Magda and Joseph Goebbels
Photo: Getty Images
Germany's richest family: Goebbels' descendents
Nazi propaganda minister's son from previous marriage inherited war profiteer's fortune, bought large share in BMW with half-brother.
In 1931, Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany's propaganda minister, married Magda Quandt. Seven decades later, her descendents are counted among the country's wealthiest families.
Magda's children from a previous marriage inherited the family fortune and are their expansive estate is thought to be worth no less than 40 billion dollars.
The Quandt family holds a 46.7 percent stake in BMW and is the owner of German supermarket giant Lidl and Aldi. German magazine Manager crowned the family as the richest in Germany.
Magda and Joseph Goebbels with their six children and Harald (Photo: Getty Images)
In 1921, Magda married Günther Quandt, a German industrialist, and later gave birth to a son, Harald. Eight years later, Magda left her husband, marrying Adolf Hitler's right hand man within two years. The Nazi leader even served as best man to Goebbels at the wedding.
Harald moved in with his mother and the German propagandist, living with the pair until 1939, when he joined the Nazi air force. He served as a lieutenant in the Luftwaffe until 1944 when he was injured and captured by Allied troops in Italy.
In 1945, while imprisoned in Benghazi, the young Harald received a letter sent by his mother from Hitler's bunker in Berlin, informing him that she had committed suicide with her husband and six children.
"It's likely that you'll be the only one to remain who can continue the tradition of our family," Magda wrote to her captive son.
Harald – Madga's only surviving descendent – inherited the Quandt family fortune along his with his half-brother Herbert. The family business had accumulated vast profits producing rifles and missiles for the Nazis, the British paper Times reported.
In the 1960s, Harald's half-brother saved German car giant BMW from collapsing, and the turnaround in the company's fortunes helped raise the Quandts to the top of the country's wealthy list.
Harald was killed in an airplane accident in Italy in 1967. Fifteen years later, his brother – who had helped him lead the family's holdings – also passed away.
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Harald's five daughters inherited the family fortune along with Herbert's widow and her two children. While Herbert's descendents have kept a public profile, Herbert's four living daughters have shied away from the public's eye.
