Martin Bormann

Martin Bormann married Gerda Buch, daughter of Major Walter Buch, on September 2, 1929. Hess and Hitler were witnesses to the wedding. Together, Bormann and Gerda had ten children. He also had several mistresses.

On May 2, 1945, in a failed attempt to flee the Soviet encirclement, Martin Bormann and SS doctor Ludwig Stumpfegger were found dead on a bridge near the railway switching yard by Hitler Youth leader, Artur Axmann. The Soviets never admitted to finding his body leading to uncertainty about his whereabouts.

After World War II was over, he was supposedly seen in Argentina, Spain, and other places but could not be captured. He was thus tried in absence at Nuremberg and convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity. On 15 October 1946, he was sentenced to death by hanging. For more than two decades, several organisations like the CIA and the West German Government kept looking for him without success. Finally in 1971, they gave up their search.

Martin Bormann was born on June 17, 1900 in Wegeleben, Germany to Theodor Bormann, a Prussian regimental sergeant-major who later became a post-office employee and his second wife, Antonie Bernhardine Mennong.

He lost his father at the age of three and soon after, his mother remarried. He also had a younger brother, Albert who grew up to serve as an adjutant to Hitler.

He quit his studies at an agricultural trade high school to join the 55th Field Artillery Regiment in June 1918. Those were the last days of World War I. After the war was over, he became the estate manager of a large farm in Mecklenburg.

Before long, his racist outlook became evident when he joined an anti-Semitic landowners association. In 1922, he joined the Freikorps organisation in Mecklenburg, headed by rightist Gerhard Rossbach.

In March 1924, he was sentenced to a year's imprisonment for being Rudolf Hoss’s partner in the murder of Walther Kadow who had allegedly betrayed the proto-Nazi martyr Leo Schlageter to the French in the Ruhr.

Around 1927, Martin Bormann joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) or the Nazi Party in Thuringia. He worked as Regional Press Officer with ‘Der Nationalsozialist’, a weekly paper edited by NSDAP member Hans Severus Ziegler. With his excellent organisational skills, he soon became the area Business Manager.

In October 1928, he became an employee of the SA insurance office in Munich. By 1930, insurance companies were increasingly refusing to pay the frequent claims made by injured NSDAP members. As a remedy, he initiated a relief fund with premiums paid by party members and eventually, could help them receive a coverage when required.

From 1928 to 1930, he also founded the ‘National Socialist Automobile Corps’ which oversaw the utilization of donated motor vehicles and training of members in automotive skills.

In 1933, he resigned from the administration of the relief fund and took up the position of chief of staff in the office of Deputy Führer, Rudolf Hess. He served as Hess’s personal secretary from July 1933 to May 1941. Also, in October 1933, Hitler named him ‘Reichsleiter’ of NSDAP and in November 1933, he was elected as Reichstag deputy. He gradually became an important part of decision making and gained acceptance into Hitler's inner circle, accompanying him everywhere.

In 1935, Hitler assigned him the renovation of his property at Obersalzberg, Berghof. Bormann commissioned the construction of barracks, roads, footpaths, garages, a guesthouse, accommodation for staff and officers, and other amenities at the site. He also commissioned the building of a tea house high above the Berghof, as a gift to Hitler on his fiftieth birthday.

Martin Bormann’s importance within the Nazi party was unquestionable. He was the personal favourite of the Führer and served as his Personal Secretary from 1935 onwards.

In the span of two decades, he worked his way up to the position of Chief of the Party Chancellery and died as Party Minister.