June 17, 1900 - Martin Bormann
His power derived not from military command or ideology but from proximity and paper — controlling who reached Hitler and what information Hitler received. As private secretary, Bormann shaped decisions at the summit of the Nazi state while remaining largely invisible to the public, which only made his influence harder to check or counter. The administrative machinery he managed helped sustain the regime through its most destructive years.
From Wikipedia
Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery, private secretary to Adolf Hitler, and a war criminal. Bormann gained immense power by using his position as Hitler's private secretary to control the flow of information and access to Hitler. He used his position to create an extensive bureaucracy and involve himself as much as possible in the decision-making.
Born in Wegeleben, Bormann joined a paramilitary Freikorps organisation in 1922 while working as manager of a large estate. He served nearly a year in prison as an accomplice to his friend Rudolf Höss (later commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp) in the murder of school teacher Walther Kadow. Bormann joined the Nazi Party in 1927 and the Schutzstaffel (SS) in 1937. He initially worked in the party's insurance service, and transferred in July 1933 to the office of Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess, where he served as chief of staff.
Bormann gained acceptance into Hitler's inner circle and accompanied him everywhere, providing briefings and summaries of events and requests.
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