7. The Lucky Goebbels Child
Not all of the Goebbels children died that day. Magda’s son from her previous marriage, who had been raised in the Goebbels household, was not in the bunker when his parents killed themselves and the rest of their children. Harald Quandt had come of age during the war, and joined the Luftwaffe. That led to the luckiest break of his life. While serving as a lieutenant in Italy, Harald was captured by the Allies in 1944. He was thus safe and sound in a POW camp when his parents carried out their familial murder-suicide pact.
After his release in 1947, Harald went to work for his biological father. He helped rebuild Gunther Quandt’s businesses – a holding group of over 200 companies, including a 30% stake in BMW, and a 10% share of Daimler Benz. When his father passed away in 1954, Harald’s inheritance made him one of West Germany’s richest men. He was a shrewd businessman, and when he died in a plane crash in 1967, Harald Quandt left behind a fortune of about 1.5 billion Deutsche Marks. Today, his children and heirs are worth an estimated U$ 6 billion.
Also Read: Fascinating Facts About the Relatives of Nazis After WWII.
