Robert Ley was a devoted member of the German Nazi Party in the 1930s and served Adolph Hitler by breaking up the trade unions and incorporating them into the German Labor Front. During World War II Ley participated in the recruitment of slave labor to help the war effort. After the defeat of Germany the International Military Tribunal (IMT) indicted Ley for war crimes associated with these activities, but he killed himself before his trial at Nuremberg with 23 other alleged Nazi war criminals.

Ley was born on February 15, 1890 in Niederbreidenbach, Germany. He studied chemistry at the universities of Jena and Boon and earned a doctorate in natural science. During World War I Ley served as a fighter pilot and was shot down and taken prisoner by the French. Following the war he entered German industry, working as a chemist for I.G. Farben from 1920 to 1928. His promising career...