Heinrich Hoffmann

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Heinrich Hoffmann (September 12, 1885 in Fürth - December 11, 1957 in Munich) was a German photographer best known for his many published photographs of Adolf Hitler. Hoffmann joined the NSDAP in 1920 and was chosen by its new leader Hitler as his official photographer. The two became close friends. Hoffmann's photographs were published as postage stamps, postcards, posters and picture books. Following Hoffmann's suggestion, both he and Hitler received royalties from all uses of Hitler's image (even on postage stamps), which made the photographer wealthy.

Hoffmann married Therese "Nelly" Baumann in 1911. Their daughter Henriette ("Henny") was born on February 3, 1913 and followed by a son, Heinrich ("Heini") on October 24, 1916. Henriette married Reichsjugendführer (National Youth Leader) Baldur von Schirach, who provided introductions to many of Hoffmann's picture books, in 1932. Therese Hoffmann died a sudden and unexpected death in 1928.

During the Third Reich Hoffmann wrote many books on Hitler such as The Hitler Nobody Knows (1933) and Jugend um Hitler (1934). In 1938 Hoffmann wrote three books, Hitler in Italy, Hitler befreit Sudetenland and Hitler in seiner Heimat. His last book, Das Antlitz des Führers, was written shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Hoffmann and his second wife Erna introduced his Munich studio assistant Eva Braun to Hitler. Braun later became Hitler's mistress and ultimately, his wife on April 29, 1945 and partner in suicide the following day.

After the war Hoffmann was tried and sentenced to four years for Nazi profiteering. Upon release from prison in 1950 he settled again in Munich where he died 7 years later at age 72.

A large archive of his photographs was seized by the United States government during the Allied occupation of Germany. These are now held by the National Archives and Records Administration and comprise an important source of images for scholars of the Third Reich. These photographs are considered to be in the public domain in the US owing to their status as seized Nazi property (otherwise their copyrights would not yet have expired).^[1]

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