Obergruppenführer was one of the Third Reich's paramilitary ranks that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the Sturmabteilung (SA) and adopted by the Schutzstaffel (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.
The uniforms and insignia of the Schutzstaffel were used for the Nazi paramilitary ranks of the Schutzstaffel (SS) between 1925 and 1945 to differentiate that organization from the Wehrmacht as the regular German armed forces, the German state, and the Nazi Party.
Standartenführer was a Nazi Party (NSDAP) paramilitary rank that was used in several NSDAP organizations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. First founded as a title in 1925, in 1928 it became one of the first commissioned NSDAP ranks and was bestowed upon those SA and SS officers who commanded a unit known as a Standarte, a unit equivalent to an army battalion and comprising 300–500 personnel.
Wilhelm Bittrich was a high-ranking Waffen-SS commander of Nazi Germany. Between August 1942 and February 1943, Bittrich commanded the SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer, in rear security operations in the Soviet Union. From July 1944 until the end of the war Bittrich commanded the 2nd SS Panzer Corps in Normandy, during Market Garden and in Hungary.
Fritz Witt was a German SS commander during the Nazi era. During World War II, he served with the SS Division Leibstandarte before taking command of the SS Division Hitlerjugend. He was killed in action in June 1944.
SS Heimwehr "Danzig" was an SS unit established in the Free City of Danzig before the Second World War. It fought with the German Army against the Polish Army during the invasion of Poland, and some of its members committed a massacre of Polish civilians. After this it became part of the 3rd SS Totenkopf Division and ceased to exist as an independent unit.
SS-Standartenführer (Colonel) Hans Wilhelm Kempin was a German Waffen-SS combat and training officer who served in the SS-Standarte Deutschland, SS-Regiment Der Führer and later commanded the 547. Volksgrenadier-Division, 38. SS-Grenadierdivision Nibelungen, 32.SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Division 30.Januar, and the Waffen-SS Unterführerschule in Laibach (Ljubljana).
Units and commands of the Schutzstaffel were organizational titles used by the SS to describe the many groups, forces, and formations that existed within the SS from its inception in 1923 to the eventual fall of Nazi Germany in 1945.
The 1st SS-Standarte was a regimental command of the Allgemeine-SS and one of the units in the General-SS order of battle.
The 11th SS-Standarte was a large regimental formation of the Allgemeine-SS and the principal mustering SS unit in Austria. First formed in 1932, the Standarte was headquartered in Vienna and during its first years of existence served as a base for members of the Austrian SS who were attempting to influence Austrian politics towards an Anschluss with Germany.
The 18th SS-Standarte was a regimental formation of the Allgemeine-SS located in the city of Köningsberg. The Standarte was one of the earlier General-SS formations and had been founded in 1932, a year before Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power in Germany.
The First SS-Abschnitt was a brigade formation of the Allgemeine-SS and the first such unit ever established in the SS. The First Abschnitt was originally known as the SS-Brigaden 1 and was founded due to an expansion of the SS between 1929 and 1930, causing the need for SS-regiments to be grouped into higher brigade sized formations. The SS-Brigades were modeled after the same type of unit used by the Sturmabteilung.
The 17th SS-Standarte was a regimental formation of the Allgemeine-SS first founded in 1931. The unit was one of the early SS formations in Germany, and was first headquartered in the city of Harburg-Wilhelmsburg.
In Nazi Germany, the Standarte was a paramilitary unit of Nazi Party (NSDAP), Sturmabteilung, NSKK, NSFK, and Schutzstaffel (SS). Translated literally as "Regimental standard", the name refers to the flag paramilitary formations carried in formations and parades.
Waldemar Wappenhans was an SS-Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant of police who served as an SS and police leader (SSPF) in the Reichskommissariat Ukraine.
Carl Peter Zenner was an SS-Brigadeführer who served as SS and Police Leader in Generalbezirk Weissruthenien during the Second World War. An active participant in the Holocaust, he was convicted and jailed for crimes against humanity.
Lucian Wysocki was a German Nazi Party politician, Police President and member of both the SA and the SS. As an SS-Brigadefuhrer and Generalmajor of police, he served as the SS and Police Leader of Generalbezirk Litauen during the Second World War.
Kurt Gustav Ernst Hintze was a Nazi Party politician, SS-Brigadeführer and Generalmajor of police, who served as the last SS and Police Leader (SSPF) in the Generalbezirk Litauen. He was killed in an air raid six months before the end of the war.
Johannes Rudolf Georg Hans Döring was a German Nazi Party politician, SS-Brigadeführer and officer in the Waffen-SS. He held important SS commands in several major cities of Nazi Germany and served as an SS and Police Leader in Stalino during the Second World War.
Max Henze was a German Nazi politician and SS-Brigadeführer who was police chief in Kassel, Bromberg, Danzig and Essen. At the end of the Second World War, he was executed in Poland for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
