Standartenführer



Standartenführer was a Nazi party paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organizations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. First founded as a title in 1925, in 1928 the rank became one of the first commissioned Nazi ranks and was bestowed upon those SA and SS officers who commanded units known as Standarten which were regiment-sized formations of between three hundred and five hundred men.

In 1929 the rank of Standartenführer was divided into two separate ranks known as Standartenführer (I) and Standartenführer (II). This concept was abandoned in 1930 when both the SA and SS expanded their rank systems to allow for more officer positions and thus the need for only a single Standartenführer rank.

In 1933, when Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, the rank of Standartenführer had been established as the greatest field-officer rank, lesser than that of Oberführer of the SS and SA. By the start of World War II, Standartenführer was widely spread as both an SS rank and a rank of the SA. In the Waffen-SS, the rank was considered the equivalent of an Oberst, a full colonel.

The insignia for Standartenführer consisted of a single oak leaf displayed on both collars. Standartenführer was the first of the SS and SA ranks to display rank insignia on both collars, without the display of unit insignia. From 1938, newer SS uniforms featured the shoulder boards of a German Oberst in addition to the oak leaf collar patches.

Fictional portrayals

 * Fictional character Colonel Hessler in the film Battle of the Bulge is modeled after SS-Standartenführer Joachim Peiper, though the character of Hessler is not a member of the SS.
 * Colonel Paul Kramer in the film Where Eagles Dare wears the uniform of an SS-Standartenführer.
 * Standartenführer Stierlitz, the alias of Soviet spy Colonel Isayev—a hero of popular Russian books and a famous miniseries, one of the most famous characters of Russian jokes.
 * Ernst Vogel, SS-Standartenführer from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He is shown to be an SS colonel by the collar patches on both his black and dove grey uniforms.
 * Hans Landa, aka "The Jew-Hunter" portrayed by Christoph Waltz in the film Inglourious Basterds, held the rank of Standartenführer in the SS.
 * Standartenführer Herzog, played by Ørjan Gamst, who occupied the area near Øksfjord, Norway in the film Dead Snow. After the citizens stage an uprising and ambush the Nazis, a few survivors, including Herzog, were chased into the mountains, where it was assumed that they all froze to death. Herzog later returns as a zombie in 2009, along with several of his soldiers.
 * Oskar Huth, a top investigator under Heinrich Himmler's direct supervision in Len Deighton's alternative history novel SS-GB.
 * Felix Hoth, commander of the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler and the main antagonist in Marching Through Georgia by S. M. Stirling.