13. Martin Adolf Bormann Junior’s father was Hitler’s right-hand-man, but he joined the Catholic priesthood
As Hitler’s private secretary, nobody in the Third Reich was closer to the Fuhrer than Martin Bormann. He not only respected the tyrant, he practically adored him. Which is why, when Bormann had a son, he asked Hitler to be his godfather. What’s more, he christened him Martin Adolf Bormann Junior. It was a name the boy would keep for the rest of his life.
Bormann committed suicide in May of 1945 with the end of the war looming. It’s unlikely that the son would have been too distraught. By all accounts, he was a dominant, even cruel father, constantly rebuking his boy. Indeed, Martin Jr. was probably relieved when he was sent away to boarding school. He was 15 when his father was killed. Fearing that he would be found guilty by association by the Red Army, he fled across the border to Austria. There, he was taken in by a kindly farmer, and he found the Christian faith to replace the hateful doctrine his father had instilled in him.
Moving away from Nazism, Martin Jr. joined the priesthood, becoming ordained in 1958. Though his new beliefs and position as a Jesuit priest were at stark odds with the evils of the Third Reich, he never did publicly condemn his father. Rather, he always insisted that only God can judge a man. Aside from that, he spoke little and rarely about his family, devoting himself instead to his vocation.
After a traumatic start to life, Martin Jr’s story had a happy ending. In 1971, he was severely injured in a car accident. He fell in love with one of the nurses treating him. Though he had to leave the priesthood to marry, his faith remained and strong as ever. In fact, both Martin Jr. and his wife worked as religious teachers up until his retirement in 1992. He died of old age in March of 2013.