A Rich Hitler Evaded Taxes, Magazine Says

Adolf Hitler was a tax evader who became the richest man in the Nazi hierarchy, a West German magazine said Friday.

Munich-based Quick magazine said the Nazi dictator got officials to write off his tax debts while amassing a fortune through payments from industrialists and sales of his book, “Mein Kampf.”

Quick based its article on a book called “Hitler’s Money,” written by Wulf G. Schwarzwaller.

The magazine said that when Hitler became German chancellor in 1933 he told the public he would decline his yearly salary of 29,200 marks and an annual expense account of 18,000 marks. At the time, the average German worker earned an annual salary of about 1,200 marks.

Hitler quietly had his salary and allowances reinstated in 1934, Quick said.

Future Exemption

That same year he also persuaded Fritz Reinhard, head of the Finance Ministry, to write off his tax debt of 405,494 marks and exempt Hitler from paying any future taxes, Quick said.

The sum was easily worth a small fortune.

“The people did not know that the ‘Fuehrer’ who used the political slogan ‘public benefit before self’ worked boldly from the time he took power to free himself from all taxes,” the weekly magazine said in the issue that went on sale Friday.

It said one source of Hitler’s fortune was royalties from “Mein Kampf,” which outlined his goals for more German territory and his hatred of Jews.

The book was practically mandatory reading for everyone in the Third Reich, and newlyweds were presented with a copy paid for by the state after Hitler took power, the magazine said.

By 1934, Hitler was earning up to 2 million marks in royalties annually, Quick said.

It said the Third Reich’s Postal Ministry paid Hitler 50 million marks to use his picture on postage stamps shortly before the start of World War II. In addition, Hitler received about 100 million marks annually from German industrialists for his private use, the magazine said.