Obersturmbannführer

Obersturmbannführer (, Template:Literal translation, short: Ostubaf) was a paramilitary rank in the German Nazi Party (NSDAP) which was used by the SA (Sturmabteilung) and the SS (Schutzstaffel).Template:Sfn The rank of was junior to the rank of Standartenführer, and was equivalent to the military rank of Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel) in the German Army.Template:Sfn

As the SA expanded, the rank of Ostubaf was created in May 1933 to provide a rank above Sturmbannführer; likewise, the Ostubaf was an SS rank.Template:Sfn The rank insignia was composed of four silver pips and a black stripe on a silver background, all elements are centered in the left wing of the collar of the tunic of an SS or of an SA uniform.Template:Sfn The rank also was worn on the shoulder boards of an Oberstleutnant and was the highest rank in the SS and the SA to display SS unit insignia on the collar wing opposite the rank insignia.Template:Sfn

Various Waffen-SS units composed of foreign recruits were considered distinct from the German SS, and thus they were not permitted to wear SS runes on their collar tabs but had their divisional insignia instead. Their ranks were also prepended with "Waffen" instead of "SS", as in, Waffen-.Template:Sfn

Adolf Eichmann

In 1940, Adolf Eichmann was promoted to , and was listed as such in the minutes of the Wannsee Conference held in January 1942. In 1961, during the Eichmann trial for Lt. Col. Eichmann's crimes against humanity, the chief prosecutor, Gideon Hausner, drew attention to the executive significance and command responsibility of the rank of , in response to Eichmann's claim that he was merely a clerk obeying orders; Hausner asked, "Were you an or an office girl?"

In the book Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963) the political theoretician Hannah Arendt said that was not a rank of significance, because Eichmann whiled away the war time awaiting promotion to the rank of Standartenführer. That "people like Eichmann, who had risen from the ranks, were never permitted to advance beyond a lieutenant colonel [i.e. ] except at the front", in combat with the enemy.Template:Sfn

In fiction

In the 2014 action-adventure video game Wolfenstein: The New Order, the secondary antagonist Irene Engel enters her debut role as a .

Rank insignia

Obersturmbannführer SS, SA, NSKK, and NSFK
Rank insignia Shoulder mark Camo insignia Gorget patch	Schutzstaffel (SS)			Sturmabteilung (SA)	NS Motor Corps (NSKK)	NS Flyers Corps (NSFK)
	File:WSS Inf OF4 Ostubaf 1945.png	File:OTL Ostubaf OF4 cam slv 1945.svg	File:SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer collar.jpg	File:SA-Obersturmbannführer.svg	File:NSKK-Obersturmbannführer.svg	File:NSFK-Obersturmbannführer.svg
	Waffen-SS		Allgemeine-SS Waffen-SS	collar insignia

Junior Rank Sturmbannführer

SS rank and SA rank Obersturmbannführer

Senior Rank Standartenführer

See also

• Table of ranks and insignia of the Waffen-SS
• SS Wachsturmbann "Eimann"