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On May 12, 1941, Martin Bormann succeeded Rudolf Hess as Adolf Hitler's deputy. From the article:
"Martin Bormann | German Nazi leader
Martin Bormann, (born June 17, 1900, Wegeleben, near Halberstadt, Germany—died May 1945, Berlin), powerful party leader in Nazi Germany, one of Adolf Hitler’s closest lieutenants.
An avowed and vocal pan-German in his youth, Bormann participated in right-wing German Free Corps activities after the close of World War I. Bormann was imprisoned in 1924 for participation in a political murder, and after his release he joined the National Socialists. He became head of the Nazi press in Thuringia in 1926 and from 1928 held posts in the high command of the SA (Storm Troopers). In 1933 he became chief of staff to the deputy führer, Rudolf Hess.
Bormann, Martin
Bormann, Martin Martin Bormann, 1934. German Federal Archive (Bundesarchiv), Bild 183-R14128A
On May 12, 1941, Hitler appointed Bormann to fill the post of head of the party chancellery, succeeding Hess after the latter had made his quixotic flight to Scotland. Bormann thus became head of the administrative machinery of the Nazi Party, and through intrigue, party infighting, and his shrewd manipulation of Hitler’s weaknesses and eccentricities, he became a shadowy but extremely powerful presence in the Third Reich. He controlled all acts of legislation and all party promotions and appointments, and he had a broad influence on domestic policy questions concerning internal security. He controlled the personal access of others to Hitler and drew up the Führer’s schedule and appointments calendar, insulating him from the independent counsel of his subordinates. Bormann was a rigid and unbending guardian of Nazi orthodoxy; he was a major advocate of the persecution and extermination of Jews and Slavs, and he played a role in expanding the German slave labour program. He disappeared shortly after the death of Hitler, and it was presumed that he was either dead or in hiding. He was indicted August 29, 1945, along with other Nazi leaders, on charges of war crimes and was found guilty and sentenced to death in absentia by the International Military Tribunal at Nürnberg on October 1, 1946.
Later reports, especially in the 1960s, alleged that Bormann had escaped and had been living in South America, possibly in Paraguay. However, early in 1973 a Berlin forensic expert established “with near certainty” that one of two skeletons unearthed during construction in West Berlin in December 1972 was that of Bormann, and on April 11, 1973, West German authorities officially declared him dead. That skeleton was subjected to DNA testing in 1998, and investigators confirmed that the remains were those of Bormann."
"Martin Bormann | German Nazi leader
Martin Bormann, (born June 17, 1900, Wegeleben, near Halberstadt, Germany—died May 1945, Berlin), powerful party leader in Nazi Germany, one of Adolf Hitler’s closest lieutenants.
An avowed and vocal pan-German in his youth, Bormann participated in right-wing German Free Corps activities after the close of World War I. Bormann was imprisoned in 1924 for participation in a political murder, and after his release he joined the National Socialists. He became head of the Nazi press in Thuringia in 1926 and from 1928 held posts in the high command of the SA (Storm Troopers). In 1933 he became chief of staff to the deputy führer, Rudolf Hess.
Bormann, Martin
Bormann, Martin Martin Bormann, 1934. German Federal Archive (Bundesarchiv), Bild 183-R14128A
On May 12, 1941, Hitler appointed Bormann to fill the post of head of the party chancellery, succeeding Hess after the latter had made his quixotic flight to Scotland. Bormann thus became head of the administrative machinery of the Nazi Party, and through intrigue, party infighting, and his shrewd manipulation of Hitler’s weaknesses and eccentricities, he became a shadowy but extremely powerful presence in the Third Reich. He controlled all acts of legislation and all party promotions and appointments, and he had a broad influence on domestic policy questions concerning internal security. He controlled the personal access of others to Hitler and drew up the Führer’s schedule and appointments calendar, insulating him from the independent counsel of his subordinates. Bormann was a rigid and unbending guardian of Nazi orthodoxy; he was a major advocate of the persecution and extermination of Jews and Slavs, and he played a role in expanding the German slave labour program. He disappeared shortly after the death of Hitler, and it was presumed that he was either dead or in hiding. He was indicted August 29, 1945, along with other Nazi leaders, on charges of war crimes and was found guilty and sentenced to death in absentia by the International Military Tribunal at Nürnberg on October 1, 1946.
Later reports, especially in the 1960s, alleged that Bormann had escaped and had been living in South America, possibly in Paraguay. However, early in 1973 a Berlin forensic expert established “with near certainty” that one of two skeletons unearthed during construction in West Berlin in December 1972 was that of Bormann, and on April 11, 1973, West German authorities officially declared him dead. That skeleton was subjected to DNA testing in 1998, and investigators confirmed that the remains were those of Bormann."
Martin Bormann | German Nazi leader
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Martin Bormann: The Shadow Man | Hitler's Henchmen (12 of 12)
Martin Bormann, (born June 17, 1900, Wegeleben, near Halberstadt, Germany—died May 1945, Berlin), powerful party leader in Nazi Germany, one of Adolf Hitler’...
Thank you, my friend SGT (Join to see) for reminding us that on May 12, 1941, Martin Bormann succeeded Rudolf Hess as Adolf Hitler's deputy. Rudolf Hess had been captured in Great Britain after his failed and vain attempt to negotiate with the British.
Thankfully, he was killed in Berlin at the end of WWII. His remains were not unearthed until 1972 when "repairs at a railway station in West Berlin led to a human skeleton being uncovered."
Martin Bormann: The Shadow Man | Hitler's Henchmen (12 of 12)
Martin Bormann, (born June 17, 1900, Wegeleben, near Halberstadt, Germany—died May 1945, Berlin), powerful party leader in Nazi Germany, one of Adolf Hitler’s closest lieutenants.
An avowed and vocal pan-German in his youth, Bormann participated in right-wing German Free Corps activities after the close of World War I. Bormann was imprisoned in 1924 for participation in a political murder, and after his release he joined the National Socialists. He became head of the Nazi press in Thuringia in 1926 and from 1928 held posts in the high command of the SA (Storm Troopers). In 1933 he became chief of staff to the deputy führer, Rudolf Hess.
On May 12, 1941, Hitler appointed Bormann to fill the post of head of the party chancellery, succeeding Hess after the latter had made his quixotic flight to Scotland. Bormann thus became head of the administrative machinery of the Nazi Party, and through intrigue, party infighting, and his shrewd manipulation of Hitler’s weaknesses and eccentricities, he became a shadowy but extremely powerful presence in the Third Reich. He controlled all acts of legislation and all party promotions and appointments, and he had a broad influence on domestic policy questions concerning internal security. He controlled the personal access of others to Hitler and drew up the Führer’s schedule and appointments calendar, insulating him from the independent counsel of his subordinates. Bormann was a rigid and unbending guardian of Nazi orthodoxy; he was a major advocate of the persecution and extermination of Jews and Slavs, and he played a role in expanding the German slave labour program. He disappeared shortly after the death of Hitler, and it was presumed that he was either dead or in hiding. He was indicted August 29, 1945, along with other Nazi leaders, on charges of war crimes and was found guilty and sentenced to death in absentia by the International Military Tribunal at Nürnberg on October 1, 1946."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzCGxp8t_74
Background from historylearningsite.co.uk/nazi-germany/nazi-leaders/martin-bormann/
Martin Bormann - Citation: C N Trueman "Martin Bormann"
The History Learning Site, 26 May 2015. 11 May 2019.
Martin Bormann became one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germanyand some regarded Bormann as second only to Hitler in the party as a result of the power he gained during World War Two.
Bormann was born on June 17th, 1900, in Wegeleben. He was the son of a post-office employee. Bormann dropped out of education and went to work on a farm in Mecklenburg. He served for a short while in the German Army towards the end of World War One. When the war ended, Bormann joined the Freikorps (Free Corps). Members of the Freikorps believed that the German communists had stabbed Germany in the back during the war – hence her defeat. This was the so-called ‘dolchstusslegende’ They were very nationalistic and violently put down a communist uprising in Munich. Violence and the Freikorps seemed to go hand-in-hand. In March 1924, Bormann was sent to prison for 12 months for being an accomplice to the murder of Walther Kadow who was supposed to have betrayed Leo Schlageter, a Nazi ‘martyr’, to the French authorities during their occupation of the Ruhr.
When Bormann was released from prison, he joined the Nazi Party – as had many Freikorps men. He gained a reputation for administrative efficiency and in 1928, he became the party’s business manager. He was also attached to the SA Supreme Command. However, at this time the party was small with just 12 seats in the Reichstag. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 was to bring about a change in the party’s fortunes.
Bormann got married in 1929 – Hitler was a witness at the marriage.
In July 1933, Bormann became personal secretary to Rudolf Hess, the deputy leader of the party. In October 1933, Bormann was appointed a Reichsleiter in the Nazi Party and one month later, he was elected to the Reichstag.
From July 1933, after his appointment to be Hess’s secretary, Bormann cultivated friendships within the hierarchy of the party. He remained Hess’s personal secretary up to May 1941, when Hess fled to Scotland. Bormann’s association with Hess could have spelt the end of his career. However, his ability had been recognised and he was made head of the Party Chancellery in the same month that Hess fled. Bormann also probably knew how to handle Hitler as shortly after the flight of Hess – an action that infuriated Hitler – he gave to Hitler a German Shepherd – ‘Blondie’ – that was to become a favourite of Hitler’s.
By now, Bormann had become a master of knowing who he could work with and trust and who he could not. Seemingly working quietly in the shadows of Hess’s office, he gained an intimate knowledge of those in the Nazi Party’s hierarchy. Now as head of the Party Chancellery, he administered the ‘Adolf Hitler Endowment Fund of German Industry’. This was a huge fund of money – ‘voluntary’ contributions made by successful businessmen to Hitler. Bormann had the privileged task of allocating this money, much of which went to senior party figures – thus further cultivating his influence.
Despite his previous association with the denounced Hess, Hitler came to trust Bormann. He took charge of overseeing the Führer’s appointments, his personal finances and his paperwork. As such, Bormann acquired huge power within the Nazi hierarchy as he controlled who met with Hitler – something he could do on a daily basis. He also oversaw the development of homes for Nazi leaders at Berchtesgaden in the German Alps – an area where Hitler claimed he found peace.
Bormann became more and more dominant in the Nazi Party to such an extent that he seemingly controlled domestic legislation and appointments and promotions within the party. With Hitler concentrating his time on the war effort, Bormann was all but left clear to handle domestic policy.
In particular he tried to target the church in Nazi Germany. Bormann simply believed that there was no place for a Christian church in Germany and in 1942, he sent a confidential memo to all Gauleiters that the power of the church “must absolutely and finally be broken.”
An anti-Semite, Bormann also signed the documents that led to Jews in Germany being deported to the death camps set up by the Nazis in Poland. On October 9th, 1942, he signed a decree that stated that “the permanent elimination of the Jews from the territories of Greater Germany can no longer be carried out by emigration but by the use of ruthless force in the special camps of the East.” On July 1st, 1943, Bormann signed a decree which gave Adolf Eichmann total power over the ‘Jewish Problem’.
Bormann also shared Hitler’s hatred of Slavs. On August 19th, 1942, he issued a memo that stated “the Slavs are to work for us. In so far as we do not need them, they may die. Slav fertility is not desirable.”
As the war progressed, Bormann remained a loyal servant to Hitler. In the final weeks of the war, Bormann was at the Führerbunker in Berlin. He signed Hitler’s political testament and was a witness to Hitler’s marriage to Eva Braun. Hitler called him “my most loyal party member”.
On May 1st, 1945, he left the bunker with SS doctor Ludwig Stumpfegger, and the leader of the Hitler Youth, Artur Axman. Axman claimed that he saw the bodies of both Bormann and Stumpfegger as they tried to flee Berlin. However, Bormann’s body was never found and in October 1946, Bormann was tried in absentia at Nuremberg. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. The evidence presented at the Nuremberg Trials showed that Bormann knew about the mass deportation of Dutch Jews to Auschwitz.
In 1972, repairs at a railway station in West Berlin led to a human skeleton being uncovered. Dental records showed that it was Bormann. In 1999, a DNA test was done on it which confirmed the finding. It seems likely that Bormann’s body was covered by the rubble that Berlin was being reduced to as the war in Europe came to an end."
FYI LTC Stephen C. LTC (Join to see) Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Maj Marty Hogan SCPO Morris Ramsey SFC William Farrell SGT Mark Halmrast Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. SGT Gregory Lawritson CPL Dave Hoover SPC Margaret Higgins SSgt Brian Brakke 1stSgt Eugene Harless SSG William Jones SSG Diane R.
Thankfully, he was killed in Berlin at the end of WWII. His remains were not unearthed until 1972 when "repairs at a railway station in West Berlin led to a human skeleton being uncovered."
Martin Bormann: The Shadow Man | Hitler's Henchmen (12 of 12)
Martin Bormann, (born June 17, 1900, Wegeleben, near Halberstadt, Germany—died May 1945, Berlin), powerful party leader in Nazi Germany, one of Adolf Hitler’s closest lieutenants.
An avowed and vocal pan-German in his youth, Bormann participated in right-wing German Free Corps activities after the close of World War I. Bormann was imprisoned in 1924 for participation in a political murder, and after his release he joined the National Socialists. He became head of the Nazi press in Thuringia in 1926 and from 1928 held posts in the high command of the SA (Storm Troopers). In 1933 he became chief of staff to the deputy führer, Rudolf Hess.
On May 12, 1941, Hitler appointed Bormann to fill the post of head of the party chancellery, succeeding Hess after the latter had made his quixotic flight to Scotland. Bormann thus became head of the administrative machinery of the Nazi Party, and through intrigue, party infighting, and his shrewd manipulation of Hitler’s weaknesses and eccentricities, he became a shadowy but extremely powerful presence in the Third Reich. He controlled all acts of legislation and all party promotions and appointments, and he had a broad influence on domestic policy questions concerning internal security. He controlled the personal access of others to Hitler and drew up the Führer’s schedule and appointments calendar, insulating him from the independent counsel of his subordinates. Bormann was a rigid and unbending guardian of Nazi orthodoxy; he was a major advocate of the persecution and extermination of Jews and Slavs, and he played a role in expanding the German slave labour program. He disappeared shortly after the death of Hitler, and it was presumed that he was either dead or in hiding. He was indicted August 29, 1945, along with other Nazi leaders, on charges of war crimes and was found guilty and sentenced to death in absentia by the International Military Tribunal at Nürnberg on October 1, 1946."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzCGxp8t_74
Background from historylearningsite.co.uk/nazi-germany/nazi-leaders/martin-bormann/
Martin Bormann - Citation: C N Trueman "Martin Bormann"
The History Learning Site, 26 May 2015. 11 May 2019.
Martin Bormann became one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germanyand some regarded Bormann as second only to Hitler in the party as a result of the power he gained during World War Two.
Bormann was born on June 17th, 1900, in Wegeleben. He was the son of a post-office employee. Bormann dropped out of education and went to work on a farm in Mecklenburg. He served for a short while in the German Army towards the end of World War One. When the war ended, Bormann joined the Freikorps (Free Corps). Members of the Freikorps believed that the German communists had stabbed Germany in the back during the war – hence her defeat. This was the so-called ‘dolchstusslegende’ They were very nationalistic and violently put down a communist uprising in Munich. Violence and the Freikorps seemed to go hand-in-hand. In March 1924, Bormann was sent to prison for 12 months for being an accomplice to the murder of Walther Kadow who was supposed to have betrayed Leo Schlageter, a Nazi ‘martyr’, to the French authorities during their occupation of the Ruhr.
When Bormann was released from prison, he joined the Nazi Party – as had many Freikorps men. He gained a reputation for administrative efficiency and in 1928, he became the party’s business manager. He was also attached to the SA Supreme Command. However, at this time the party was small with just 12 seats in the Reichstag. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 was to bring about a change in the party’s fortunes.
Bormann got married in 1929 – Hitler was a witness at the marriage.
In July 1933, Bormann became personal secretary to Rudolf Hess, the deputy leader of the party. In October 1933, Bormann was appointed a Reichsleiter in the Nazi Party and one month later, he was elected to the Reichstag.
From July 1933, after his appointment to be Hess’s secretary, Bormann cultivated friendships within the hierarchy of the party. He remained Hess’s personal secretary up to May 1941, when Hess fled to Scotland. Bormann’s association with Hess could have spelt the end of his career. However, his ability had been recognised and he was made head of the Party Chancellery in the same month that Hess fled. Bormann also probably knew how to handle Hitler as shortly after the flight of Hess – an action that infuriated Hitler – he gave to Hitler a German Shepherd – ‘Blondie’ – that was to become a favourite of Hitler’s.
By now, Bormann had become a master of knowing who he could work with and trust and who he could not. Seemingly working quietly in the shadows of Hess’s office, he gained an intimate knowledge of those in the Nazi Party’s hierarchy. Now as head of the Party Chancellery, he administered the ‘Adolf Hitler Endowment Fund of German Industry’. This was a huge fund of money – ‘voluntary’ contributions made by successful businessmen to Hitler. Bormann had the privileged task of allocating this money, much of which went to senior party figures – thus further cultivating his influence.
Despite his previous association with the denounced Hess, Hitler came to trust Bormann. He took charge of overseeing the Führer’s appointments, his personal finances and his paperwork. As such, Bormann acquired huge power within the Nazi hierarchy as he controlled who met with Hitler – something he could do on a daily basis. He also oversaw the development of homes for Nazi leaders at Berchtesgaden in the German Alps – an area where Hitler claimed he found peace.
Bormann became more and more dominant in the Nazi Party to such an extent that he seemingly controlled domestic legislation and appointments and promotions within the party. With Hitler concentrating his time on the war effort, Bormann was all but left clear to handle domestic policy.
In particular he tried to target the church in Nazi Germany. Bormann simply believed that there was no place for a Christian church in Germany and in 1942, he sent a confidential memo to all Gauleiters that the power of the church “must absolutely and finally be broken.”
An anti-Semite, Bormann also signed the documents that led to Jews in Germany being deported to the death camps set up by the Nazis in Poland. On October 9th, 1942, he signed a decree that stated that “the permanent elimination of the Jews from the territories of Greater Germany can no longer be carried out by emigration but by the use of ruthless force in the special camps of the East.” On July 1st, 1943, Bormann signed a decree which gave Adolf Eichmann total power over the ‘Jewish Problem’.
Bormann also shared Hitler’s hatred of Slavs. On August 19th, 1942, he issued a memo that stated “the Slavs are to work for us. In so far as we do not need them, they may die. Slav fertility is not desirable.”
As the war progressed, Bormann remained a loyal servant to Hitler. In the final weeks of the war, Bormann was at the Führerbunker in Berlin. He signed Hitler’s political testament and was a witness to Hitler’s marriage to Eva Braun. Hitler called him “my most loyal party member”.
On May 1st, 1945, he left the bunker with SS doctor Ludwig Stumpfegger, and the leader of the Hitler Youth, Artur Axman. Axman claimed that he saw the bodies of both Bormann and Stumpfegger as they tried to flee Berlin. However, Bormann’s body was never found and in October 1946, Bormann was tried in absentia at Nuremberg. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. The evidence presented at the Nuremberg Trials showed that Bormann knew about the mass deportation of Dutch Jews to Auschwitz.
In 1972, repairs at a railway station in West Berlin led to a human skeleton being uncovered. Dental records showed that it was Bormann. In 1999, a DNA test was done on it which confirmed the finding. It seems likely that Bormann’s body was covered by the rubble that Berlin was being reduced to as the war in Europe came to an end."
FYI LTC Stephen C. LTC (Join to see) Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Maj Marty Hogan SCPO Morris Ramsey SFC William Farrell SGT Mark Halmrast Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. SGT Gregory Lawritson CPL Dave Hoover SPC Margaret Higgins SSgt Brian Brakke 1stSgt Eugene Harless SSG William Jones SSG Diane R.
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SP5 Jeannie Carle
Can't say I'm in the least unhappy he's dead. Should have died many years before he did.
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PO3 Donald Murphy
He lead a charmed life due to being able to play Hitler's buddies against each other. All respected and feared him as he had more of Hitler's ear than Eva Braun did. So he had the wherewithal to have a personal escort in and out of Berlin and as secretary, he would have the same position under Doenitz. So it's unlikely to think that he stayed in Berlin when his power base was outside. Also, he knew in 1942 that Germany was not going to win and would need to rebuild itself so "going down in flames" was not in his game plan.
Financially, an economic miracle happened to the new nation of West Germany, "thanks" to South American benefactors. Bormann was actually quite an astute investor/money-mover so its highly unlikely that a Skorzeny or Eichmann pulled it off. And as much as Bormann "talked about it" everything followed the plans he described.
Financially, an economic miracle happened to the new nation of West Germany, "thanks" to South American benefactors. Bormann was actually quite an astute investor/money-mover so its highly unlikely that a Skorzeny or Eichmann pulled it off. And as much as Bormann "talked about it" everything followed the plans he described.
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Possibly still alive. They never found his body. All "attempts" to find his body have been discredited by DNA. Martin's main claim to fame will be realizing in 1942 that Germany will not win the war. He starts setting up dummy funds and corporations in South America and starts funneling close to a quarter of Germany's GNP to these companies. He sets up a leadership structure there that operates in the background while at the same time, paying to keep it quiet. When Germany is "back to normal" in 1955, billions of dollars of "foreign investment" will pour into West Germany from these South American "interests."
Without this money, Germany would not have been able to play on the world market. This serves a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it keeps Germany from being poor/destitute which prevents another "savior" from showing up to save the day. But on the downside, Germany is not subservient, hand-to-mouth like the allies wanted/intended (especially France). From a criminal point of view, Bormann kept Hitler's enemies at war with each other making himself look the ultimate peacekeeper/peacemaker. This enabled him to be given the keys to the financial kingdom, so to speak.
Without this money, Germany would not have been able to play on the world market. This serves a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it keeps Germany from being poor/destitute which prevents another "savior" from showing up to save the day. But on the downside, Germany is not subservient, hand-to-mouth like the allies wanted/intended (especially France). From a criminal point of view, Bormann kept Hitler's enemies at war with each other making himself look the ultimate peacekeeper/peacemaker. This enabled him to be given the keys to the financial kingdom, so to speak.
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