' (, "senior group leader") was a
paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany that was first created in 1932 as a
rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and adopted by the ''
Schutzstaffel
The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe d ...
'' (SS) one year later. Until April 1942, it was the highest
commissioned SS rank after only ''
Reichsführer-SS''. Translated as "senior group leader", the rank of ''Obergruppenführer'' was senior to ''
Gruppenführer''. A similarly named rank of ''
Untergruppenführer'' existed in the SA from 1929 to 1930 and as a title until 1933. In April 1942, the new rank of ''
SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer'' was created which was above ''Obergruppenführer'' and below ''Reichsführer-SS''.
Creation and history
The rank of ''Obergruppenführer'' was created in 1932 by
Ernst Röhm and was intended as a seniormost rank of the Nazi
stormtroopers for use by Röhm and his top SA generals. In its initial concept, the rank was intended to be held by members of the ''Oberste SA-Führung'' (Supreme SA Command) and also by veteran commanders of certain ''SA-Gruppen'' (SA groups). Some of the early promotions to the rank included Ernst Röhm,
Viktor Lutze,
Edmund Heines, August Schneidhüber, and Fritz Ritter von Krausser.
The rank of SA-''Obergruppenführer'' was the most senior rank of the ''
Sturmabteilung'' until the spring of 1933, when Rohm made the title position of ''
Stabschef'' (SA Chief of Staff) into a rank and promoted himself accordingly.
Also in the summer of 1933,
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
was promoted by
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
to the newly created rank of SS-''Obergruppenführer'' with the intent being to make Himmler the equivalent of the senior commanders of the SA, to which the SS was still subordinated. Although Himmler usually referred to himself as ''
Reichsführer-SS'', before the summer of 1934, this was simply a title for the SS commander, and not yet an actual rank. Shortly after Himmler's promotion, Hitler further promoted
Franz Xaver Schwarz, with Himmler's date of rank backdated to 1 January 1933 in order to confirm his seniority as the top officer within the SS. Shortly after
Rudolf Hess was appointed as his deputy in April 1933, Hitler promoted him to SS-''Obergruppenführer''. However, in September, Hitler decreed that Hess should no longer use the title of ''Obergruppenführer'' but only use the title of Deputy Führer.
A number of men were promoted to SS-''Obergruppenführer'' in 1934, these being
Fritz Weitzel,
Richard Walther Darré
Richard Walther Darré (born Ricardo Walther Óscar Darré; 14 July 1895 – 5 September 1953) was one of the leading Nazi " blood and soil" () ideologists and served as Reich Minister of Food and Agriculture. As the National leader () fo ...
and
Walter Buch. After the
Night of the Long Knives in July 1934,
Sepp Dietrich was promoted to the rank. On 9 September 1934, so as to prevent a power struggle within the SS, Hitler further promoted
Kurt Daluege
Kurt Max Franz Daluege (15 September 1897 – 24 October 1946) was chief of the national uniformed '' Ordnungspolizei'' (Order Police) of Nazi Germany. Following Reinhard Heydrich's assassination in 1942, he served as Deputy Protector for ...
who commanded most of the SS in the
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
region. Daluege's promotion was to avoid the SS splitting into two separate entities, one based in Northern Germany under Daluege and the other in
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...
under Himmler. This early SS disunity became a non-issue after a common ground was found amongst SS leaders in their general hatred of the SA.
Udo von Woyrsch and
Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger were promoted to SS-''Obergruppenführer'' in 1935 while
Josias, Hereditary Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, and
Max Amann received the rank a year later along with
Karl von Eberstein and
Philipp Bouhler. The year 1936 saw several promotions to the rank, including
Friedrich Jeckeln
Friedrich Jeckeln (2 February 1895 – 3 February 1946) was a German SS commander during the Nazi era. He served as a Higher SS and Police Leader in the occupied Soviet Union during World War II. Jeckeln was the commander of one of the largest ...
who would become one of the most infamous
SS and police leaders on the
Eastern Front during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. The last pre-war promotion to the rank of SS-''Obergruppenführer'' was in 1937 for
Ernst-Heinrich Schmauser. Upon the outbreak of World War II, there were seventeen men who held the rank of SS-''Obergruppenführer''.
Promotion history
During the Second World War, there were 88 promotions to the rank, of which 22 were considered regular officers of the ''
Waffen-SS'' and the rest members of the ''
Allgemeine-SS''. The first wartime promotions to SS-''Obergruppenführer'' occurred in April 1940 when the rank was granted to
Joachim von Ribbentrop,
Martin Bormann and
Hans Lammers;
Arthur Seyss-Inquart and
Otto Dietrich were promoted a year later. All five promotions were honorary SS ranks with the first promotion of an active SS officer occurring in September 1941 when the rank was granted to
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( ; ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a high-ranking German SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust.
He was chief of the Reich Security Main Office (inc ...
. The ''Waffen-SS'' commander,
Paul Hausser was promoted to the rank of SS-''Obergruppenführer'' on 1 October 1941. ''Waffen-SS'' commander
Theodor Eicke was promoted to ''SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS'' on 20 April 1942. Sepp Dietrich remained senior, having served as ''General der SS-VT'' (''
SS-Verfügungstruppe'') upon the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
Two SS officers would be demoted from the rank of SS-''Obergruppenführer'': Rudolf Hess and
Wolf-Heinrich Graf von Helldorff. Hess was stripped of his rank and expelled from both the SS and Nazi Party after his abortive
flight to Scotland in 1941. Helldorff was stricken from the SS rolls in 1944 after the
20 July plot against Hitler. Helldorff was a unique case, in that his SS rank had been bestowed for technical reasons in order to command the
Berlin Police. While holding SA membership, Helldorff was never actually an SS member although for administrative purposes he held SS rank and was ranked as the 15th most senior SS officer.
A total of 106 men would eventually hold the rank of SS-''Obergruppenführer'' with 97 such officers listed on the SS seniority list in 1944. Several men with the rank would die during World War II; some of the more notable being Reinhard Heydrich, Theodor Eicke, and
Artur Phleps
Artur Gustav Martin Phleps (29 November 1881 – 21 September 1944) was an Austro-Hungarian, Romanian and German army officer who held the rank of '' SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS'' (lieutenant general) in the Waffen-SS d ...
. The last promotion was made in March 1945 to
Hans Kammler.
Rank usage
The rank of ''Obergruppenführer'' was used by four major paramilitary groups of the Nazi Party, these being the SA, SS,
National Socialist Motor Corps, and
National Socialist Flyers Corps. The rank would remain the highest SS general officer rank until April 1942, when the rank of ''
SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer'' was created.
Standard practice for SS generals serving as an
SS and police leader, as well as those senior SS personnel of the
RSHA, was to hold dual police rank as ''SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei''. ''SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS'' was the equivalent in the armed SS; in 1944, most active SS generals received this designation in order to command military troops during the last days of the war. Approximately fifteen SS generals were ranked as ''SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei und Waffen-SS''.
SS-''Obergruppenführer'' was considered the highest rank of the ''
Allgemeine SS'' until April 1942; equivalent to a
lieutenant general
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
(three-star general) in the American and British armies. It was only outranked by Himmler's special rank of ''Reichsführer-SS''. However, within the ''Waffen-SS'', the rank of SS-''Gruppenführer'' was equivalent to a ''
Generalleutnant'', and an SS-''Obergruppenführer'' came to be considered the equivalent of a ''
General
A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...
''; holders were titled in full ''SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS''.
Rank insignia
SS-Obergruppenführer collar until1942.jpg, Gorget patch
until April 1942
('' Allgemeine SS'' and '' Waffen-SS'')
HH-SS-Obergruppenfuhrer-Collar.png, Gorget patches
1942–1945
(''Allgemeine SS'' and ''Waffen-SS'')
SS-Obergruppenführer.svg, Shoulder board
(Waffen-SS)
GenWaGtg Ogruf OF8 cam slv 1945.svg, Camouflage
Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...
(Waffen-SS)
SA-Obergruppenführer.jpg, SA Gorget patches
NSFK-Obergruppenführer.svg, NSFK
The National Socialist Flyers Corps (german: Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps; NSFK) was a paramilitary aviation organization of the Nazi Party.
History
NSFK was founded 15 April 1937 as a successor to the German Air Sports Association; the ...
Gorget patch
NSKK-Obergruppenführer.svg, NSKK Gorget patch
See also
*
Corps colours (Waffen-SS) Corps colours, or Troop-function colours (German: ''Waffenfarben'') were worn in the Waffen-SS from 1938 until 1945 in order to distinguish between various branches of service, units, and functions. The corps colours were part of the pipings, gorg ...
*
List of SS-Obergruppenführer
*
Table of ranks and insignia of the Waffen-SS
Notes
Bibliography
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* SS
service records of , , and :
National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...
,
College Park, Maryland
College Park is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and is approximately four miles (6.4 km) from the northeast border of Washington, D.C. The population was 34,740 at the 2020 United States Census. It is best know ...
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Obergruppenfuhrer
SS ranks
Nazi paramilitary ranks
German words and phrases
Three-star officers of Nazi Germany
Lists of generals