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Leadership ranks of the Sturmabteilung

 
Leadership Ranks of the Sturmabteilung

 
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Leadership ranks of the Sturmabteilung
 
 
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Leadership ranks of the Sturmabteilung were the titles and positions
Military rank

Military rank is a system of hierarchy relationships in armed forces or civil institutions organized along military lines. Usually, uniforms denote the bearer's rank by particular insignia affixed to the uniforms....
 held by the commanders of the Sturmabteilung
Sturmabteilung

The , abbreviated SA, , functioned as a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party the Germany Nazism. They played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s....
 (SA) of the Nazi Party between the years of 1920 and 1945.

The supreme commander of the entire SA was Oberster SA-Führer, a titular position
Titular head

A titular ruler, or titular head, is a person in an official position of leadership who possesses few, if any, actual powers. Sometimes a person may inhabit a position of titular leadership and yet exercise more power than would normally be expected, as a result of their Charisma or experience....
, while Chef des Stabes, the Chief of Staff, oversaw the day-to-day operations of the group.


To centralize the loyalty of the SA, Hitler personally assumed command of the entire organization in 1930 and remained Oberste SA-Führer for the duration of the group's existence.






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Leadership ranks of the Sturmabteilung were the titles and positions
Military rank

Military rank is a system of hierarchy relationships in armed forces or civil institutions organized along military lines. Usually, uniforms denote the bearer's rank by particular insignia affixed to the uniforms....
 held by the commanders of the Sturmabteilung
Sturmabteilung

The , abbreviated SA, , functioned as a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party the Germany Nazism. They played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s....
 (SA) of the Nazi Party between the years of 1920 and 1945.

The supreme commander of the entire SA was Oberster SA-Führer, a titular position
Titular head

A titular ruler, or titular head, is a person in an official position of leadership who possesses few, if any, actual powers. Sometimes a person may inhabit a position of titular leadership and yet exercise more power than would normally be expected, as a result of their Charisma or experience....
, while Chef des Stabes, the Chief of Staff, oversaw the day-to-day operations of the group.

Oberste SA-Führer

  • Emil Maurice
    Emil Maurice

    File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1980-073-19A, Emil Maurice.jpg Emil Maurice was an early member of the Nazi Party. A watchmaker, he was a close associate of Adolf Hitler with a personal friendship dating back to at least 1919....
     (1920–1921)
  • Hans Ulrich Klintzsch
    Hans Ulrich Klintzsch

    Hans Ulrich Klintzsch was an ex-naval lieutenant from the Erhardt Brigade who served as leader of the Oberste SA-F?hrer from 1921 until May 11, 1923, when he returned to his former unit and ceded control to Hermann G?ring....
     (1921–1923)
  • Hermann Göring
    Hermann Göring

    Hermann Wilhelm G?ring was a Germany politician, military leader and a leading member of the Nazi Party. Among many offices, he was Hitler's designated successor and commander of the Luftwaffe ....
     (1923)
  • None (1923–1925) SA abolished
  • Franz Pfeffer von Salomon
    Franz Pfeffer von Salomon

    File:Bundesarchiv Bild 119-1587A, Franz von Pfeffer.jpgFranz Pfeffer von Salomon was the first commander of the Sturmabteilung after its 1925 restoration, which followed its temporary abolition in 1923 after the abortive Beer Hall Putsch....
     (1926–1930)
  • Adolf Hitler
    Adolf Hitler

    Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born Germany politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party....
     (1930–1945)


To centralize the loyalty of the SA, Hitler personally assumed command of the entire organization in 1930 and remained Oberste SA-Führer for the duration of the group's existence. After 1931, it is those who held the rank of Stabschef, such as Ernst Röhm
Ernst Röhm

Ernst Julius R?hm, was a Germany army officer and Nazism leader. He was a co-founder of the Sturmabteilung , the Nazi Party militia, and later was SA commander....
, who are generally accepted as the commanders of the SA.

Oberste SA-Führer had no particular uniform insignia and was a paramilitary
Paramilitary

A paramilitary is a force whose function and organisation are similar to those of a professional military force, but which is not regarded as having the same status....
 title that could be denoted in a variety of ways. Göring, for instance, created an elaborate uniform, with swastika armband accompanied with white service stripes. In contrast, Maurice wore simply a brown Nazi stormtrooper shirt with no insignia, as did Hitler when he held the title of Oberste SA-Führer.

Stabschef

Main article: Stabschef (SA)
Stabschef (SA)

For other uses of the term "Stabschef" please refer to Chief of StaffStabschef was a paramilitary rank in the Sturmabteilung , the paramilitary stormtroopers associated with the National Socialist German Workers Party....
After its creation in 1931, Stabschef was considered the actual leader of the SA.

  • Ernst Röhm
    Ernst Röhm

    Ernst Julius R?hm, was a Germany army officer and Nazism leader. He was a co-founder of the Sturmabteilung , the Nazi Party militia, and later was SA commander....
     (1931 – 1934)
  • Viktor Lutze
    Viktor Lutze

    Viktor Lutze was an Sturmabteilung officer in Nazi Germany.Lutze was born in Bevergern, Province of Westphalia, the son of a peasant craftsman....
     (1934 – 1943)
  • Wilhelm Schepmann
    Wilhelm Schepmann

    Wilhelm Schepmann was an Sturmabteilung officer in Nazi Germany.He succeeded Viktor Lutze as Stabschef SA after Lutze was killed in a car accident....
     (1943 – 1945)


Lutze succeeded Röhm after Röhm was murdered, and Schepmann succeeded Lutze after Lutze died in a car crash.

Initial insignia for Stabschef consisted of an oak leaf patch worn on the collar of the stormtrooper uniform. Photographic evidence shows Röhm wearing such an insignia in his early days as Stabschef. As Röhm's authority increased, so did his insignia. Photographs from mid-1931 show Röhm wearing a two- and then a three-leaf insignia design. After 1933, the insignia for Stabschef consisted of a "crossed lances" pattern wreathed by a half oak leaf circle. Personally designed by Röhm, it was based on the insignia of a Bolivia
Bolivia

The Republic of Bolivia , named after Sim?n Bol?var, is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil on the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina on the south, and Chile and Peru on the west....
n general
General

A General officer is an Officer of high military rank. The term or equivalent is used by nearly every country in the world. General can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer, or it can specifically refer to a single rank that is just called general....
 (Röhm served as a German military advisor to Bolivia in the late 1920s).

After Röhm was murdered during the Night of the Long Knives
Night of the Long Knives

The Night of the Long Knives or "Operation Hummingbird", was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi Party regime carried out a series of political executions, most of those killed being members of the Sturmabteilung , the paramilitary Brownshirts....
 in 1934, his successor Lutze changed the insignia to a wreathed oak leaf pattern identical to the insignia of Reichsführer-SS
Reichsführer-SS

was a special SS rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945. Reichsf?hrer-SS was a title from 1925 to 1933 and, after 1934, became the highest rank of the German Schutzstaffel ....
. This remained as the insignia until the end of the war, and the Sturmabteilung, in 1945.

See also


  • Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party
    Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party

    Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party were Nazi party paramilitary ranks used by the National Socialist German Workers Party between 1925 and 1945....
  • Ranks and insignia of the Sturmabteilung
    Ranks and insignia of the Sturmabteilung

    The ranks and insignia of the Sturmabteilung were the first Nazi party paramilitary ranks to be developed by the Nazi Party in 1920. The titles and phrases used by the SA were eventually adopted by several other Nazi paramilitary groups, among them the Schutzstaffel ....
  • Ranks and insignia of the Schutzstaffel
    Ranks and insignia of the Schutzstaffel

    The ranks and insignia of the Schutzstaffel were a Nazi party paramilitary ranks used by the Schutzstaffel to differentiate that organization from the regular German armed forces, the German state, and the Nazi Party....


Sources


  • Bedurftig, Friedemann, and Christian Zenter. The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich
    Encyclopedia of the Third Reich

    The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich is a two-volume text edited by Christian Zenter and Friedemann Bedurftig. It was published in 1985 by Sudwest Verlag GmbH & co....
    . 1985.