Bernhard Rust (30 September 1883 – 8 May 1945) was Minister of Science, Education and National Culture (Reichserziehungsminister) in Nazi Germany.

After passing the state teaching examination with the grade "gut" (i.e. "good")[3] in 1908, he became a high school teacher at Hanover's Ratsgymnasium, then served in the army during World War I.

He reached the rank of Oberleutnant, served as a company commander and was awarded the Iron Cross first and second class for bravery.

He was wounded in action and sustained a severe head injury, which caused serious mental and physical impairments for the rest of his life.

On 10 September 1925, Rust joined the National Socialist Working Association headed by Gregor Strasser.

This was an association of northern and western Gauleiter who supported the "socialist" wing of the Party until it was dissolved in 1926 following the Bamberg Conference.

[7] Shortly after Hitler became chancellor in January 1933, Rust was appointed as the Prussian Minister for Science, Culture and Public Education on 2 February.

He was made a member of the Prussian State Council on 11 July and the Academy for German Law when it was formed in October 1933.

[2] Rust also believed that non-Aryan science (such as Albert Einstein's "Jewish physics") was flawed and had what he felt to be a rational explanation for that view.

Before those failures, the rules of the reform had been printed in millions of copies intended for classroom use and published in numerous newspapers.