Oberführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party dating back to 1921. Translated as “Senior Leader”, an Oberführer was typically a Nazi Party member in charge of a group of paramilitary units in a particular geographical region. From 1921 to 1925, the phrase Oberführer was used as a title in Sturmabteilung, but became an actual SA rank after 1926.

Oberführer was also a rank of the Schutzstaffel (SS), established in 1925 as a rank for SS officers in charge of one of several SS-Gaus throughout Germany. In 1930, the SS was reorganized into SS-Gruppen and Brigades, at which time Oberführers became subordinate to the higher rank of Brigadeführer.

By 1932, Oberführer was an established rank of both the SS and SA and was considered the first general officer rank, approximately the equivalent to a Brigadier. Oberführers wore two oak leafs on a uniform collar, along with the shoulder boards and lapels of a General Officer. In 1938, the status of SS-Oberführer began to change with the rise of the SS-Verfügungstruppe which would later become the Waffen-SS. Since Brigadeführer was rated equal to a Generalmajor, and Standartenführer to an Oberst, Oberführer had no military equivalent and became regarded as a senior Colonel rank.

One of the more famous holders of the rank of Oberführer was Julian Scherner, immortalized in the film Schindler's List as the cold and calculating SS and Police Leader of Warsaw. Emil Maurice, the actual founder of the SS in 1925, also held the rank of Oberführer.