trial at Nuremberg for war crimes and crimes against humanity.