An investigation by this blogsite has revealed that the new National Party caucus may be harbouring the infamous Nazi war criminal Martin Bormann.

Bormann was one of Hitler’s top henchmen, but his fate is unknown. Many believe he was killed while attempting to escape the fall of Berlin in 1945, but no solid proof of his death has ever been established.

This has led to speculation over the years that Bormann escaped and made a new life under an assumed identity.

We put to the National Party the claim that Bormann had come in on the party list as a result of Saturday’s election, and we asked if someone from the party would be prepared to talk to us about the matter.

However, the party has refused to respond to our requests for an interview.

When we rang the party’s head office yesterday we whispered very softly into the phone and mumbled a lot until the person at the other end of the phone hung up in disgust. Yes, that’s right, they hung up on us when we started to ask the hard questions, albeit in a very muffled and indistinct voice.

Why would the party be so reluctant to talk if there was nothing to hide?

What makes this matter even more serious is that Bormann would have been ineligible to stand as a candidate under the Electoral Act, because he is not a New Zealand citizen. 

So if National has nothing to hide then it’s time the party came clean. National needs to answer some tough questions, like:

• Is Martin Bormann one of National’s new MPs?
• If so, how long has the party known it has been harbouring a notorious war criminal?
• Martin Bormann was born in 1900, so would be 111 years old. It would be difficult to hide that sort of decrepitude, unless there has been a concerted plot by the National hierarchy to conceal the truth from the voting public. So exactly what measures have been taken to conceal Bormann’s age?
• Have the National Party or any of its financial backers been funding medical research to prolong Bormann’s life? Or plastic surgery to conceal his age?
• What other Nazi war criminals, if any, is National hiding?
• What influence has Bormann has on National Party policy? 
• Does National condone the deliberate flouting of electoral laws by its candidates?

Bormann (circled) with other members of the Nazi regime

It may be that the party inadvertently selected the geriatric genocidal monster, in which case the best thing to do would be to just own up.

In any event, it is obvious that the longer National waits to answer these questions the worse it will be for the party in the end.

National also needs to agree to fully co-operate with war crimes investigators, in order to ensure Bormann is finally brought to trial for his many crimes.

The millions of victims of Nazi atrocities cry out for justice.  National, you owe the public an explanation!

UPDATE: No.