During the final stages of the war, when it became clear that Germany had lost the war, Bormann attempted to break through the Red Army lines in an effort to escape. What happened then has been debated for decades. Several witnesses claimed they saw him killed by a Russian tank. Others believed he escaPed to South America as did several other leading Nazis.44
Bormann was tried at Nuremberg in absentia and sentenced to hang. In December 1972, two skeletons were unearthed during construction near the Lehrter Station where Bormann’s diary was found in a discarded leather jacket in 1945, and close to where an eyewitness claimed that he had seen Bormann’s body.
After extensive forensic examination by Professor Hugo Blaschke using Bormann’s dental records (Blaschke was also Hitler’s dentist), the shorter of the two skeletons was identified as that of Martin Bormann. German authorities then officially declared him dead. This forensic identification was validated by celebrated American forensic expert Dr. Reidar F. Sognnaes.
Nonetheless, journalist Jim Marrs makes the case that Bormann was well-connected among world elites and too smart to be haphazardly killed as described in what he calls “the legend of his death.” This, he argues, was staged to avoid harassment for war crimes.45 He adds that Bormann had been planning extensively for his post-war future and claims that Bormann escaped successfully to South America where he died many years later.
World History
