Heinrich Hoffmann Program Notes and Sheet Music

Heinrich Hoffmann (12 September 1885 – 15 December 1957) was a German photographer, publisher, and politician. He was Adolf Hitler's official photographer and a member of the Nazi Party. Hoffmann's photographs were a significant part of Hitler's propaganda campaign to present himself and the Nazi Party as a significant mass phenomenon. He received royalties from all uses of Hitler's image, even on postage stamps, which made him a millionaire over the course of Hitler's rule. After the Second World War he was tried and sentenced to 10 years in prison for war profiteering.

Hoffmann was born in Fürth, Bavaria, Germany, on 12 September 1885. He trained as a photographer and opened his own studio in Munich in 1909. He joined the Nazi Party in 1919 and became Hitler's personal photographer in 1923. Hoffmann's photographs were used in Nazi propaganda posters, films, and books. He also published a number of books of his own photographs, including "Hitler in Life and Work" (1935) and "The Official Picture Book of the NSDAP" (1937).

After the Second World War, Hoffmann was arrested by the Allies and charged with war crimes. He was convicted of war profiteering and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was released from prison in 1955 and died in Munich in 1957.