''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 politi ...
of the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...
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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
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 labor union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the union hold ...
, or literally "Workers' Representative", the duties of the ''Betriebsobmann'' were generally the same as a
labor union foreman and focused primary on the local level of war production as well as representing the interests of
factory
A factory, manufacturing plant or a 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. ...
workers. Later, as the war progressed, the ''Betriebsobmann'' were in charge of production
quota
Quota may refer to:
Economics
* Import quota, a trade restriction on the quantity of goods imported into a country
* Market Sharing Quota, an economic system used in Canadian agriculture
* Milk quota, a quota on milk production in Europe
* Indi ...
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 Warden), 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'', t ...
''. 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 Nazis, represented by the Nazi Party, the National Socialist German Workers' Party (''Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei''; NSDAP), between the yea ...
. 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