Martin Bormann (17 Jun. 1900 - 2 May 1945?)
Bormann was serving as personal secretary to Rudolf Hess until 1941, when Hess flew away to Britain. He was then promoted to Head of the Party Chancellery. In this role he kept check of most of Hitler’s key men (Goebbels, Himmler, Goering, Speer etc.) making himself disliked in the process. He used the rivalry of these men, and his closeness to Hitler, to his advantage.
As a devout Nazi, an excellent bureaucrat and Hitler’s secretary, Bormann became a powerful and influential figure, some believing him to have so much power by 1945 that he himself could have run Germany. In 1942 he tried to rid Germany of Christianity which he believed was “incompatible with Nazism”.
In 1943, following the defeat at Stalingrad, Bormann suggested to Hitler that he establish a Committee of Three that would represent the Army, the Nazi Party, and the State. This was seen by other high-ranking officials as an attempt to seize power. The Committee would be ineffective due to administrative issues and Hitler’s poor leadership.
His Nazism also would lead to his decrees against Jews, setting about the Holocaust. He would grant powers to Adolf Eichmann and Heinrich Himmler to eliminate the Jewish communities and race.
Near the end of the war Bormann was one of a few individuals to remain with Hitler in the Fuhrerbunker, signing Hitler’s will. When Hitler committed suicide, Bormann became Party Minister. He informed Dönitz that he was appointed President of Germany. Little is known for certain about his death, but it is believed that after Berlin fell to the Soviets, he had tried to escape but was killed. Others speculate he succeeded in escaping to South America, or even to Russia.
For more information on Martin Bormann:
Kilzer, Louis C. Hitler’s Traitor: Martin Bormann and the Defeat of the Third Reich (Michigan: Presidio Press), 2000.
“Martin Bormann”, on http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/bormann.html [last accessed 12/04/2012].
As a devout Nazi, an excellent bureaucrat and Hitler’s secretary, Bormann became a powerful and influential figure, some believing him to have so much power by 1945 that he himself could have run Germany. In 1942 he tried to rid Germany of Christianity which he believed was “incompatible with Nazism”.
In 1943, following the defeat at Stalingrad, Bormann suggested to Hitler that he establish a Committee of Three that would represent the Army, the Nazi Party, and the State. This was seen by other high-ranking officials as an attempt to seize power. The Committee would be ineffective due to administrative issues and Hitler’s poor leadership.
His Nazism also would lead to his decrees against Jews, setting about the Holocaust. He would grant powers to Adolf Eichmann and Heinrich Himmler to eliminate the Jewish communities and race.
Near the end of the war Bormann was one of a few individuals to remain with Hitler in the Fuhrerbunker, signing Hitler’s will. When Hitler committed suicide, Bormann became Party Minister. He informed Dönitz that he was appointed President of Germany. Little is known for certain about his death, but it is believed that after Berlin fell to the Soviets, he had tried to escape but was killed. Others speculate he succeeded in escaping to South America, or even to Russia.
For more information on Martin Bormann:
Kilzer, Louis C. Hitler’s Traitor: Martin Bormann and the Defeat of the Third Reich (Michigan: Presidio Press), 2000.
“Martin Bormann”, on http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/bormann.html [last accessed 12/04/2012].