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''Obersturmbannführer'' (Senior Assault-unit Leader; ; short: ''Ostubaf'') was a
paramilitary
A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934.
Overview
Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...
rank in the German Nazi Party (
NSDAP) which was used by the SA (''
Sturmabteilung
The (; SA; or 'Storm Troopers') was the original paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party of Germany. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and early 1930s. I ...
'') and the SS (''
Schutzstaffel
The ''Schutzstaffel'' (; ; SS; also stylised with SS runes as ''ᛋᛋ'') was a major paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II.
It beg ...
''). The rank of ' was junior to the rank of ''
Standartenführer'', and was equivalent to the military rank of ''
Oberstleutnant
() (English: Lieutenant Colonel) is a senior field officer rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to lieutenant colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, ...
'' (
lieutenant colonel) in the
German Army
The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...
.
As the SA expanded, the rank of ''Ostubaf'' was created in May 1933 to provide a rank above ''
Sturmbannführer''; likewise, the ''Ostubaf'' was an
SS rank. The ' rank insignia was composed of four silver pips and a black stripe on a silver background, all elements are centered in the left wing of the collar of the tunic of an SS or of an SA uniform. The rank also was worn on the shoulder boards of an ''Oberstleutnant'' and was the highest rank in the SS and the SA to display
SS unit insignia on the collar wing opposite the rank insignia.
Various
Waffen-SS
The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...
units composed of
foreign recruits were considered distinct from the German SS, and thus they were not permitted to wear SS runes on their collar tabs but had their divisional insignia instead. Their ranks were also prepended with "Waffen" instead of "SS", as in, ''Waffen-''.
Adolf Eichmann
In 1940,
Adolf Eichmann was promoted to ', and was listed as such in the minutes of the
Wannsee Conference held in January 1942. In 1961, during the
Eichmann trial for Lt. Col. Eichmann's crimes against humanity, the chief prosecutor,
Gideon Hausner, drew attention to the executive significance and
command responsibility
In the practice of international law, command responsibility (also superior responsibility) is the legal doctrine of hierarchical accountability for war crimes, whereby a commanding officer (military) and a superior officer (civil) are legally r ...
of the rank of ', in response to Eichmann's claim that he was merely a
clerk
A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...
obeying orders; Hausner asked, "Were you an ' or an office girl?"
In the book ''
Eichmann in Jerusalem'' (1963) the political theoretician
Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt (born Johanna Arendt; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German and American historian and philosopher. She was one of the most influential political theory, political theorists of the twentieth century.
Her work ...
said that was not a rank of significance, because Eichmann whiled away the war time awaiting promotion to the rank of ''
Standartenführer''. That "people like Eichmann, who had risen from the ranks, were never permitted to advance beyond a lieutenant colonel
.e. 'except at the front", in combat with the enemy.
In fiction
In the 2014
action-adventure
An action-adventure game is a video game genre, video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres.
Definition
An action adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements f ...
video game
''Wolfenstein: The New Order'', the secondary antagonist
Irene Engel enters her debut role as a .
Rank insignia
See also
*
Table of ranks and insignia of the Waffen-SS
Notes
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Obersturmbannfuhrer
SS ranks