Today is a not so nice anniversary, on January 31, 1933 Adolf Hitler took power in Germany.
Here is the translation of an article about the humble "leader" who was not at all interested in money.
Industrious and modest – this is how Adolf Hitler presented himself to the Germans. But behind the facade, the "Fuhrer" was a very rich man. That's how the Nazi got his millions.
"Like in a fairy tale!" Joseph Goebbels enthused in his diary. "Hitler is Chancellor". However, what happened on January 30, 1933 in Berlin was less a "fairy tale" than a nightmare. Adolf Hitler, the "leader" of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, had reached his goal - soon he set about establishing his dictatorship.
Hitler presented himself to the Germans as a modest man, as a head of state who put his life in the service of the "people" without any major personal claims. Money? Assets? Rather non-existent with Hitler, at least that's what it seemed.
This also fits with a report from the party newspaper "Völkischer Beobachter" from February 1933, according to which the "Führer" as "Reich Chancellor" does not receive a salary, "since he earns his own income as a writer." A noble gesture at a time when Germany was still suffering from the effects of the global economic crisis? Hardly likely.
Best-selling author Hitler
As early as 1934, Hitler no longer wanted anything to do with this reticence when it came to money – and henceforth cashed in on his salary as Reich Chancellor. And not only this one. When the aged head of state Paul von Hindenburg died in early 1934, Hitler immediately assumed the powers of the Reich President. In addition, his salary and expense allowance, as the historian Volker Ullrich writes in his biography of the "Führer". In addition to the Chancellor's annual salary of around 29,000 Reichsmark plus 18,000 Reichsmark expense allowance, of course.
For Hitler, however, these amounts were just "peanuts". The really big money flowed into his pocket from other sources for a long time, but especially after he took power in January 1933. And actually, as reported in the "Völkischer Beobachter", through his work as a "writer". "Mein Kampf", Hitler's pamphlet published in two volumes during the 1920s, became a bestseller over time.
Especially after couples who tied the knot were treated to Hitler's "Mein Kampf" at the wedding by the registry office. The royalties due to the dictator just shot up. Hitler also received vast sums of money from another source: the Reichspost. The likeness of the despot "decorated" postage stamps, and from 1937 Hitler took a certain percentage of the proceeds. Year after year, million after million.