Nazi poster girl who was declared the ideal Aryan baby in propaganda material is revealed to have been JEWISH

Baby picture of Hessy Taft submitted to Nazi contest by Berlin photographer

Believed to have been chosen by Nazi progaganda chief Joseph Goebbels

Image subsequently appeared on front cover of a magazine and postcards



An 80-year-old Jewish woman has spoken of how a picture of her at six-months-old was declared the image of a 'perfect Aryan baby' by the Nazi party and used in propaganda material.

Hessy Taft was taken by her mother to well-known Berlin photographer Hans Ballin to have her baby photograph taken in 1935.

Unbeknown to her family, Mr Ballin submitted the picture to a competition run by the Nazi party to find the 'perfect Aryan baby'.

Hessy Taft, an 80-year-old Jewish woman, has spoken of how a picture of her at six-months-old was declared the image of a 'perfect Aryan baby' by the Nazi party and used in propaganda material

Prof Taft told Germany's Bild newspaper: 'I can laugh about it now. But if the Nazis had known who I really was, I wouldn't be alive.'

The picture was believed to have been chosen as the winner by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, The Telegraph has reported.

Prof Taft's mother, Pauline Levinsons, was unaware the picture had been submitted to the competition until she saw her daughter on the front cover of a Nazi family magazine some months later.

She confronted the photographer, who told her: 'I wanted to make the Nazis ridiculous.'

The image also went on to appear on postcards. The Nazi party, however, never discovered the true identity of the baby girl.

Prof Taft, who is now a chemistry professor in New York, recently handed the magazine featuring her baby photograph on the cover to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel.

Prof Taft, who is now a chemistry professor in New York, recently handed the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel the magazine featuring her baby photograph on the cover

Goebbels played a key role in implementing Hitler's agenda after he was put in charge of the party's propaganda machine.



He organised attacks against Jewish people, banned them from the world of the arts and media, censored the news and supported Nazi propaganda films.



As the Second World War turned in favour of the Allies, he increased his propaganda in order to convince the German people of the idea of 'total war' and mobilization.



Goebbels killed himself and his wife, and their six children with cyanide capsules the day after Hitler in 1945.

The picture was believed to have been chosen as the winner by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels (pictured)

Last week it was reported historians had discovered Hitler was a tax dodger who hid a vast fortune across several Swiss bank accounts.



Documents have emerged showing the dictator amassed hundreds of millions of pounds in today’s money, which he concealed from the German people.



It appeared to vanish completely after his death, along with his substantial art collection.



But historians have now managed to trace the money through tax documents and bank statements.

