SS Ranks

This is a listing of the Nazi SS ranks and their Western equivalents.

SS Ranks

Reichsführer -- National Leader
Oberstgruppenführer -- Colonel General
Obergruppenführer -- General
Gruppenführer -- Lieutenant General
Brigadeführer -- Major General
Oberführer -- Brigadier General
Standartenführer -- Colonel
Obersturmbannführer -- Lieutenant Colonel
Sturmbannführer -- Major
Hauptsturmführer -- Captain
Obersturmführer -- First Lieutenant
Untersturmführer -- Second Lieutenant
Sturmscharführer -- Sergeant Major
Stabsscharführer -- Sergeant Major
Hauptscharführer -- Master Sergeant
Oberscharführer -- Senior Sergeant
Scharführer -- Staff Sergeant
Unterscharführer -- Corporal
Rottenführer -- Lance Corporal
Sturmmann -- Private First Class
Schütze -- Private
SS-Mann -- Private

Source: Handbook on German Armed Forces, Washington, DC: USGPO, 1944 as quoted in Abraham Edelheit and Hershel Edelheit, History of the Holocaust: A Handbook and Dictionary (Boulder: Westview Press, 1994) page 424.