Martin Bormann

Martin Bormann (June 17, 1900 – May 2, 1945) was a prominent German National Socialist official who became head of the Party Chancellery (Parteikanzlei) and Private Secretary to Adolf Hitler, gaining his trust and deriving immense power within the Third Reich by controlling access to the Nazi dictator.

Trivia

• Shortly after Hess' ill-fated flight Bormann gave his boss a German shepherd named "Blondi" which became Hitler's most famous pet.
• Hitler's longtime companion and short-lived wife Eva Braun is said to have thoroughly disliked Bormann, apparently because of his crude manners.
• Bormann's eldest son later described him as a strict and loving father.
• Bormann was responsible for having constructed the huge complex of homes and support facilities for the Nazi leadership at Berchtesgaden, where he also built a traditional German house for his large family.
• Although Bormann died in May 1945, Paul Manning's book Bormann: Nazi in Exile, published in 1982 by Knopf (and available online) purports to describe Bormann's supposed post-war activities and his alleged investment of Nazi flight capital into 750 major international corporations.