SS-Obergruppenführer

Sepp Dietrich as SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Waffen-SS

The SS-Obergruppenführer (short: Ogruf ; address: Obergruppenführer ) was the highest general rank of the Schutzstaffel (SS) under the Reichsführer SS in the German Reich until 1942 . With the introduction of a new rank, the SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer, in April 1942, the SS-Obergruppenführer became the second highest rank of general in the SS, comparable to today's lieutenant general .

Ranking and insignia

This SS rank corresponded to the SA-Obergruppenführer and the then General ... of the Wehrmacht . According to today's NATO rank codes , this rank would be comparable to OF-8 ( Lieutenant General ).

By the end of the war in 1945, 107 SS members had reached the rank of SS-Obergruppenführer. In the General SS , for example, an SS-Obergruppenführer could be used as a leader of an SS-Oberabschnitt , in the Waffen-SS as a leader of a corps or comparable unit. The “ Higher SS and Police Leaders ” (HSSPF), who were directly below the Reichsführer SS in the hierarchy , mostly held this rank.

See also : List of Generals of the Waffen SS

Rank
lower: SS-Gruppenführer	SS-Obergruppenführer (Ogruf)	higher: SS Colonel Group Leader

Badge of rank SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Waffen-SS

Collar tab before 1942
(Allgemeine SS / Waffen-SS)

Collar tab 1942–1945
(Allgemeine SS / Waffen-SS)

Shoulder piece
(Waffen-SS)

Sleeve badge camouflage suit
(Wehrmacht / Waffen-SS)

Uniform color: field gray

The illustrations show the badges of rank or rank badges that were worn as shoulder pieces and collar tabs , but also as sleeve badges from 1942 for camouflage or special suits. The mirror-like collar tabs with the badge of rank were worn on the field-gray uniform jacket of the Waffen-SS or the gray field blouse. The base of the shoulder pieces was held in the weapon color "silver-gray", which is common for all ranks of the Waffen-SS .

Promotions to SS-Obergruppenführer 1933 to 1945
year	number	Name first Name
1933	3	Heinrich Himmler , Franz Xaver Schwarz , Kurt Daluege
1934	5	Fritz Weitzel , Richard Walther Darré , Walter Buch , Rudolf Heß , Josef Dietrich
1935	2	Udo von Woyrsch , Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger
1936	8th	Josias zu Waldeck and Pyrmont , Max Amann , Friedrich Karl von Eberstein , Philipp Bouhler , Wolf-Heinrich von Helldorff , Friedrich Jeckeln , Werner Lorenz , August Heißmeyer
1937	1	Ernst-Heinrich Schmauser
1938	0
1939
1940	3	Joachim von Ribbentrop , Martin Bormann , Hans Lammers
1941	9	Otto Dietrich , Reinhard Heydrich , Hans-Adolf Prützmann , Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski , Wilhelm Rediess , Paul Hausser , Wilhelm Reinhard , Albert Forster , Arthur Seyss-Inquart
1942	20th	Karl Kaufmann , Friedrich Hildebrandt , Karl Fiehler , Dietrich Klagges , Paul Körner , Wilhelm Murr , Fritz Sauckel , Richard Hildebrandt , Wilhelm Koppe , Theodor Berkelmann , Wilhelm Keppler , Karl Wolff , Josef Bürckel , Arthur Greiser , Theodor Eicke , Emil Mazuw , Paul Scharfe , Oswald Pohl , Walter Schmitt , Herbert Backe
1943	23	Siegfried Taubert , Joachim Albrecht Eggeling , Ernst Wilhelm Bohle , Konstantin von Neurath , Julius Schaub , Günther Pancke , Ernst Kaltenbrunner , Konrad Henlein , Ernst Sachs , Karl Hermann Frank , August Eigruber , Friedrich Rainer , Hugo Jury , Rudolf Querner , Friedrich Alpers , Gottlob Berger , Otto Hofmann , Hanns Albin Rauter , Hans Jüttner , Artur Phleps , Felix Steiner , Alfred Wünnenberg , Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch
1944	32	Hartmann Lauterbacher , Karl Hanke , Ulrich Greifelt , Wilhelm Stuckart , Otto Winkelmann , Hermann Höfle , Ernst-Robert Grawitz , Leonardo Conti , Franz Breithaupt , Werner Best , Maximilian von Herff , Georg Keppler , Walter Krüger , Karl Maria Demelhuber , Kurt Knoblauch , Curt von Gottberg , Oskar Schwerk , Heinrich von Maur , Karl Wahl , Fritz Wächtler , Jürgen von Kamptz , Erwin Rösener , Benno Martin , Gustav Adolf Scheel , Paul Wegener , Karl Gutenberger , Carl Albrecht Oberg , Wilhelm Bittrich , Matthias Kleinheisterkamp , August Frank , Fritz Schlessmann , Herbert Otto Gille
1945	1	Hans Kammler

References and comments

1. ↑ Gordon Williamson: The SS - Hitler's Instrument of Power. Neuer Kaiser Verlag 1998, p. 250.
2. ↑ OF stands for officer ranks , cf. NATO glossary abbreviations used in NATO documents and publications / Glossaire OTAN des abréviations utilisées dans les documents et publications OTAN ( Memento of 8 May 2010 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ Heinz Höhne : The order under the skull. The history of the SS . Bassermann, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8094-2255-6 , p. 141.
4. ↑ Dictionary of German military history , 1st edition (Liz.5, P189 / 84, LSV: 0547, B-No. 746 635 0), Military Publishing House of the GDR (VEB), Berlin, 1985, p. 145 (rank badge 29/30 ).

See also

• SS ranks
• Ranks of the order police
• NS ranks
• Illustration of the ranks and insignia of the Waffen SS
• List of SS-Obergruppenführer

Web links

Commons : Rangabzeichen SS-Obergruppenführer  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Wiktionary: SS-Obergruppenführer  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations