Organization
Since 1933 the party office with its seat in Munich had been under Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess in the rank of a Reich Minister in Hitler's cabinet. The organisation responsible for handling party affairs 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. Hess' man in charge was Martin Bormann, who served as his private secretary and soon became an efficient and indispensable representative of the party's interests, disempowering the regional leaders on intermediate level and reaching the party's involvement in the enactment of laws and Führer's decrees. Bormann was influential in establishing the Adolf Hitler Fund of German Trade and Industry and subsequently reached the position as Hitler's property administrator.
After Hess' flight to the United Kingdom in 1941, Bormann on May 12 was appointed head of the renamed Party Chancellery in the rank of a Reich Minister after the Führer had publicly stripped Hess of his offices. Bormann used his position to restrict access to Hitler for his own benefit 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. In 1943 Bormann was appointed the Führer's Private Secretary, reaching a unique trust relationship with Hitler.
Read more about this topic: Nazi Party Chancellery
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