Hitler was an incredibly rich man when he wrote his last will and testament in the bunker where
he would take his life. He had amassed a fortune from the sales of Mein Kamf, business deals,
and private investments. But who got Hitler’s money after his death? What else was in his
will? And could there be a massive fortune hidden away somewhere waiting to be found?
As Nazi Germany fell during the end of World War II,
Hitler committed suicide and transferred his power to other members of the Nazi regime.
But before he did this he wrote a will. There were three copies of the will distributed,
and all may have been lost to time if it had not been for a British intelligence officer
named Herman Rothman. He was deployed to Germany to interrogate high level Nazi officials for
information. While on assignment he spotted a suspicious man dressed in civilian clothing.
Rothman decided something didn’t seem right, and that the man warranted further investigation.
He discovered the German man was carrying falsified documents. It turned out the
impostor was Heinz Lorenz. Lorenz was the press secretary for Joseph Goebbels,
the man who was made Chancellor of Nazi Germany by Hitler just before he committed suicide.
Sewn into one of the seams of Lorenz’s jack were three documents. They were: a final
political statement written by Hitler himself, a document written by Goebbels, and Hitler’s will.
As you might expect the political statement was wildly racist against the Jewish people.
Hitler blamed them for his own shortcomings, and for causing Nazi Germany to lose the war.
Thus reinforcing what a lunatic Hitler was. But what was in his will? Who got his fortune?
The first thing Hitler talks about in his will is his new wife,
Eva Braun. Up until right before their double suicide, Eva and Adolf were not yet married.
Eva was the aid to Hitler’s official photographer. They first met during a photo shoot of the führer.
Hitler and Braun developed a relationship, and when opportunities presented themselves,
spent time alone together. Hitler explained in his will that he was too busy to marry, and that was
why they did it right before their deaths. Some scholars have their own theories about why Hitler
waited so long to marry Braun, but according to Hitler’s will, at the end of April in 1945,
the two were joined in matrimony. Hitler goes on to declare that Eva
Braun made the decision under her own freewill to commit suicide with him.
Whether this is true or not, we will never know, but in his will Hitler claims this to be the case.
In the next part of his will Hitler discusses what will happen to his belongings and money.
He states that everything he possesses that has any value should be given to the Nazi Party.
However, Hitler writes it in a way that seems as if he doesn’t own much of anything.
This is far from the truth as he amassed a fortune from the sales of Mein Kampf,
as well as through royalties on images of himself, and business deals. Hitler continues by saying
that if the Nazi Party does not survive that his belongings should be given to the State,
and if the State doesn’t survive then all is lost, and his wishes are no longer necessary.
Hitler does make specific arrangements for his paintings and pictures, which he had collected
over the years. They were to be given to Lintz, Austria, the town in which he grew up. There he
wanted the art to be displayed in a gallery for the public, and not as a private collection.
It is in the next part of the will that Hitler mentions his money. Yet,
he still does not acknowledge the massive sum he has accumulated over the course of his rise
to power. Hitler gives Martin Bormann, his private secretary and Nazi official,
full legal authority to make decisions based on his will. Hitler states that everything of
sentimental value, and the funds necessary for a modest life, should be given to his brothers and
sisters. However, it would seem his own family was not quite as important as someone else.
Hitler goes on to say that above all Eva Braun’s mother should be taken care of.
He was more intentional in including her directly in his will than his own family.
This seems odd, but then again, Hitler was an odd man. He also put in his will
that all of his faithful co-workers, particularly his secretary Frau Winter,
should be looked after as well. There is no specific number or amount of money each
should receive, which means it was up to the discretion of Bormann. However, we know that
Hitler’s fortune was massive, so if his last will and testament was followed, there was a hefty sum
of money that could have been distributed among the parties described in the will.
Hitler concludes his will by saying that he, and his now wife Eva Braun, would rather escape
disgrace by choosing death over being captured. He also included that once he took Eva’s life and
then his own their bodies were to be immediately burnt. He signed the will: “Given in Berlin, 29th
April 1945, 4:00 a.m. A. Hitler.” Below his name the three witnesses of the will signed as well.
They were: Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Martin Bormann, and Colonel Nicholaus von Below.
It was not a very long will, and did not contain many specifics, but it did give us
a glimpse into what would happen to Hitler’s belongings once he took his own life. However,
this begs the question: what really happened to all of Hitler’s possession and money?
The surprising thing is, we aren’t entirely sure.
We know for a fact that Mein Kampf made Hitler very rich. By the time of his death in 1945 the
book had sold about eight million copies, and had been translated into 16 languages.
It is estimated that Hitler earned around one million dollars per year in royalties.
Some of this money was used to buy his Alpine retreat—named the Berghof, which was located
near the town of Berchtesgaden in Germany. This was not a cheap estate, so Hitler must have spent
a significant amount of money on it. He also felt he had enough money that once he became führer, he
forwent the salary associated with the position. In Mein Kampf, and other writings, Hitler talked
about his earlier life in poverty and hardship. He was a struggling artist in Vienna before
fighting in World War I and the publication of his influential book. He talked about how he overcame
all odds to succeed and make enough money to live comfortably. Once he had money it was reported
that he spent millions on gifts and payments to buy the loyalty of politicians and businessmen.
The payments would allow him to be able to call in favors and make others dependent on him.
Obviously this would not have been possible without massive sums of money.
Once he became führer Hitler no longer thought of there being a divide between his personal
money and that of the Nazi Party. He would use funds from both his own wealth and the State to
buy property, art, and make business deals. It is also well established that before becoming
the führer Hitler was a tax evader. He was in debt through back taxes until he rose to power.
And once in power the money continued to flow into his pockets. Big businesses would
make huge contributions to his efforts, so that they could secure military and
infrastructure contracts. It is estimated that from the time he started as chancellor,
until his suicide in 1945, Hitler received over three billion dollars in corporate payments.
So what happened to all of Hitler’s money? Is it still
out there in the world waiting to be discovered?
In his will Hitler says he wanted all his property and wealth to go to the Nazi Party.
However, we know that the Nazi’s were defeated, and therefore, the will defaults to the next
beneficiary which was the State. In a way the State did get much of Hitler’s wealth.
At the end of the war the Allies gave the copyrights of Mein Kampf to the Bavarian
government. There was still a lot of potential money that could have been brought in by owning
the copyrights to the book. However, the government banned any reprinting of the
work in Germany, and therefore, those funds stopped coming in. Both Hitler’s Berghof
estate in the Alps and his apartment in Munich were also given to Bavaria. So it would seem
that a lot of Hitler’s assets did actually go to the State like he wanted in his will.
However, most of this was in the form of physical and intellectual property.
What happened to his expensive art collections and actual money?
There are accounts of Hitler’s house in the Alps being bombed by Allied forces and then looted by
the soldiers. It is possible that much of the artwork that Hitler had collected was stolen
during this time. We also don’t know exactly what was in Hitler’s house when it was raided.
We know the Nazis liked to create secret passages and bunkers. If there were such secrets within
Berghof perhaps the soldiers who found them were able to get away with money and other valuables.
In 1952 what remained of Hitler’s Berghof house was blown up by the Bavarian government
to keep it from attracting tourists and people who may have still shared Hitler’s ideologies.
With the destruction of the house anything that may have been hidden within
would have been lost. Hitler’s apartment in Munich is still there,
but it has been converted into a police station instead of a residence.
So it would seem that the Bavarian government did in fact receive some of Hitler’s possession
as per his will. However, when trying to follow the actual money, and where it went,
things become a bit unclear. Since his fortune was so intertwined with the money of the Nazi Party,
it is possible that much of his wealth was spent on the war effort at the end of World War II.
That being said, is it possible that some of the money and valuables that once belonged to Hitler
were smuggled out of Nazi Germany by deserters and officers trying to escape Allied forces? Yes,
it’s possible. However, we may never know how much of Hitler’s fortune was disseminated this way.
Hitler knew he would lose World War II, and rather than being tried for his crimes, he decided to
take his own life and that of his brand new bride. Just before he committed suicide Hitler did write
a will, and in it he laid out what to do with his possessions. But he was somewhat vague about the
extent of his actual wealth in the document. It would seem that most of what Hitler owned
went to the Bavarian State, however, his fortune is not completely accounted for.
Perhaps some of Hitler’s money and valuables are still out there waiting to be discovered.
Or perhaps everything he had and owned was lost or plundered during the war that he started.
Now watch “How Rich Was Hitler (Where Did All His Money Come From).”
Or check out “Hitler's Actual Plan for Taking Over America.”