9 Among the more influential men in the early period of the movement, Hess, Rosenberg, Scheubner-Richter, Ludecke and many other second-rank names, and above all Hitler himself, were not born in the so-called Old Empire. Also Darre, the future Minister of Food and Agriculture, his State Secretary Backe, and Gauleiter Bohle came from the so called Auslands-deutschtum (persons of German descent born or living beyond the borders of Germany).