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''Obersturmbannführer'' (Senior Assault-unit Leader; ; short: ''Ostubaf'') was a paramilitary rank in the German Nazi Party (
NSDAP
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 was used by the SA ('' Sturmabteilung'') and the SS (''
Schutzstaffel
The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe ...
''). The rank of ''Obersturmbannführer'' was junior to the rank of '' Standartenführer'', and was equivalent to the military rank of '' Oberstleutnant'' ( lieutenant colonel) in the German Army.
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
The uniforms and insignia of the ''Schutzstaffel'' served to distinguish the Nazi paramilitary ranks of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) between 1925 and 1945 from the ranks of the '' Wehrmacht'' (the regular German armed forces from 1935), the German ...
. The ''Obersturmbannführer'' 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. 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
The uniforms and insignia of the ''Schutzstaffel'' served to distinguish the Nazi Germany paramilitary ranks, Nazi paramilitary ranks of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) between 1925 and 1945 from the ranks of the ''Wehrmacht'' (the regular German arme ...
on the collar wing opposite the rank insignia.
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 was also prepended with "Waffen" instead of "SS", as in, Waffen-Obersturmbannführer.
Gideon Hausner
Gideon Hausner ( he, גדעון האוזנר, 26 September 1915 – 15 November 1990) was an Israeli jurist and politician. Between 1960 and 1963, he served as Attorney General and was later elected to the Knesset and served in the cabinet.
Haus ...
, drew attention to the executive significance and command responsibility of the rank of ''Obersturmbannführer'', in response to Eichmann's claim that he was merely a clerk obeying orders; Hausner asked, "Were you an ''Obersturmbannführer'' or an office girl?"
In the book ''
Eichmann in Jerusalem
''Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil'' is a 1963 book by political thinker Hannah Arendt. Arendt, a Jew who fled Germany during Adolf Hitler's rise to power, reported on the trial of Adolf Eichmann, one of the major organizers ...
'' (1963) the political theoretician Hannah Arendt said that ''Obersturmbannführer'' 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 .e. ''Obersturmbannführer''except at the front", in combat with the enemy.