Nazi Party Chancellery

As Chief of the NSDAP Partei-Kanzlei, Martin Bormann orders Party officials not to discuss publicly a future complete solution "of the Jewish question"

Starting in 1933, the party office had its seat in Munich under the leadership of Adolf Hitler's Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess, who held the rank of a Reich Minister in the Hitler Cabinet.[lower-alpha 1] Hess's department was responsible for handling party affairs; the settling of disputes within the party and acting as an intermediary between the party and the state regarding policy decisions and legislation.[3] The organisation rivaled for influence not only with the Reich Chancellery under Hans Lammers but also with the Führer's Chancellery and the Nazi Gau- and Reichsleiter.[4] Typical of the Nazi regime in many regards, the Party Chancellery competed for spheres of interest with the other two chancelleries, creating several areas of functional duplication, additionally complicating "the relationship between party and state."[5]

Another problem that Hitler's Chancellery faced was the administrative confusion that arose from all the competing interests of the various subordinated constituent Party organizations like the SA, the SS, the Hitler Youth and the Labor Front among others.[6] There was a seeming lack of a centralized administrative authority for the Nazi Party, so Gauleiters bypassed the office of Hess as they believed themselves only responsible to Hitler alone. Even though Hess was Deputy Führer, his office was unable to manage the administrative tasks until Martin Bormann was appointed Chief of Staff to Hess's office in July 1933.[7]

Bormann, personal secretary and chief of staff to Hess, was the man behind the scenes managing the day-to-day business of the Staff of the Deputy Führer.[8] Bormann used his position to create an extensive bureaucracy and involved himself in as much of the decision making as possible.[3] Bormann soon became an efficient and indispensable representative of the party's interests, dis-empowering the regional leaders at the intermediate level and extending the Staff of the Deputy Führer's involvement in state affairs through the enactment of laws and Führer's decrees. In 1935 Bormann began managing Hitler's "rural headquarters" at the Obersalzberg in Bavaria.[9] Also in 1935, he was given charge over Hitler's personal finances and used his proximity to increase the office's authority over the Party's numerous organizations;[lower-alpha 2] despite this development, incessant jurisdictional struggles still characterized the Nazi state.[11][12] Bormann set up the Adolf Hitler Fund of German Trade and Industry, which collected money from German industrialists on Hitler's behalf. Some of the funds received through this programme were disbursed to various party leaders, but Bormann retained most of it for Hitler's personal use.[13] By 1936, Bormann was passing orders directly from Hitler to Reich ministers and Party officials.[7]

After Hess' flight to the United Kingdom to seek peace negotiations with the British government on 10 May 1941, Hitler abolished the post of Deputy Führer on 12 May 1941. Hitler assigned Hess's former duties to Bormann,[14] with the title of Head of the Parteikanzlei (Party Chancellery).[15] In this position he was responsible for all NSDAP appointments, and was answerable only to Hitler.[16] The Party Chancellery was also privy to the extreme violence being carried out in the eastern theater by the SS Task Forces in the summer and fall of 1941, as Gestapo chief, Heinrich Müller, distributed reports, which were signed by senior officials from throughout the Reich.[17] Legal and administrative questions governing jurisdictional matters related to the Wannsee Conference were shared by Heydrich with Party organizations, including Bormann's Party Chancellery in late January 1942, rendering them all complicit for the orchestration of the Final Solution.[18]

Bormann used his position to restrict access to Hitler for his own benefit[19] and, supported by deputies like Albert Hoffmann, Gerhard Klopfer and Helmuth Friedrichs, to further party influence in areas such as armaments and manpower. Armaments Minister Albert Speer complained about Bormann's interfering with his staff in this manner. On 12 April 1943, Bormann was officially appointed the Führer's Private Secretary, reaching a unique position of power and trust with Hitler.[20] Sometime in the autumn of 1943, Goebbels expressed misgivings with Hitler's dependence on Bormann concerning domestic affairs, his focus on military matters and his seeming neglect of politics—Goebbels recorded this moment as "a leadership crisis" in his diary.[21] Goebbels further believed that "the Party Chancellery chief was managing Hitler."[22] By that time, Bormann had de facto control over all domestic matters. He held the position of leader of the Nazi Party Chancellery until 30 April 1945.[23] Late in waning months of the war, Bormann was still "working feverishly" to restructure the Nazi Party for a post-war Germany.[24] Sharing in Hitler's delusions, Bormann was exercising his power over the Party by issuing decrees and directives on a wide variety of issues at the very end, meanwhile Hitler was moving "non-existent armies" around on a map deep inside the bunker.[25]