The Holocaust Historiography Project

Arthur R. Butz archive


The Hoax of the Twentieth Century

Appendix B
SS Ranks

Table 12: SS ranks and their approximate U.S. Army equivalents
U.S. Army SS
Private SS Mann
Private First Class Sturmmann
Corporal Rottenführer
Sergeant Unterscharführer
Staff Sergeant Scharführer
Technical Sergeant Oberscharführer
Master Sergeant Hauptscharführer
First Sergeant Sturmscharführer
Second Lieutenant Untersturmführer
First Lieutenant Obersturmführer
Captain Hauptsturmführer
Major Sturmbannführer
Lieutenant Colonel Obersturmbannführer
Colonel Standartenführer
Colonel Oberführer
Brigadier General Brigadeführer
Lieutenant General Gruppenführer
General Obergruppenführer
General of the Army Oberstgruppenführer

One can exercise a certain amount of choice on this subject. The three grades of Gruppenführer are sometimes equated with Major General, Lieutenant General and General, respectively. An Oberführer is sometimes described as a Senior Colonel or a Brigadier General; in the latter case a Brigadeführer is equated with a Major General.

These ranks had their origin in the early days when the SS was something of an offshoot of the SA, which had similar ranks.