Führer

This article is about the German title. For other uses, see Führer (disambiguation).

Führer (German pronunciation: [ˈfyːʁɐ]; English: /ˈfjʊərər/), alternatively spelled Fuehrer in both English and German when the umlaut is not available, is a German title meaning leader or guide now most associated with Adolf Hitler. The word Führer in the sense of guide remains common in German, but because of its strong association with Nazi Germany, it comes with some stigma and negative connotations when used as the meaning of leader. The word Leiter is therefore used instead.

In other languages, the word is used almost exclusively as the epithet for Hitler.

History

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Hitler's Standard

Origin of the title and its use as party leader

Führer was the unique name granted by Hitler to himself, and this in his function as Vorsitzender (chairman) of the NSDAP. It was at the time common to refer to party leaders as "Führer", yet only with an addition to indicate the leader of which party was meant. Hitler modelled the title on Benito Mussolini's use of il Duce. It was also inspired by its earlier use by the Austro-German nationalist Georg von Schönerer, whose followers also commonly referred to as the Führer and used the Sieg Heil-salute. Hitler's choice for this political epithet was unprecedented in German. Like much of the early symbolism of Nazi Germany, it was modeled after Benito Mussolini's Italian Fascism. Mussolini's chosen epithet il Duce or "Dux" if Latin ('the Leader') was widely used, though unlike Hitler he never made it his official title. Note that the Italian word Duce (unlike the German word Führer) is no longer used as a generic term for a leader, but almost always refers to Mussolini himself.

As a political office

After Hitlers' appointment as Reichskanzler (Chancellor of the Reich) the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act which allowed Hitler's cabinet to promulgate laws by decree. One day before the death of Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg Hitler and his cabinet issued a decree, that dissolved the office of the president and made Hitler Hindenburg's successor. However this move was in breach of the Enabling Act. Hitler adopted "Führer und Reichskanzler", combining his positions in party and government, as his title. Ostensibly Hitler did not use the title "president" out of respect for Hindenburg's achievements as a heroic figure in World War I (though the decree, rather impiously, was already passed before Hindenburg's death on August 2, 1934).

In popular reception, the title of Führer and Chancellor was soon understood to mean Head of State and Head of Government – a view that becomes even more accurate seeing that he was given by propaganda the title of "Führer des deutschen Reiches und Volkes" (Leader of the German Reich and People), the name the soldiers had to swear to. However, it keeps some meaning as "Leader of Party and Head of Government" with reference to the confusing relationship of party and state, including posts in personal union as well as offices with the same portfolio Hitler wanted to fight for his favour. The style of the Head of State was changed on July 28, 1942 to "Führer des Großdeutschen Reiches" ("Leader of the Greater German Reich").

Nazi Germany cultivated the Führerprinzip (leader principle), and Hitler was generally known as just der Führer ("the Leader"). One of the Nazis' most-repeated political slogans was Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer — "One People, One Nation, One Leader".

Military usage

According to the Constitution of Weimar, the President was Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. Unlike “President”, Hitler did take this title (Oberbefehlshaber) for himself. When conscription was reintroduced in 1935, Hitler had himself promoted to the new title Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht (Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces), which meant then a presidential position over the Wehrmacht in fact led by another (newly instituted) Commander-in-chief, the Minister for War. Following the Blomberg–Fritsch Affair in 1938, Hitler took the responsibilities of this commander-in-chief for himself, though he kept on using the older formally higher title of Supreme Commander, which was thus filled with a somewhat new meaning. Combining it with "Führer", he used the style Führer und Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht ("Leader and Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht"), yet a simple "Führer" since May 1942.

"Germanic" Führer

An additional title was adopted by Hitler on 23 June 1941, declaring himself the "Germanic Führer" (germanischer Führer) in addition to his duties as Führer of the German state and people. This was done to emphasize Hitler's professed leadership of what the Nazis described as the "Nordic-Germanic master race", which peoples such as the Norwegians, Danes, and Dutch, etc. were considered members of in addition to the Germans, and the intent to submerge these countries into the Third Reich. Waffen-SS formations from these countries had to declare obedience to Hitler by addressing him in this fashion. On 12 December 1941 the Dutch fascist Anton Mussert also addressed him as such when he proclaimed his allegiance to Hitler during a visit to the Reich Chancellery in Berlin. He had wanted to address Hitler as Führer aller Germanen ("Führer of all Germanics"), but Hitler personally decreed the former style. Historian Loe de Jong speculates on the difference between the two: Führer aller Germanen implied a position separate from Hitler's role as Führer und Reichskanzler des Grossdeutschen Reiches ("Führer and Reich Chancellor of the Greater German Reich"), while germanischer Führer served more as an attribute of that main function. As late as 1944 occasional propaganda publications continued to refer to him by this unofficial title as well however.

Hitler's honorary titles

Nazi propaganda occasionally used a number of honorary titles when referencing Hitler.

• Supreme Judge of the German People (German: Oberster Richter des Deutschen Volkes) - Announced by Hitler on 30 June 1934 after the "Röhm-Putsch"
• First Soldier of the German Reich (German: Erster Soldat des Deutschen Reiches) - This title was assumed by Hitler at the start of World War II on 1 September 1939. Addressing the Reichstag in the Kroll Opera House, Hitler appeared in a gray military uniform, declaring that he wanted "to be nothing but the first soldier of the German Reich", and pledging not to take it off until after victory had been achieved.
• First Worker of the New Germany (German: Erster Arbeiter des neuen Deutschland)
• Greatest Military Commander of All Time (German: Größter Feldherr aller Zeiten) - A title bestowed to Hitler by General Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel after the successful western campaign against France and the Benelux countries in the summer of 1940.

Military usage outside of Hitler

Führer has been used as a military title (compare Latin Dux) in Germany since at least the 18th century. The usage of the term "Führer" in the context of a company-sized military subunit in the German Army referred to a commander lacking the qualifications for permanent command. For example, the commanding officer of a company was (and is) titled "Kompaniechef" (literally, Company Chief), but if he did not have the requisite rank or experience, or was only temporarily assigned to command, he was officially titled "Kompanieführer". Thus operational commands of various military echelons were typically referred to by their formation title followed by the title Führer, in connection with mission-type tactics used by the German military forces. The term Führer was also used at lower levels, regardless of experience or rank; for example, a Gruppenführer was the leader of a squad of infantry (9 or 10 men). See below however

Under the Nazis, the title Führer was also used in paramilitary titles (see Freikorps). Almost every Nazi paramilitary organization, in particular the SS and SA, had Nazi party paramilitary ranks incorporating the title of Führer. The SS including the Waffen-SS, like all paramilitary Nazi organisations, called all their members of any degree except the lowest Führer of something; thus confusingly, "Gruppenführer" was also an official rank title for a specific grade of general. The word Truppenführer was also a generic word referring to any commander or leader of troops, and could be applied to NCOs or officers at many different levels of command.

Modern German usage

In Germany the isolated word Führer is usually avoided in political contexts, due to its intimate connection with Nazi institutions and with Hitler personally.

However, the term -führer is used in many compound words. Examples include Bergführer (mountain guide), Fremdenführer (tourist guide), Geschäftsführer (CEO or EO), Führerschein (driver's license), Führerstand or Führerhaus (driver's cab), Lok(omotiv)führer (train driver), Reiseführer (travel guide book), and Spielführer (team captain—also referred to as Mannschaftskapitän).

The use of alternate terms like "Chef" (a borrowing from the French, as is the English "chief", e.g. Chef des Bundeskanzleramtes) or Leiter, (often in compound words like Amtsleiter, Projektleiter or Referatsleiter) is usually not the result of replacing of the word "Führer", but rather using terminology that existed before the Nazis. The use of Führer to refer to a political party leader is rarely used today and Vorsitzender (chairman) is the more common term. However, the word Oppositionsführer ("leader of the (parliamentary) opposition") is more commonly used.

Parallel titles

There have been many dictators and political party leaders who have assumed similar personal and/or political titles to evoke their supreme authority. Particularly during the Second World War, many fascist and right-wing figures directly modelled these after Hitler's Führer and Mussolini's il Duce. During and after the Cold War, several socialist and communist leaders also assumed such titles, as did some other politicians at different points in time.

• Antanas Smetona, the authoritarian president of Lithuania, adopted the title of Tautos Vadas ("Leader of the Nation")
• Ante Pavelić, as dictator of the Independent State of Croatia, named himself Poglavnik.
• Anton Mussert, leader of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands, was allowed to use the title Leider van het Nederlandsche Volk (Leader of the Dutch people) by the Germans in 1942.
• Birger Furugård, leader of the Swedish National Socialist Party had the title of Riksledaren ("National Leader").
• Chiang Kai-shek, de facto leader of the Republic of China, was sometimes referred as 領袖 lingxiu ("Leader")
• Ferenc Szálasi, as dictator of the Hungarian State, named himself Nemzetvezető (Leader of the Nation).
• Fidel Castro, the communist ex-president of Cuba was known as the Máximo Líder (Greatest Leader). In official documents he is also denoted as Commandante en Jefe (Commander-in-Chief).
• Francisco Franco, dictator of Francoist Spain, assumed the title Caudillo, originally an honourary title for an army leader.
• Frits Clausen, leader of the National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark, had the title of Fører.
• Ioannis Metaxas, Greek dictator during the 4th of August Regime from 1936 until his death in 1941, assumed the title of Αρχηγός (Archigós, IPA: [arçiˈɣos]) meaning "leader".
• Ion Antonescu, as Prime Minister of Romania during most of World War II, named himself Conducător. Nicolae Ceaușescu, the communist leader of Romania from 1965 to 1989, also adopted this title.
• Jef van de Wiele, leader of the DeVlag party, was named Landsleider van het Vlaamsche Volk (National Leader of the Flemish people) in December 1944.
• Josef Tiso, President of the First Slovak Republic, named himself Vodca in 1942.
• Joseph Stalin, de facto leader of the Soviet Union, decreed that he was to be officially designated as вождь translit. Vožd (Chief, Leader) from his fiftieth birthday in 1929.
• Kim Il Sung, the first head of state of North Korea, is officially referred to by the North Korean government as 위대한 수령 translit. widaehan suryŏng (Great Leader).
• Kim Jong-Il, the former's son and successor, is officially referred to by the North Korean government as 친애하는 지도자 translit. ch'inaehanŭn chidoja (Dear Leader), and recently also as Great Leader.
• Léon Degrelle, leader of the Rexist Party, was named Chef-du-People-Wallon (Leader of the Walloon people) in December 1944.
• Muammar al-Gaddafi, former dictator of Libya, styled himself as Brother Leader and Guide of the Revolution.
• Nursultan Nazarbayev, since 1991 the President of Kazachstan, was granted the title Ұлт Лидері translit. Ult Lideri (Leader of the Nation) by a parliamentary decision in 2010.
• Omar Torrijos, de facto dictator of Panama from 1968 to 1981, assumed the title Líder Máximo de la Revolución Panameña ("Supreme Leader of the Panamanian Revolution").
• Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists, was known as The Leader.
• Rafael Trujillo, Dominican dictator from 1930 to 1961, assumed the nickname of "El Jefe" ("The Boss")
• Saparmurat Niyazov, president-for-life and dictator of Turkmenistan, gave himself the title Türkmenbaşy ("Leader of all Turkmens")
• Staf de Clercq, co-founder and leader of the Flemish nationalist Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond, was referred to as den Leider by his followers.
• Subhas Chandra Bose, an Indian revolutionary in the Indian independence movement, was known as Netaji (Respected Leader).
• Tomáš Krejčí, leader of the Czech National Union in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia from 1942 to 1945, was named Vůdce.
• Vidkun Quisling, leader of Nasjonal Samling and from 1942 Minister-President of the nominal Quisling regime, named himself Fører.

See also

Nazi German terminology derived from Führer

• Reichsführer-SS
• Reichsjugendführer
• Deputy Führer
• Oberster SA-Führer
• Führer Headquarters
• Führerbunker
• Führer Directives
• Führermuseum
• Führerprinzip
• Führerreserve
• Führerstadt

Other

• List of German expressions in English
• Il Duce
• Supreme Leader (disambiguation)
• President for Life

External links

The dictionary definition of Führer at Wiktionary