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''Obergruppenführer'' was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the SA, and adopted by the Schutzstaffel one year later. Until 1942, it was the highest commissioned SS rank, inferior only to ''Reichsführer-SS'' (Heinrich Himmler). Translated as "senior group leader", the rank of ''Obergruppenführer'' was considered senior to ''Gruppenführer''. ==Creation and history== The rank of ''Obergruppenführer'' was created in 1932 by Ernst Röhm and was intended as a senior most rank of the Nazi stormtroopers for use by Röhm and his top SA generals. In its initial concept, the rank was intended to be held by members of the ''Oberste SA-Führung'' (Supreme SA Command) and also by veteran commanders of certain ''SA-Gruppen'' (SA groups). Some of the early promotions to the rank included Ernst Röhm, Viktor Lutze, Edmund Heines, August Schneidhüber, and Fritz Ritter von Krausser. The rank of ''SA-Obergruppenführer'' was the most senior rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' until the spring of 1933, after which time Röhm created the rank of ''Stabschef'' (formerly a title for the SA Chief of Staff) and promoted himself to the position. Also in the summer of 1933, Heinrich Himmler was promoted by Adolf Hitler to the newly created rank of ''SS-Obergruppenführer'' with the intent being to make Himmler the equivalent of the senior commanders of the SA, to which the SS was still subordinated. Although Himmler usually referred to himself as ''Reichsführer-SS'', before 1934 this was simply a title for the SS commander, and not yet an actual rank. Shortly after Himmler's promotion, Hitler further promoted Franz Xaver Schwarz, with Himmler's date of rank backdated to 1 January 1933 in order to confirm his seniority as the top officer within the SS. In September 1933, so as to prevent a power struggle within the SS, Hitler further promoted Kurt Daluege who commanded most of the SS in the Berlin region. Daluege's promotion was to avoid the SS splitting into two separate entities, one based in Northern Germany under Daluege and the other in Bavaria under Himmler. This early SS disunity became a non-issue after a common ground was found amongst SS leaders in their general hatred of the SA. Four men were promoted to ''SS-Obergruppenführer'' in 1934, these being Fritz Weitzel, Richard Walther Darré, Walter Buch, and Rudolf Hess. After the Night of the Long Knives in July 1934, Sepp Dietrich was promoted to the rank, backdated to July 1933 in order to make him the third most senior officer in the SS (after Himmler and Schwarz). Paul Hausser, who was made an ''SS-Obergruppenführer'' in 1941, further received backdated rank to 1933 after his promotion to ''SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer'' in 1944. Udo von Woyrsch and Friedrich Wilhelm Krüger were promoted to ''SS-Obergruppenführer'' in 1935 while Josias Erbprinz zu Waldeck und Pyrmont and Max Amann received the rank a year later along with Friedrich Karl Freiherr von Eberstein and Philipp Bouhler. The year 1936 saw several promotions to the rank, including Friedrich Jecklen who would become one of the most infamous SS and Police Leaders on the Eastern Front during World War II. The last pre-war promotion to the rank of ''SS-Obergruppenführer'' was in 1937 when Ernst Heinrich Schmauser received the rank. Upon the outbreak of World War II, there were seventeen men who held the rank of ''SS-Obergruppenführer''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Obergruppenführer」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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