Английская Википедия:Adolf Hitler's wealth and income
Шаблон:Short description Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945, earned millions of Reichsmarks (ℛℳ) throughout his political career, mainly through sales of his book Mein Kampf ("My Struggle") and his combined Chancellor's and President's salaries. After coming to power, Hitler made himself tax-exempt.[1]
Early life
Шаблон:Main Adolf Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 and grew up in a poor family in Braunau am Inn, a small Austrian village on the border with the Germany.Шаблон:Sfn 3 of his siblings —Gustav, Ida, and Otto— died in infancy due to common childhood diseases.Шаблон:Sfn Hitler's mother, Klara, was a homemaker; his father, Alois, unsuccessfully tried to establish a farm.Шаблон:Sfn After going through high school in Linz, he moved to Vienna where he was initially supported by his mother and orphan's benefits.Шаблон:Cn
Artistic ambitions
Once in Vienna, Hitler lived a Bohemian life alongside his childhood friend August Kubizek.Шаблон:Sfn The two shared a room rented from a local tailor. Hitler painted pictures, watercolors and copied postcards and sold them to tourists for a small profit.Шаблон:Sfn In 1907, he applied to join Vienna's Academy of Fine Arts, but was rejected due to a "lack of talent".Шаблон:Sfn In 1908, Hitler tried again, but was once again rejected.Шаблон:Sfn Shortly afterwards, Hitler ran out of money and was forced to live in homeless shelters and men's hostels.Шаблон:Sfn In 1913, Hitler received legacies from his deceased relatives and decided to move to Munich, a large German city located in Bavaria.Шаблон:Sfn
Mein Kampf sales
Hitler wrote his political manifesto and autobiography Mein Kampf ("My Struggle") in Landsberg prison while serving a sentence for high treason committed during the failed Beer Hall Putsch of 1923.Шаблон:Sfn Mein Kampf was printed by the Franz Eher Nachfolger publishing house and largely ignored at first, but sales began to boom in the late 1920s and early 1930s as economic depression and social unrest troubled Germany, factors which significantly boosted Hitler's popularity.Шаблон:Sfn After Hitler came to power in 1933, couples who married during the Nazi state were given a copy as a wedding gift.Шаблон:Sfn The book eventually became a best-seller within Germany, selling almost twelve million copies by the war's end.Шаблон:Sfn
Nazi Party funds
While hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic had crippled the German economy and plunged millions of German workers into unemployment, Hitler and his party received lavish donations from wealthy benefactors at home and abroad.Шаблон:Sfn The iconic American car maker and anti-Semite Henry Ford was reported to be one of the foreign supporters.Шаблон:Sfn Edwin and Helene Bechstein, part of a wealthy aristocratic family who sold pianos, supported Hitler financially.Шаблон:Sfn The Ruhr steel barons Fritz Thyssen and Gustav Krupp donated almost five million Reichsmarks to the Nazi Party over the course of the war.Шаблон:Sfn
Much of the party's income from donations was used to pay for Hitler's private projects, such as the Berghof and Eagle's Nest.Шаблон:Sfn He caused a minor controversy within leading elements of the party when he, in 1925, purchased a luxury Mercedes-Benz and a chauffeur to drive it for a total expenditure of Шаблон:Reichsmark.Шаблон:Sfn After examining Hitler's tax records from the Bavarian State Archives in Munich, economics journalist Wolfgang Zdral said, "He's driving a Mercedes, which cost incredible amounts of money at the time, can afford to go on travels and has enough money to finance his propaganda appearances. All of this is financed through a system of slush-funds, essentially the donation of larger and smaller benefactors".Шаблон:Sfn
Tax evasion
Throughout his rise to power, Hitler neglected to pay taxes on his income and allowances.Шаблон:Sfn In 1934, one year after becoming Chancellor, the tax office of Munich sent Hitler a fine of Шаблон:Reichsmark for failing to declare his income or file tax returns.Шаблон:Sfn He was given only eight days to pay off this debt.Шаблон:Sfn Hitler responded by ordering a state secretary of the ministry of finance to intervene, and became tax-exempt. The head of the Munich tax office declared: "All tax reports delivering substance for a tax obligation by the Führer are annulled from the start. The Führer is therefore tax-exempt."Шаблон:Sfn After the death of President Paul von Hindenburg, Hitler took over his office and claimed his salary as well.Шаблон:Sfn
In his last will and testament, Hitler left his entire estate to the German government: "What I own, as far as it is worth anything, belongs to the party. Should this no longer exist, the German state. Should the state also be destroyed, there is no need for a further decision on my part".Шаблон:Sfn
See also
References
Sources
Printed
Online
