In 1934, Hitler appointed Rudolf [?] as the Führer’s Deputy for Party Affairs, thereby increasing the power exercised by Hess and his Chief of Staff, Martin Bormann. Hess now supervised the drafting of new laws and government appointments. As party leaders, Hess and Bormann ensured the party’s increasing domination over the state civil service. There were two main departments in Bormann’s organisations: Department II which ran [?] and Department III which managed party-state relations.

The party’s influence reached new heights during the war. On 30 August 1939, the Ministerial Council for the Defence of the Reich was set up. In September 1939, leading Gauleiter became Reich Defence Commissioners and began to assume total control in their regions. In May 1941, Hess flew to [?] in an attempt to make peace with Britain. This left Bormann with considerably greater influence as head of the party. With Field Marshall [?] (the new Commander-in-Chief of the purged armed forces) and Hans [?] (Chief of the Reich Chancellery), he formed the Committee of Three to isolate rivals. The committee by-passed government departments in an attempt to co-ordinate and simplify decision-making. Its success was, however, limited because of Hitler’s reluctance to antagonise interests and the committee was opposed by Goebbels and Speer.

Martin Bormann emerged from the shadows of party bureaucracy to become one of the most powerful members of Hitler’s entourage (close supporters). He had served in the army, was a member of the Freikorps and in 1925 joined the Nazis. He was made [?] of Thuringia in 1928, a member of the supreme command of the SA, he was Chief of the Cabinet and became Chief-of-Staff to Hess in 1933. Bormann’s anonymity, capacity for work and unparalleled efficiency were highly valued and he made himself the master of the Nazi bureaucracy. He administered Hitler’s personal finances and built up an extensive power base within the party by issuing favours and special privileges. He also became private secretary to Hitler and ran the administration of the [?] (Hitler’s Bavarian retreat). His proximity to Hitler, his control of party apparatus and the support of the Gauleiter secured him a position of unrivalled power. He fiercely protected the interests of the party against the Wehrmacht and the SS. As an ardent anti-Semite , he authorised the violent expulsion of Jews from occupied lands in October 1942 and gave the Gestapo absolute power over Jews in July 1943. After the failed [?] (1944) Bormann’s power base increased still further, for example his office was given sole responsibility for the training of all party functionaries. Few off his contemporaries were as energetic and ambitious or enjoyed such party-wide support, especially from the Gauleiter. Only [?] remained a serious rival, trusted by Hitler and popular among party members.

The main reason, however, for Bormann’s influential position was due to his direct and consistent access to Hitler. He immersed himself in what Goebbels described as ‘file-shitting’ and made himself an indispensable bureaucrat at the centre of the regime. The rewards for such endurance were great. He signed Hitler’s will and witnessed his marriage to [?] and organised the incineration of their corpses. He vanished leaving the bunker and was suspected of having fled abroad, however bones were found in Berlin in 1973 and DNA testing proved these were Bormann’s in 1998.