Scharführer

"Scharführer" was a Nazi Party title that was used by several paramilitary organizations from 1925 to 1945. Translated as “Squad Leader”, the title of Scharführer can trace its origins to the First World War, where a Scharführer was often a Sergeant or Corporal who commanded special action or shock trooper squads.Scharführer is most recognizable as a rank of the SS and title of the SA. Scharführer was first used as a title in the "Sturmabteilung" as early as 1921 and became an actual rank in 1928. Scharführer was the first NCO rank of the SA, and was denoted by a single pip centered on a collar patch. In 1930, veteran Scharführers were appointed to the new rank of "SA-Oberscharführer", denoted by an additional silver stripe to the Scharführer collar patch.

The SS originally used the same insignia for Scharführer as the SA, but this changed in 1934 with a reorganization of the SS rank structure. At that time, the old rank of "SS-Scharführer" became known as "SS-Unterscharführer" with the title of "SS-Scharführer" becoming equivalent to an "SA-Oberscharführer". The rank of "SS-Truppführer" was removed from the SS, to be replaced by "SS-Oberscharführer" and the new rank of "SS-Hauptscharführer". The early Waffen-SS created an even higher rank, known as "SS-Sturmscharführer".

Within the SA, Scharführer was senior to the rank of "SA-Rottenführer" while in the SS, a Scharführer was senior to that of "SS-Unterscharführer". The rank of Scharführer was also used by some lesser known Nazi Party organizations; among them the National Socialist Flyers Corps (NSFK), National Socialist Motorist Corps (NSKK) and the Hitler Youth (HJ).