[1] The son of a shipmaster who died when Rasmussen was still a young child, he attended middle school in Nakskov and in 1894 began an apprenticeship in Copenhagen.

In 1898 Rasmussen moved to Germany in order to take classes in mechanical and electrical engineering at the Hochschule Mittweida university of applied sciences in Saxony.

However, he was relegated two years later due to inadequate academic achievements and continued his studies at the newly established University of Applied Sciences of Zwickau where he took his exams in 1902.

[2] The Wall Street crash of 1929 and the following Great Depression hit Rasmussen's businesses hard, as demand for motor-bikes and passenger cars slumped.

The outcome was the founding of Auto Union in Summer 1932 with just four component businesses, being Audi, DKW, Horch and the car producing piece of Wanderer.