Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression
Individual Responsibility Of Defendants

Martin Bormann

(Part 1 of 3)

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A. POSITIONS HELD BY BORMANN.

(1) Between 1925 and 1945 Bormann held the following positions:

(a) Member of the Nazi Party 1925-1945.

(b) Member of the Reichstag, November 1933-1945.

(c) Member of the Staff of the Supreme Command of the SA, 15 November 1928 to August 1930.

(d) Founder and head of Hilfskasse der NSDAP, August 1930 to July

(e) Reichsleiter, July 1933-1945.

(f) Chief of Staff, Office of the Fuehrer's Deputy, July 1933 to May 1941.

(g) Head of the Party Chancery, 12 May 1941-1945.

(h) Secretary of, the Fuehrer, 12 April 1943-1945. (2981-PS)

(i) Member of the Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich, 29 May 1942-1945. (2099-PS)

(j) Political and organizational head of the Volkssturm. (3018-PS)

(k) General in the SS. (234-PS)

(2) During this period Bormann also held the following position: Member of the Reich Cabinet, 29 May 1941 to 1945. (2099-PS)

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B. PROMOTION OF THE ACCESSION TO POWER OF THE NAZI CONSPIRATORS, ESTABLISHMENT OF TOTALITARIAN CONTROL OVER GERMANY, AND PREPARATION FOR WAR.

Within the conspiracy Martin Bormann had the managerial task of operating the Nazis' Party as a center of control for the benefit of the conspirators. First as the executive chief of the Nazi Party under less, and since 1941 himself the head of the Party, subject only to Hitler's supreme authority, Bormann was a key member of the Nazi conspiracy. The Party constituted the most powerful instrument of public control at the disposal of the conspirators. Through the Party the conspirators were able to gain and retain power in Germany. Through it they imposed their will on the German nation and obtained its support for their aggressive wars. Bormann is thus responsible for the crimes committed by the Party under the orders of the conspirators.

Bormann began his conspiratorial activities more than 20 years ago. In 1922, when only 22 years old, he joined the Organization Rossbach, one of the armed illegal groups which developed the aggressive traditions of the German Army and established a regime of terror against the small pacifist minority in Germany. While he was District Leader of the Organization for Mecklenburg, he was arrested and tried for his part in a political terror assassination. On 15 May 1924 he was found guilty by the State Tribunal for the Protection of the Republic and sentenced to one year in prison. (2981- PS; 3355-PS)

Upon his release from jail in 1925, Bormann again took up his subversive activities. First, he joined the Militarist Organization Frontbann. Then, in the same year, he became a member of the reconstituted Nazi Party, and began his rise to one of the most influential positions in the conspiracy. In 1927 he became Press Chief for the Party Gau of Thuringia. On 1 April 1928 he was made a District Leader in Thuringia, and Business Manager for the entire Gau.

From 15 November 1928 to August 1930 he was on the Staff of the Supreme Command of the SA. Thus he participated decisively in the development of these uniformed shock troops with which the conspirators terrorized and destroyed their opposition inside Germany. (See Section 4 of chapter XV on the SA.)

In August 1930 Bormann organized the Aid Fund (Hilfskasse) of the Nazi Party, of which he became the head. Through this Fund he collected large sums for the Party Treasury, allegedly for the purpose of aiding families of Party members who had

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been killed or imprisoned while "fighting" for the Party. (2326-PS)

On 30 January 1933 the conspirators and their Party took over the government of Germany. Shortly thereafter, in July 1933, Bormann was given the number-three post in the Party Organization, that of Chief of Staff to Rudolf Hess, then Hitler's Deputy. At the same time he was made a member of the Party Directorate (Reichsleiter). In November 1933, he was made a member of the Reichstag. (3236-PS)

As Hess' Chief of Staff, Bormann was responsible for channeling to him the demands of the Party in all the fields of government action. These demands were then imposed by Hess, through his participation in Cabinet meetings, on legislation, public administration, and appointments. (Chart Number 15; 1395-PS; 2001-PS; D-138; 3180-PS)

Bormann also used the Party in order to strengthen the hold of the Gestapo and the SD over the German people. On 14 February 1935 Bormann ordered all Party officers to assist the SD in its work described as "benefiting principally the Party" (3237-PS). On 3 September 1935 Bormann ordered Party agencies to hand persons who criticize the Nazi Party or institutions over to the Gestapo. (3239-PS) An order of the Party Chancery issued on 14 December 1938, demanded closest cooperation between Party agencies and Gestapo (1723-PS).

After the flight of Hess to Scotland on 10 May 1941, Bormann succeeded him as head of the Party under Hitler, with the title of Chief of the Party Chancery. In that position he took over all offices and powers formerly held by Hess, especially his membership in the Cabinet and on the Ministers' Council for the Defense of the Reich (2099-PS).

Only 8 months later, Hitler issued another Decree which extended Bormann's powers even beyond those which had been granted to Hess. By that Decree Bormann was given extensive control over the preparation of all laws and directives of the Cabinet, the Fuehrer, and the Ministers' Council for the Defense of the Reich, and over the appointment of all public officials (the latter, in Germany, included Judges and university teachers) (2100-PS). Under this legislation Bormann must be held at least jointly responsible for every law and order issued after 24 January 1942 by which the conspirators carried out their crimes.

This decisive participation of Bormann and the Party agencies under his direct control in the day-to-day administration of the German war program was buttressed by the Order of the Ministers' Council for the Defense of the Reich, dated 1 December

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1942, under which all Party Gau Leaders were appointed Reich Defense Commissioners and all Gaus became Reich Defense Districts (3235-PS). Under this Order the Gau leaders, who were Party functionaries under the orders of Bormann, became the Chief Administrators of the entire civilian war effort, not only in Germany proper but also in all incorporated territories. This development constituted the culmination of the integration of Party and State which had begun almost ten years earlier. From then on, the Party, through Bormann, became a decisive factor in the initiation and execution of all German war policies, after having been charged in the preceding years with much of the political and pre-military preparation of the German people for the aggressive wars of the Conspirators. (3242-PS)

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