Profiles of Key Nazis

Rudolf Hess

Although never a particularly influential figure as far as policies were concerned, Rudolf Hess was nevertheless the Nazi Party’s Deputy Leader and played an important role with regard to party-state relations.

He was born in 1894 and actually served in the same regiment as Hitler in WW1. He was Hitler’s secretary from 1920 and took part in the Munich Beer Hall putsch in 1923 after which he was imprisoned in Landsberg along with Hitler (it was Hess who wrote up Mein Kampf for Hitler). He became Deputy in 1932 and, as Minister without Portfolio, was one of the Nazi Party members in the coalition government in 1933.

On his own accord, in 1941 he flew to Scotland supposedly to negotiate peace terms. He was interned until the war’s end, tried at Nuremburg and imprisoned at Spandau prison in Berlin where he remained its only prisoner until he died in 1987.

Martin Bormann

Martin Bormann might not be as well known to you as other leading Nazis but he was actually a very important figure in the Nazi regime. He was Head of the Party Chancellery, the Party’s administrative support (so essentially Hitler’s administrative support), and he was also Hitler’s private secretary. He was known as ‘Bormann the doorman’ because he controlled access to Hitler, and in a regime in which key decisions were almost always made by Hitler, this made access to him very important.

Bormann was born in 1900, served in WW1 and after the war joined the Freikorps, joining the Nazi Party in 1925. He became Head of the Party Chancellery in 1941 and Hitler’s private secretary in 1943 so, in this sense, his influence came late. However, he was at his peak of power when the Party became much more radical (extreme).

He disappeared in 1945 but the Nuremburg trials sentenced him to death in his absence. He was never found, however, and the West German authorities declared him dead in 1973.

Joseph Goebbels

Paul Joseph Goebbels was the Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.

He was born in 1897 and was very well educated, receiving a doctorate. He joined the Nazi Party in 1924, editing its newspaper, Volkische Freiheit. Once he became a supporter of Hitler in the mid-1920s he would remain fiercely loyal. He became Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda in 1933 and was extremely successful. His power and influence increased during the war and in 1944, as Reich Plenipotentiary for Total War, he was in overall control of Nazi Germany’s war effort.

When Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker, Goebbels and his wife killed their children before committing suicide themselves.

Hermann Goring

Hermann Goring was the Nazi Minister for Aviation as well as Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan that was supposed to prepare Nazi Germany for war. He was Economics Minister too. He also became Hitler’s designated successor in 1939.

He was born in 1893 and served as a pilot in WW1. He joined the Nazi Party in 1922 and was put in charge of the SA in 1923. He took part in the Munich Beer Hall putsch in 1923, yet in 1928 was elected to the Reichstag and became its President or Speaker in 1932. When Hitler became Chancellor in 1933 he was made Prime Minister and Interior Minister of Prussia. As head of the Prussian Secret Police he established the Gestapo. He was made Nazi Minister for Aviation in 1933 and was put in charge of the Four Year Plan in 1936. He was not a great success in either post and his influence waned. He was regarded by others as more interested in power and plundering occupied territories for their treasures than being loyal to Hitler and at the end, Hitler turned against him.

He was captured and tried at Nuremburg but committed suicide in prison.