''Betriebsobmann'' was a
political position
A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more geometric axes that represent independent political dimensions. The expressions politic ...
of the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
which existed between the years 1939 and 1945. The term first came into being at the start of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and was unique only to the local level of the Nazi Party, known as the ''Ortsgruppen''.
Duties
Translated as
Shop Steward
A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a trades/labour union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the un ...
, or literally "Workers' Representative", the duties of the ''Betriebsobmann'' were generally the same as a
labor union
A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
foreman and focused primary on the local level of war production as well as representing the interests of
factory
A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...
workers. Later, as the war progressed, the ''Betriebsobmann'' were in charge of production
quota Quota may refer to: Economics
* Import quota, a restriction on the quantity of goods that can be imported into a country
* Market Sharing Quota, an economic system used in Canadian agriculture
* Milk quota, a quota on milk production in Europe
* ...
s and often would report workers who were not meeting standards. War defeatism and anti-Nazi sympathies were also immediately reported.
Seniority
''Betriebsobmann'' was divided into four levels of seniority, denoted by a letter placed after the title ranging from ''(A)'', ''(B)'', ''(C)'', and ''(D)''.
In addition to the primary rank of ''Betriebsobmann'', a junior rank of ''Betriebsblockobmann'' existed as an assistant to the local ''
Blockleiter
''Blockleiter'' (Block Leader), where ''block'' refers to city block, was from 1933 the title of a lower Nazi Party political rank responsible for the political supervision of a neighborhood. Referred to in common parlance as ''Blockwart'' (Bl ...
''. There was also a "Cell Operations Foreman" position, known as ''Betriebszellenobmann'' as well as a senior foreman position known as ''Hauptbetriebsobmann''. In all, the following were the various levels of seniority:
* ''Betriebsblockobmann''
* ''Betriebsobmann (A)''
* ''Betriebszellenobmann''
* ''Hauptbetriebszellenobmann''
* ''Betriebsobmann (B)''
* ''Betriebsobmann (C)''
* ''Betriebsobmann (D)''
* ''Hauptbetriebsobmann''
The position of ''Betriebsobmann'' was not an actual political rank, but rather a title. Those Nazi Party members holding the position of ''Betriebsobmann'' also would hold one of several
Nazi Party paramilitary ranks
National Socialist paramilitary ranks were pseudo-military titles, which were used by the Nazi Party (''Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei''; NSDAP), between 1920 and 1945. Since the Nazi Party was by its very nature a paramilitary orga ...
. The position of ''Betriebsobmann'' would be denoted by a
political armband.
Sources
* Clark, J. (2007). Uniforms of the NSDAP. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing
{{Nazi Germany Paramilitary Ranks
Nazi terminology
Nazi political ranks