Martin Bormann

File:Martin Bormann.jpg

Martin Bormann (June 17th, 1900 – May 2nd, 1945?) was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery (Parteikanzlei) and private secretary to Adolf Hitler. He was almost always at his Führer′s side. Hitler typically did not issue written orders, but gave them orally at meetings or in phone conversations; he also had Bormann convey orders. He gained Hitler's trust and derived immense power within the Third Reich by using his position to control the flow of information regarding the extent of The Holocaust and access to Hitler. Bormann earned many enemies, including Heinrich Himmler, Hermann Goring, Albert Speer, and Eva Braun.

Nuremberg

Bormann was tried in absentia by the International Military Tribunal in the Nuremberg trials of 1945 and 1946. He was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging (in absentia). Because of the possibilities of Martin being alive, many Nazi hunters and the FBI tried to find him with no luck.

Discovery of bones

According to historical accounts and Hitler Youth leader Artur Axmann, he committed suicide around May 2nd, 1945 along with Ludwig Stumpfegger following the collapse of the German defenses in Berlin.  His and Ludwig's bones was found in 1972 and confirmed by DNA in 1998 and the German government had Martin's bones cremated and scattered in the Baltic Sea on August 16th, 1999. Despite the evidence of his bones discovery, there were many unusual facts about his bones:

1.) The teeth as confirmed by Forensic dental Surgeon Prof Sognnaes (involved in the 1972 forensic investigation of the remains) had dentistry that was early 1950's.

2.) The position of the teeth and the skeletal composition proved they were of a much older man in his 60's, it is claimed he died when he was 44.

3.) The skull was encased in a red clay, which is not found in any German soil.

4.) When Bormann's body was found, some of his bones including his vertebrates were missing.

5.) On the short lived History Channel Show "Mystery Quest", one episode focused on the existence of ODESSA looked over a report that Martin Bormann actually died in Hohenau, Paraguay in 1959 from stomach cancer and that the infamous SS doctor Josef Mengele was called to the house where Bormann was housed to perform an operation. The crew of the show went to a cemetery in Itá, Paraguay where the report said Bormann was originally buried there and with help of a geophysics that a person was buried in the cemetery and the body and the coffin was moved.

Trivia

• In the 1971 film "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory", the picture held up by the Paraguayan newscaster announcing the finder of the last Golden Ticket is of Bormann.