Ranks and Insignia of The Nazi Party - Senior Nazi Party Titles

Senior Nazi Party Titles

The senior leadership of the Nazi Party were intentionally removed from Nazi Party political ranks, with such senior leaders unquestionably above and outranking all other members of the Party. This concept has been equated by historians that the leadership was the "spring" from which Nazi promotions, ranks, and awards were granted, to be bestowed upon the lesser members of the Party. Under this concept, Adolf Hitler and his inner circle needed no grand titles, heaps of awards, or elaborate uniforms since they were already known as the most senior members of the state and party. It is for this reason that Hitler and his senior Nazis are frequently seen in photographic and film evidence as wearing uniforms with little insignia or uniforms without excessive decorations. This sets Hitler apart from other dictators of the time, such as Benito Mussolini who appointed himself First Marshal of the Empire and wore a full Italian military uniform with every possible state and military decoration displayed.

Adolf Hitler, who served as Führer of the Nazi Party, held the absolute highest possible Nazi Party position. Albert Speer (in his book Inside the Third Reich) remarked that Hitler was the only party member to wear an embroidered "Eagle of Sovereignty Pin" on his civilian jackets (every other member wearing the round party badge), though the jacket design itself did not differ from other civilian jackets of the time. This "Führer Badge" was the only unique insignia ever created to denote Hitler's rank as Führer.

Prior to 1939, Hitler wore a brown paramilitary uniform, considered the uniform of the Oberste SA-Führer (Supreme Storm Trooper Commander). Upon the outbreak of World War II, Hitler adopted a grey army style uniform, without any particular insignia, with Hitler pledging that he was the “first soldier” of the German Reich and would wear his army style uniform until “victory has been achieved or I will not survive the outcome”.

Heinrich Himmler was a senior member of the Nazi Party and is most well known as the Reichsfuhrer-SS; as a result, most of Himmler's attire is connected to his Schutzstaffel (SS) uniform. In addition to being Reichsführer and a Reichsleiter, towards the end of World War II he held numerous high level positions including Commander of the Replacement Home Army and General Plenipotentiary for the entire Reich's administration (Generalbevollmächtigter für die Verwaltung). Himmler however, never chose to wear a Nazi party uniform and all photographs of him are in either civilian clothes or in his Schutzstaffel (SS) uniform.

Other high Nazi positions, that did not entail any particular insignia, included the office of Deputy Führer held by Rudolf Hess until he personally flew his Messerschmitt Bf110 fighter plane to Scotland and crash landed at Eaglesham in 1941. He was captured, imprisoned and then sent to England. The office of Deputy Führer was thereafter abolished.

Martin Bormann held the title of Party Secretary, during which time he wore the uniform of a Nazi Reichsleiter. Bormann would later take up cabinet level positions in the German government, after which he wore the insignia of an SS-Obergruppenführer. Albert Speer, in his early days as the Party Architect, wore a brown Nazi party jacket similar to the insignia-less uniform that Joseph Goebbels wore throughout his career as Nazi Propaganda Minister. As for Speer, he would later adopt the uniform of the Organisation Todt, and towards the end of World War II wore a senior Nazi Party political uniform through his position as Minister of Armaments.

Some of the senior Nazis did incorporate themselves into the standard Nazi Party rank system, but only at the highest levels. Robert Ley held the position of Reichsleiter and Julius Streicher was a Gauleiter. Hermann Göring is most associated with his rank of Reichsmarshal, but was also a Gruppenführer in the SA as well as the equivalent of a Reichsleiter through his position as Director of the Four Year Plan. Göring was also offered the rank of Oberstgruppenführer by Himmler, but he declined.