Sonderführer

''Sonderführer'' (; "special leader"; in full: , "special leader with military command power"), abbreviated Sdf or Sf, was a specialist role introduced in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in 1937 for the mobilization plan of the German armed forces.

Wehrmacht

With the draft of ''Sonderführer'' to military service, the competence of civil experts and specialists could be exploited for military purposes. Certain assignments could be filled, from senior officers, company-grade officers, down to non-commissioned officer (NCO) ranks. A huge variation of service functions, e.g. in foreign languages, propaganda work, medical service, veterinary service and the like, was possible. Typically, the men were not trained as soldiers. They received the pay applicable to the position they were holding, but only by virtue of their temporary appointment. As a rule, ''Sonderführer'' were not allowed to execute the command and disciplinary powers vested in the rank. However, this was changed in 1942, during World War II.

Categories of ''Sonderführer''

Draftees were called up for ''Sonderführer'' to almost all branches of service (Heer, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine) or special forces, equivalent to assignments or appointment of military personnel in the hierarchy of the Wehrmacht.
; Officer function assignments in the hierarchy of the Heer (Army):
* Sonderführer (B), equivalent to Major / '' Oberstleutnant'' ( OF-3/-4),
* Sonderführer (K), equivalent to ''Captain'' / '' Hauptmann'' or '' Rittmeister'' (OF-2),
* Sonderführer (Z), equivalent to '' Leutnant'' / ''Oberleutnant'' (OF-1) or platoon leader.

; NCO function assignments in the hierarchy of the Heer (Army):
* Sonderführer (O), also Dolmetscher O (en: Interpreter O), equivalent to an '' Oberfeldwebel'' ( OR-7),
* Sonderführer (G), equivalent to an '' Unteroffizier'' ( OR-4).

''Sonderführer'' were mainly deployed:
* As interpreter
* In construction engineering
* In the field of public finance, and administration tasks
* To handle scientific tasks, e.g. as archaeology or curator
* In the field of agriculture science
* Railway transport, in particular field railways

In case of professional expertise as photographer or draughtsman, the corresponding draftee could be called up as a ''Sonderführer'' to a so-called Propaganda unit of the Wehrmacht.

An example of individual influence in the occupied territories is the case of ''Sonderführer'' Leo Weisgerber. His campaign to unify the Breton language has had a lasting influence in the French region of Brittany

Position and status

''Sonderführer'' were called up to military service to use the skills and expertise of specialists on defined function positions. This status was limited as to time, and became revocable if a military trained soldier could fill this position. In this case, the ''Sonderführer'' was fit into the "regular" military training procedure etc. The former function position as ''Sonderführer'' – which contained a service "assignment" not including a service "grade" – remained without consideration.

By order in 1942 – ''Sonderführer'' on officer assignments received regular military training, in order to join the reserve officer corps. Therefore, the limitations to execute military command – and disciplinary powers were lifted.

The legal state of the ''Sonderführer'' was equivalent to those of a soldier in the meaning of the Nazi Service Act Legislation. Therefore, they held combatant status even prior to their appointment as commissioned officers in 1942. In the pension legislation of the Federal Republic of Germany ''Sonderführers'' are explicit equivalent to regular soldiers.

Russian emigrants who served as interpreters in the Wehrmacht, often were adjudged to ''Sonderführer'' status.Oleg Beyda: ''‘Iron Cross of the Wrangel's Army’: Russian Emigrants as Interpreters in the Wehrmacht.'' In: ''The Journal of Slavic Military Studies.'' 27, 2014, S. 430–448,

Rank insignia

''Sonderführer'' of the Wehrmacht wore the standard military uniform but their collars and cap bands were blue-grey rather than army green, with unique shoulder and collar insignia. The collar patch was blue-grey with a gable-end device like that of ''Beamter a. K.'' in matte aluminium, with aluminium braid down the center. Epaulette patterns changed twice during the war. The original patterns, worn until March 1940 and again after December 1942, were narrow versions of army shoulder boards: a single doubled strip of aluminium braid for company-grade officer equivalents, and a single braided strip for field-officer equivalents; NCO equivalents were similar to junior officers' but green. Instead of rank pips, ''Sonderführer'' wore braided gold rings encircling the shoulder straps. From 1940 to 1942 an entirely different type of shoulder board was worn: this was like the army equivalent but the braid used incorporated repeating black-white-red chevrons, giving the whole a checkered look. Ordinary rank pips and specialization pins were worn with these "Second Regulation" epaulets. At the end of 1942 the narrow first-pattern epaulettes were brought back again.

In soldier's slang ''Sonderführers'', as well as Wehrmacht officials and military chaplains, were called " narrow-gauge officers" (german: Schmalspuroffiziere), in a witty reference both to the form of their rank insignia and the limited width of their military knowledge.

Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2005-0154, Geheimer Funkmeldedienst des OKW.jpg, The OKW Radio service in 1939. On the far right a ''Sonderführer''.
Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-786-0347-28, Nordafrika, Rommel und Bayerlein bei Interview.jpg, Rommel and Bayerlein, interviewed by a ''Sonderführer'' (left).
Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-255-1189-07, Frankreich, deutsche Besatzung.jpg, In the center a ''Sonderführer (O)'' as interpreter, France.

SS-''Sonderführer/Fachführer''

The designation SS-''Sonderführer'' had a different meaning in comparison to the ''Sonderführer'' in the Wehrmacht. Therefore, SS-''Sonderführer'' should be seen in conjunction with the service rank order of the '' Schutzstaffel''.

With the title ''SS-Führer im Sonderdienst'' (en: SS-Führer in special service), short SS-''Sonderführer'' (en: SS-Specialist leader), from 1942 SS-''Fachführer'' in the Waffen-SS (SS-Führer specialist in the Waffen-SS), the technical education of a SS-member was characterized.

The Allgemeine-SS introduced uniform cuff insignia (the so-called ''Tätigkeitsabzeichen'' or ''Sonderlaufbahnabzeichen'' on the SS uniform. It characterized the professional skills of the SS specialist, e.g.: so-called special cuff career insignia (de: Sonderlaufbahnabzeichen) on the uniform in 1935

As of 1935:
* Aesculapius = Führer in the medical service
*Negative Aesculapius = medical personnel
* Gothic Z = Führer in dental medical service
*Gothic A = Apothecary
*Snake = Führer and junior Führer in the veterinarian service
*Harp = Führer conductor (de: Musikführer)

Fundamental, it was possible to add any use any SS-rank in conjunction with a SS-''Sonderführer'' assignment to any existing SS-service rank. The normal procedure was to call up SS-''Sonderführer'' from own SS-staff.

Other Branches

''Sonderführer'' were used not only in Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS, but also in other Nazi-organisation, e.g. in the Organisation Todt, '' Reichsarbeitsdienst'', etc.

Notable appointments

Some notable personnel of this rank include:
* Lothar-Günther Buchheim, painter, photograph, writer, publisher and art collector, was deployed in a propaganda company of the Kriegsmarine as ''Sonderführer'' war correspondent. He wrote in line to personal experience the novel '' Das Boot''.
* Hans von Dohnanyi, ''Sonderführer'' in the staff of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, member of the resistance, executed in 1945.
* Hans Fallada, novel author, ''Sonderführer (B)'' in the so-called '' Reichsarbeitsdienst'' in France and after World War II lived in the Soviet occupation zone where he died in 1947.
* , as SS-''Sonderführer'' of a propaganda unit assigned as war correspondence; after World War II, a very successful non-fiction book author (o. a. ''Deutschland, Deutschland über alles...'') and painter.
* Hans Bernd Gisevius, called up to Admiral Wilhelm Canaris as ''Sonderführer'' in the staff division ''Ausland/Abwehr'' of the OKW, he took part in to the 20 July plot to kill Hitler; later was author of the book ''Bis zum bitteren Ende''.
* Gerhard Heller, ''Sonderführer'' of the ''Propaganda-Staffel Paris'', responsible to literary censorship and paper supply; after World War II, was a publisher.
* Robert Pilchowski, expert on tea and rubber farming, served as ''Sonderführer'' for the agency "Arbeitsgemeinschaft niederländisch-indischer Firmen" (en: working team of Dutch-Indian companies) in Amsterdam; after World War II, was an author.
*Fritz Piersig