Talk:Oberstgruppenführer

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[edit] Removed as unverified and unsourced

The below section was removed as unsourced and unverified and possibly OR. The editor who put it in even states it is speculation. In addition, every book about SS ranks states very clearly that only four men held this highest rank. I have also personally seen Karl Wolff's SS record and there is not a word in there about a promotion to this rank nor is it mentioned in any biography about this SS General. -OberRanks (talk) 23:02, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Removed text

There is also some controversy about how many men were promoted to this rank. Hans-Adolf Prützmann and Karl Wolff were both supposedly elevated to this rank on 20 April 1945 (Hitler's last birthday). However, the last SS-Dienstalterslisten, the official listing of all senior SS officers, is dated November 1944, just after the 9 November promotions. Consequently all officer promotions after this date are hard to verify unless one has written or photographic proof. As both of the above men were supposedly given this rank in the very last days of the war, finding the evidence to support the promotions might never be done. In his post-war life, Wolff claimed that he was notified of his promotion in person by Hitler, during a meeting with Hitler in Berlin, in late April of 1945. Wolff continued to sign photos identifying himself as "Generaloberst der Waffen-SS a.D." until the time of his death. In the 1960's, Hitler's chief Adjutant Julius Schaub, when giving a filmed interview, seemed to back up Wolff's claim by stating that "Wolff arrived in the Bunker and reported to the Führer immediately. The Führer was glad to see him and advised him of his much deserved promotion." In the case of Prützmann, he supposedly committed suicide while in British custody on 21 May 1945. However, after the war, Jürgen Stroop would identify Prützmann as being an Oberstgruppenführer in the SS.^[1] In the book Fascism and Occupation 1938-1945 by Czesław Madajczyk, Prützmann is also identified as being an Oberstgruppenführer. As Prützmann held the rank General in both the Polizei and Waffen-SS before his supposed promotion, it would of been highly unlikely that he was not also promoted to Generaloberst of the Polizei and Waffen-SS.

• Hans-Adolf Prützmann (20 April 1945)

(und Generaloberst der Polizei und Waffen-SS)

• Karl Wolff (20 April 1945)

(und Generaloberst der Waffen-SS)

The info on Prutzmann's promotion was sourced by books, that should atleast still remain in the article. Also noted is that the Russian, and Ukrainian versions of this article have Wolff listed as an Oberstgruppenfuhrer, while the Polish version lists Purtzmann. Axis Biographical Research lists Wolff as "[Unconfirmed promotion to SS-Oberst-Gruppenfüher und Generaloberst der Waffen-SS: 20. Apr. 1945]". As the SS service records were most likely last updated around the same time as the Dienstalterslisten, it would indeed not mention it. -Lt.Specht (talk) 01:08, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

The definitive text books about the SS, which include works by John Keegan and Mark Yerger, very clearly state that only four people ever held the rank of Oberstgruppenfuhrer. There are also dozens of original source documents from World War II that mention this as well, the first and foremost is records of the SS themselves. My knowledge of Prutzmann is not as extensive as my knowledge of Wolff, but on that point Karl Wolff himself personally stated he was an Obergruppenfuhrer in the script of his interview with the World at War mini-series. There is no doubt that there are probably a handful of books that give his rank incorrectly as Oberstgruppebfuhrer but the major sources do not support this, thus we are left with this possibly being WP:NOR. For this reason, it should not be included in the article. -OberRanks (talk) 04:44, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

I should add that I not at all opposed to saying that there were rumors of late war promotions, only that offical sources contradict this. Your original submission (which was well written) could be reworded to remove a lot fo the "could be" "maybe" references and then it would be a good addition to the article. -OberRanks (talk) 16:20, 2 June 2009 (UTC)