was born in Halberstadt on June 17, 1900. During the World War, he served in the artillery. After 1918, he became a student of agriculture and was appointed to manage an estate in Mecklenburg. He combined this work with activities in the Free Corps, as a member of the Ehrhardt Brigade and as section leader in the notorious Rossbach Brigade, terroristic military organizations which fought the Weimar Republic. In 1923, while still a member of the Rossbach group, he was convicted to committing a political murder and was sentenced to prison. After serving one year he was released. He immediately joined the Frontbann, as a racial para-military organization, and in 1925 became a member of the Nazi Party. Position in Nazi Party: Bormann's rise to power was rapid in the Nazi Party. Two years after he joined the Party he became the Gau Press Chief (Gaupressobmann) in Thuringia. In 1928 he was appointed district leader and office manager (Bezirksleiter und Caugeschaeftsfuehrer) in the Gau organization of Thuringia. In the same year he was made a member of the staff of the Supreme Command of the SA, a position |