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What Martin Bormann Tells Us About Human Intelligence
Why Hitler’s “brown eminence” is a very important case study
Martin Bormann is often barely mentioned in histories of the Nazi Third Reich. He wasn’t a self-aggrandizing bon vivant like Goering and he didn’t initiate the Holocaust like Himmler. He wasn’t a master propagandist like Goebbels and of course he wasn’t the bellowing ranting audience-mesmerizing Hitler. Nor was he even the golden boy Speer who designed such magnificent settings for the Nuremburg rallies.
Bormann was just a functionary.
Bormann wasn’t intelligent, attractive, or even mediocre. He was to all intents and purposes a non-entity except for two things: he was diligent and he was cunning. So when Himmler asked Bormann to take on the unglamorous task of overseeing the reconstruction of Hitler’s holiday home in the Bavarian Alps, it was his diligence that was responsible for his appointment. His cunning was what let him realize this was the best opportunity he’d ever get to slither into Hitler’s inner circle — an inner circle that since its very inception had been a hotbed of scheming and back-stabbing as each participant did their best to shine in the eyes of their Führer while doing down their competitors. So intense had been the competition to be Number Two that the leader of the Brownshirts Ernst Röhm had been murdered after failing to grasp the degree to which he was no longer in Hitler’s favor.
As a social species, our brains have evolved to promote an awareness of intent in others, and how to manipulate others so as to gain some personal advantage. All other aspects of human intelligence are largely accidental by-products of this evolutionary priority. In consequence it is very often the case that those who succeed in slithering their way to the top of the tree are the most cunning and devious. Bormann was an archetypal example of the species.
As the new and improved Berghof took shape, Hitler was delighted by the progress Bormann was making in the creation of his new summer palace which also, underground, doubled as an impenetrable bunker. Consequently Bormann was able to spend increasing amounts of time with Hitler, who came to depend on him as his unofficial factotum. Being a cunning man eager to advance himself…
