Martin Bormann
German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery (1900–1945)
Martin Bormann (June 17, 1900 – May 2, 1945?) was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery (Parteikanzlei) and private secretary to German Führer Adolf Hitler. He gained Hitler's trust and derived immense power within the Third Reich by controlling access to the Führer. As World War II came to a close, Bormann held out with Hitler in the Führerbunker in Berlin. On Apriil 30, 1945, just before committing suicide, Hitler urged Bormann to save himself. On May 1, Bormann left the Führerbunker with SS doctor Ludwig Stumpfegger and Hitler Youth leader Artur Axmann. The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg tried Bormann in absentia in October 1946 and sentenced him to death. In 1998, a test identified Bormann's skull, using DNA from an unnamed 83-year-old relative.
Sourced
- The Slavs are to work for us. Insofar as we do not need them, they may die. Therefore, compulsory vaccination and German health service are superfluous. The fertility of the Slavs is undesirable. They may use contraceptives or practice abortion, the more the better. Education is dangerous. It is enough if they can count up to one hundred. At best an education which produces useful coolies for us is admissible. Every educated person is a future enemy.
- Quoted in "The Trial of the Germans: An Account of the Twenty-Two Defendants Before the International Military Tribunal" - Page 101 by Eugene Davidson - History - 1997
- Films and gramophone records, music, books and buildings show clearly how vigorously a man's life and work go on after his death, whether we feel it or not, whether we are aware of the individual names or not. There is no such thing as death according to our view!
- Quoted in "The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations" - Page 446 - by Robert Andrews - Reference - 1993
- National Socialism and Christianity are irreconcilable.
- "The Third Reich Sourcebook" - Page 440 - by Sander L. Gilman and Anson Rabinbach - History - 2013
- My darling girl, Unfortunately this earth is not a fairy-land, but a struggle for life, perfectly natural and therefore extremely harsh. All the same, or precisely for this reason, it is happiness and comfort for us men to have a precious sweetheart - and I have the most precious, the dearest and best of all!
- Quoted in "The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations" - Page 873 - by Robert Andrews - Reference - 1993
- Situation very serious... Those ordered to rescue the Führer are keeping silent... Disloyalty seems to gain the upper hand everywhere... Reichskanzlei a heap of rubble.
- Wired message to General Admiral Karl Dönitz, April 28, 1945
About Bormann
- Bormann's influence on Hitler was a national disaster.
- Hess was an idealist, but the man who took his place, Bormann, was definitely a power-crazy, stingy man. Whereas Hess had the attitude of a worldly man, Bormann had the attitude of a newcomer. I believe that Bormann had no friends and that he was one of the most despised of men. The only reason he could hold the confidence of Hitler was that Hitler had been tremendously mistrusting during the last few years - a sickly mistrust.
- Ernst Kaltenbrunner to Leon Goldensohn, March 22, 1946
- And Bormann, who has not accepted our invitation to this reunion, sat at the throttle of the vast and powerful engine of the party, guiding it in the ruthless execution of Nazi policies, from the scourging of the Christian church to the lynching of captive Allied airmen. . . .
- I am firmly convinced that Bormann will show up - that either the Americans or the Russians have him in custody and will try to create a sensation, for news effect, when his case comes up, and suddenly produce him. I once heard that Bormann had given himself up to the Russians. Bormann is being treated in absentia just as if he were sitting in the dock. He left Berlin in a tank. His secretary made a statement that she saw this tank struck by shells and that Bormann was killed. I doubt if one could take Bormann's secretary's word for what was happening.
- Baldur von Schirach to Leon Goldensohn, June 16, 1946
- It is difficult to describe such a character. He was not highly educated but he was able and extremely industrious in technical office work. He was also extremely unscrupulous and very practical. His practicality was obvious even in his speech and appearance. He was a short, stocky man, quite fat, with an oxlike character. He had been a schoolteacher early in his career just as Streicher had been a schoolteacher, so you can see that being a schoolteacher is no sign of education. Technically and officially Bormann was the head of the party. Besides that, however, he was in reality the prime minister because all of Hitler's orders went through his hands. Bormann's real period of power began in 1941, although long before that, as far back as 1937, he had been a strong personal influence on Hitler. It was very strange. You know he was the chief of staff under Hess, but even while Hess was his superior, Bormann was much closer to Hitler in the hierarchy than was Hess. I think that Hess lost all his power because Bormann took it away from him, despite the fact that Hess was Bormann's superior. Bormann virtually became Hess's boss. Bormann entered party history in 1929 when he came to Munich. Before that he lived in my hometown of Weimar and used to chauffeur Sauckel, when the latter made propaganda and campaign speeches in Thuringia. Bormann at that time worked for Sauckel, and in a very minor, subordinate position. In 1929 he began doing financial work within the party. He continued with this task until 1933, when Hess made him his chief of staff.
- Baldur von Schirach to Leon Goldensohn, June 16, 1946
- Yes, he was a sinister-looking fellow. I believe he was the evil spirit behind the scenes, but I have no personal knowledge of his activities. Bormann was Hess's successor. He was really the deputy leader, though he was not called that. He was the head of the party secretariat. Bormann was the first man in the party after Hitler.
- Paul O. Schmidt to Leon Goldensohn, March 13, 1946
- The powerful men under Hitler were already jealously watching one another like so many pretenders to the throne. Quite early there were struggles for position among Goebbels, Goering, Rosenberg, Ley, Himmler, Ribbentrop, and Hess. Only Roehm had been left by the wayside, and before long Hess was to lose all his influence. But none of them recognized a threat in the shape of trusty Bormann. He had succeeded in representing himself as insignificant while imperceptibly building up his bastions. Even among so many ruthless men, he stood out by his brutality and coarseness. He had no culture, which might have put some restraints on him, and in every case he carried out whatever Hitler had ordered or what he himself had gathered from Hitler's hints. A subordinate by nature, he treated his own subordinates as if he were dealing with cows and oxen.
- Albert Speer, from "Inside the Third Reich: Memoirs" - Page 87 - by Albert Speer - Nazis - 1970
- It was only when Bormann's disappearance became a matter for serious conjecture, and intelligence agents began to go into the ugly details, that an incredible episode in Hitler's life came to light. This explained exactly how Martin Bormann was able to gather into his hands all the strings required to make Hitler dance to his tune.
- William Stevenson, 1973, from "The Bormann Brotherhood"
