Bormann, Martin (bôr`män), 1900–1945, German National Socialist (Nazi) leader. He met Adolf Hitler in 1924 and soon became an important figure in the Nazi party hierarchy. He succeeded Rudolf Hess in Hitler's inner circle in 1941 after Hess's flight to Scotland. In 1942 he became Hitler's personal secretary. After Hitler's suicide in 1945, Bormann disappeared and was assumed dead. He was tried in absentia at Nuremberg and sentenced to death. Rumors persisted, however, that Bormann had escaped to Argentina. In 1973, after identification of a skeleton unearthed in West Berlin, the West German government declared him dead, a suicide on May 2, 1945.

Bormann, Martin

(born June 17, 1900, Halberstadt, German Empire—died May 1945, Berlin, Ger.) German Nazi leader. He joined the Nazi party in 1925 and served as Rudolf Hess's chief of staff (1933–41). He was appointed head of the party chancellery in 1941 and became one of Adolf Hitler's closest lieutenants. A shadowy but extremely powerful presence, Bormann controlled all legislation, party promotions and appointments, and the personal access of others to Hitler. He disappeared shortly after Hitler's death. Though some reports allege that he escaped to South America, German authorities officially declared him dead after exhuming his presumed remains.