Hitler's secret millions: Nazi leader dodged £1.75m in tax and even charged a royalty for his image to be used on stamps, new documentary claims 
 
 Nazi dictator 'refused' to pay tax on the millions he earned from image rights 
 
 Hitler's will tried to cover up any trace of his secret assets 
 
 The secret was discovered by a German Jew working for British Intelligence 
 
 
 
 New documentary estimates Hitler could be worth more than £3 billion 
 
 Relatives of Hitler could even receive cash from his hidden bank accounts 
 
 
 
 Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler squirrelled away a massive fortune using cash he had 'earned' from his image rights and personal appearances as well as his refusal to pay £1.75 million in income tax. 
 
 
 
 The Fuhrer even levied a royalty on German stamps featuring his image, with the cash hidden in his secret bank accounts. 
 
 
 
 The mystery surrounds a secret will discovered by Herman Rothman, a German Jew who operated with British intelligence during the Second World War. 
 
 
 
 Adolf Hitler, pictured charged fees for personal appearances and even received a royalty from his image being used on stamps 
 
 Mr Rothman, who is now in his 90s, has told on television for the first time how he discovered Hitler's secret will which left intriguing clues to his secret wealth. 
 
 
 
 The former intelligence officer provided a fascinating insight to documentary makers behind Channel 5's The Hunt For Hitler's Missing Millions. 
 
 After Hitler's suicide in his Berlin's bunker in 1945, Mr Rothman's Counter Intelligence Unit spotted a man dressed in civilian clothes they believed was an on-the-run Nazis. 
 
 
 
 One of Mr Rothman's colleagues, who was a tailor in civilian life, spotted the unusual cut of the man's jacket - which contained a seven-page document containing Hitler's last will and testament. 
 
 Free copies of his book, Mein Kampf, pictured, were given to newly-wed couples although Hitler received a royalty for each copy printed 
 
 According to Mr Rothman: 'We were absolutely shocked by what we found.' 
 
 
 
 Mr Rothman was able to instantly translate the document, which was written shortly before Hitler shot himself on April 29, 1945. 
 
 
 
 The first section was an rant against the Jews blaming them for starting the conflict. The second section was an attempt by the doomed dictator to hide the extent of his wealth. 
 
 
 
 According to the documentary makers: 'What emerges is a picture of a smart property and art investor, a shrewd manager of cash with a love of money. 
 
 
 
 'Hitler’s actual tax records survive and suggest that he was a "cash-in-hand" businessman and a serial tax evader. He owed the German taxman a small fortune when he became supreme leader in 1933. 
 
 'Hitler had other ingenious ways of making money. The film reveals how he and his various business 
 
 advisers and managers managed to copyright and sell his image rights and how he trained himself to 
 
 make public appearances and speeches, for which he took payment.' 
 
 The documentary claims that Hitler was shrewd investor who was able to hide his fortune which could be worth more than £1 billion in today's money 
 
 One contributor to the documentary said that relatives of Hitler could even claim a portion of those missing billions or earn a continuing wage from the Nazi's image rights. 
 
 Another contributor Dr Cris Whetton tells the programme: 'He felt paying taxes was beneath him.' 
 
 
 
 Dr Whetton, who has written a book on Hitler's finances, believes he was worth in the region of 1.1 billion Reichsmarks - a staggering £3.6 billion in today's money. 
 
 
 
 Dr Whetton said much of Hitler's wealth was due to the state giving a free copy of his book Mein Kampf to couples on their wedding day, with a royalty being paid into the Fuhrer's personal coffers. 
 
 Dr Whetton added: 'He loved money. He just wasn't prepared to pay for it.' 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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 Adolf Hitler owed the equivalent of £1.75million in unpaid taxes, a TV documentary team found. 
 
 The evil dictator and author of Mein Kampf falsified his returns and ­pretended to live on a modest income while stashing cash in secret bank accounts. 
 
 Hitler had numerous money-making schemes and even copyrighted his own image, which earned him royalties for every stamp sold that featured his face. 
 
 Much of this was hidden from Germany’s tax authorities after his rise to power. Income ­included cash for speeches and ­public appearances, ­ according to Channel 5’s The Hunt For Hitler’s Missing Millions. 
 
 The programme ­estimates that by 1938 Hitler – often ­pictured saluting with his hand out – owed 400,000 marks in back tax, worth £1.75million now. 
 
 A will he signed hours ­before he shot himself in a Berlin bunker in April 1945 hid the fact he was a billionaire. 
 
 After the war the Allies ­thought at first he was worth only £500,000 in today’s money. 
 
 But a 1938 will revealed his relatives would have received the modern ­equivalent of £120million from his ­luxury ­properties and art collection. 
 
 In his book Hitler’s Fortune, Dr Chris Whetton estimates the dictator’s wealth at its peak was likely to have been ­1.1 billion reichsmarks, £3.6billion today. 
 
 Dr Whetton says in the programme: “He felt paying taxes was beneath him.” 
 
 Large sections of Hitler’s tax returns from 1925 to 1933 were blank. 
 
 Dr Whetton added: “The tax authorities always wanted to know what happened to the ­collections and admission fees for the ­meetings he spoke at and he would say, ‘I don’t know. It doesn’t come to me. It goes to the National Socialist Party.’” 
 
 When Hitler became German leader he was exempt from tax and ordered his book Mein Kampf – My Struggle – to be given free to every newlywed couple. 
 
 Dr Whetton said: “The state bought the books to present to every married couple and Hitler reaped the profits.” 
 
 At its peak Mein Kampf earned him one million reichsmarks a year without paying a pfennig in tax. 
 
 Dr Whetton said: “By the time we get to 1944 he’s ­definitely in the billions of ­reichsmarks... which wouldn’t have been far off billions of euros today. He loved money. He just wasn’t prepared to do much work for it.” 
 
 (Image: PA) 
 
 Hitler kept a fortune stashed in bank ­accounts that were controlled by ­business ­manager Max Amann. These are not mentioned in his will. 
 
 US agents in 1944 found one holding the foreign royalties from his book. It would be worth £210million today. 
 
 Dr Whetton said: “Only Amann saw the books. When it was near the end of an ­accounting period Amann personally brought the ­account books to wherever Hitler was.” 
 
 Amann died in 1957 taking the secret of Hitler’s money to his grave. 
 
 British Intelligence officer Hermann Rothman, who discovered the 1945 ­will, said: “I think that document was for ­consumption by the German people. He wanted to show he had very little.” 
 
 The Hunt For Hitler’s Missing Millions, Channel 5, 8pm, Friday.
– Amid Adolf Hitler's staggeringly horrific crimes against humanity, some pretty heavy-duty tax evasion appears to have been overlooked, a new British documentary set to air Friday finds. The Hunt for Hitler's Missing Millions argues that the Fuhrer had plenty of money-making schemes, the Mirror reports: He copyrighted his own image, allowing him to rake in royalties from stamps sold bearing his image; was paid for public speeches; and made at least $1 million a year in royalties from Mein Kampf, thanks in part to the fact that a copy was given to all German couples on their wedding day. The documentary makers believe that Hitler owed at least $3 million in back taxes (in today's dollars) by 1938—though tax authorities were presumably a little reluctant to launch an investigation. "Hitler's actual tax records survive and suggest that he was a 'cash-in-hand' businessman and a serial tax evader. He owed the German taxman a small fortune when he became supreme leader in 1933," one of the documentary makers tells the Daily Mail. The unpaid taxes added to a secret fortune that Hitler's Fortune author Chris Whetton, a contributor to the documentary, believes added up to more than a billion Reichsmarks, or more than $6 billion in today's money, at its apex. Hitler "felt paying taxes was beneath him," says Whetton, who believes Hitler's billions could still be stashed in secret accounts. (It's not the only claim of secret Nazi riches.)