Standartenführer

Hermann Fegelein as an SS-Standartenführer

Standartenführer was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organizations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK.^[1][2] 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.^[1]

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.^[3]

The insignia for Standartenführer consisted of a single oak leaf displayed on both collars.^[4] Standartenführer was the first of the SS and SA ranks to display rank insignia on both collars, without the display of unit insignia.^[4] From 1938, newer SS uniforms featured the shoulder boards of a German Oberst (colonel) in addition to the oak leaf collar patches.^[5]

Fictional portrayals

• 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.
• In the Star Trek: The Original Series installment "Patterns Of Force," McCoy's "Gestapo doctor" disguise calls for him to be uniformed as an SS-Standartenführer, as reflected in James Kirk's orders, "Make him a colonel."
• 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.
• Helga von Bulow, high-ranking member of the SS Paranormal Division, possesses the rank of Standartenführer in Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
• During the third series of the BBC television series Secret Army, broadcast in 1979, Ludwig Kessler, the fictional head of the Gestapo in Brussels played by Clifford Rose is promoted to Standartenführer. The character continued into the post-war era in Kessler, broadcast in 1981.
• In both Night of the Fox (novel) and the movie, the main character Harry Martineau impersonates Standartenfuhrer Max Vogel.
• In the video game A Stroke of Fate (video game), the protagonist is Gerhard Mayer, a Standartenfuhrer of the Gestapo.

Insignia

• 

  Shoulder mark
  (Infantry)

• 

  SS-reconnaissance corps

• 

  SS-Medical corps

• 

  Gorget patches

• 

  Military camouflage

See also

• Table of ranks and insignia of the Waffen-SS

Junior Rank Obersturmbannführer

SS rank and SA rank Standartenführer

Senior Rank Oberführer

Notes

1. McNab (II) 2009, p. 15.
2. McNab 2009, p. 30.
3. Stein 1984, p. 297.
4. Flaherty 2004, p. 148.
5. Stein 1984, p. 300.

Bibliography

• Flaherty, T. H. (2004) [1988]. The Third Reich: The SS. Time-Life Books, Inc. ISBN 1 84447 073 3.
• McNab, Chris (2009). The SS: 1923–1945. Amber Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-906626-49-5.
• McNab (II), Chris (2009). The Third Reich. Amber Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-906626-51-8.
• http://www.militaria-exchange.com/images/photo?photo_id=9900
• Stein, George (1984) [1966]. The Waffen-SS: Hitler's Elite Guard at War 1939–1945. Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-9275-0.
• Wasser, Bruno: Himmlers Raumplanung im Osten, Basel, Berlin und Boston 1993, Seite 347, ISBN 3-7643-2852-5
• Yerger, Mark C. (1997). Allgemeine-SS: The Commands, Units and Leaders of the General SS. Schiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7643-0145-4.