Bereichsleiter (Department Leader) was a Nazi Party political rank which existed between the years of 1939 and 1945. The rank of Bereichsleiter was created primarily to replace the older rank of Kreisleiter (County Leader) but was also used on higher levels of the Nazi Party (Regional and National) as a senior Chief of Staff position.
Those Bereichsleiters who were assigned to the position Kreisleiter were now denoted through the use of a special political armband.
Bereichleites were often given military denotation titles in reserve regional army's under various party branches. The enlightenment was one example of a branch used, typically in dual titles between senior general staff.
Sources
Clark, J. (2007). Uniforms of the NSDAP. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing
Führer is a German word meaning "leader" or "guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. Hitler officially styled himself der Führer und Reichskanzler after the death of President Paul von Hindenburg in 1934 and the subsequent merging of the offices of Reichspräsident and Reichskanzler.
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The uniforms and insignia of the Schutzstaffel (SS) served to distinguish its Nazi paramilitary ranks between 1925 and 1945 from the ranks of the Wehrmacht, the German state, and the Nazi Party.
Reichsführer-SS was a special title and rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945 for the commander of the Schutzstaffel (SS). Reichsführer-SS was a title from 1925 to 1933, and from 1934 to 1945 it was the highest rank of the SS. The longest-serving and most noteworthy office holder was Heinrich Himmler.
Ranks and insignia were used by the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) as paramilitary titles between approximately 1928 and the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945. Such ranks were held within the political leadership corps of the Nazi Party, charged with the overseeing of the regular Nazi Party members.
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Kreisleiter was a Nazi Party political rank and title which existed as a political rank between 1930 and 1945 and as a Nazi Party title from as early as 1928. The position of Kreisleiter was first formed to provide German election district coordination and, after the Nazi assumption of power, the position became one of county municipal government, effectively replacing the traditional German government establishment.
Befehlsleiter was a Nazi Party political rank of Nazi Germany.
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