Editing Nazi Party (section)

=== Command structure ===
==== Top leadership ====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-10541, Weimar, Aufmarsch der Nationalsozialisten.jpg|thumb|Adolf Hitler and [[Rudolf Hess]] in [[Weimar]] in 1930]]

At the top of the Nazi Party was the party chairman ("{{lang|de|Der Führer}}"), who held absolute power and full command over the party. All other party offices were subordinate to his position and had to depend on his instructions. In 1934, Hitler founded a separate body for the chairman, [[Hitler's Chancellery (Kanzlei des Führers)|Chancellery of the Führer]], with its own sub-units.

Below the Führer's chancellery was first the "Staff of the [[Deputy Führer]]", headed by [[Rudolf Hess]] from 21 April 1933 to 10 May 1941; and then the "[[Nazi Party Chancellery|Party Chancellery]]" ({{lang|de|[[Parteikanzlei]]}}), headed by [[Martin Bormann]].

Following Hitler's suicide on 30 April 1945, Bormann would be named as Party Minister, which gave him the top position in the Nazi Party itself;{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|1999|p=187}} unlike Hitler, however, Bormann would not have a leadership role over the government of Nazi Germany.{{sfn|Joachimsthaler|1999|p=187}} Bormann, whose fate would remain unknown for several decades, would soon afterwards commit suicide as well on 2 May 1945 while trying to flee Berlin around the time Soviet Union forces [[Battle of Berlin|captured the city]].{{sfn|Trevor-Roper|2002|p=193}}{{sfn|Miller|2006|p=154}} His remains were first identified in 1972, then again in 1998 through DNA testing.{{sfn|Whiting|1996|pp=217–218}}{{sfn|Karacs|1998}}

==== ''Reichsleiter'' ====
Directly subjected to the Führer were the {{lang|de|[[Reichsleiter]]}} ("Reich Leader(s)"—the singular and plural forms are identical in German), whose number was gradually increased to eighteen. They held power and influence comparable to the Reich Ministers' in [[Cabinet Hitler|Hitler's Cabinet]]. The eighteen {{lang|de|Reichsleiter}} formed the "Reich Leadership of the Nazi Party" ({{lang|de|Reichsleitung der NSDAP}}), which was established at the so-called [[Brown House, Munich, Germany|Brown House]] in Munich. Unlike a {{lang|de|[[Gauleiter]]}}, a {{lang|de|Reichsleiter}} did not have individual geographic areas under their command, but were responsible for specific spheres of interest.