Wafen SS terms

Can anyone please help me with the origins and correct meaning of two military terms from the Second World War?

They both relate to the Wafen SS.

1) 'Sturmbannfuhrer': this I think translates as: 'Assault company leader'. What is causing me some problem is the 'bann' bit of the word, which in modern German seems to mean, 'spell'. Can anyone say how this word has come to change its meaning to such a large degree?

2) 'Nachrichtenlehrer': this seems to mean something like 'Newsreader teacher (or leader)'. The problem to me is that the term was used to describe the duties of an officer at the SS Officer school at Bad Tolz and it seems a bit of a strange job for the SS in 1941.

Any help will be appreciated ................ Mike

1) To my knowledge, the meaning of 'bann' hasn´t changed. A translation to 'spell' is quite correct, but doesn´t matches in this case. It is quite better interpreted as a part of the 'Banner', which will be translated as 'banner' or 'standard', I think. A 'Sturmbann' in this case means a military unit which got it´s own 'banner'. 'Assault company leader' is a translation as good as many other I heard. 2) Unfortunately I don´t know about this, but I will look for it. I hope it helps a bit.

My guess is that this is the same thing as Colonel in English or referring to Oriental people as Zipperheads. I honestly don't think that it was supposed to mean anything, it's just a word that they used to describe someone with those duties.

A very archaic meaning of the word 'Bann' is used in this context. 'Bann' describes the Germanic kings' power to issue orders. One 'Bann' was the so-called 'Heerbann', the power to summon an army - thus a 'Sturmbann', in the pseudo-ancient terminology of the Nazis, is a fighting unit.

In a military context, the word 'Nachrichten' means military intelligence.

: describe the duties of an officer at the SS Officer school at Bad Tolz and : it seems a bit of a strange job for the SS in 1941.

'Nachrichten' (pl.) in German has a somewhat broader meaning than 'news' in English. In certain compounds it can also mean 'intelligence' ('Nachrichtendienst' - intelligence service) or '(tele)communications' ('Nachrichtentechnik/-satellit' - ...). In the latter context, the IMO more widely used term would be 'Fernmelde-*', though.

regards, Thomas

I believe the correct spelling is Sturmbahnfuhrer, which explains your confusion. My German-English dictionary is several hundred miles away, and my German classes several years in the past, so I'm afraid I can't help you with the meaning of 'bahn'.

Again, I can't confirm the translation, and I've never heard of the position of 'Nachrichtenlehrer'. But 'news reader leader' may translate less literally as 'propaganda officer' or something similar. This is only an educated guess, but would make a certain amount of sense since the SS training involved far more socio-political indoctrination than regular army training.

The first part of 'Nachrichtenlehrer' is 'Nachrichten,' which refers to signal communications. Signal troops in the German Armed Forces were called 'Nachrichtentruppen.' They handled all military communications via radio or wire.

The second part of the word ('Lehrer' is a term that referred to technical development and training (as in 'Panzerlehr Division' or the Luftwaffe's 'Lehr Division'. So, a 'Nachrichtenlehrer' would presumably be a technical developer and trainer in signal communications

1) To my knowledge the meaning of 'bann' hasn´t changed. It means 'spell' since long ago. This bann is part of the word 'Banner' translated as 'banner' or 'standard'. In this case a 'Sturmbann' is an company which got its own banner. This company is not necessarily for the purpose of assault. In that time and especially in the terms of the Waffen-SS there are words preferred suggesting something going straight forward or being strong. 'Bannführer' or 'Bannerführer' would be enough to say the same, but 'Sturmbannführer' is suggesting something more heroic. Unfortunately my knowledge of english isn´t good enough to find comparable english words which cause the same difference in the feelings that 'Bannerführer' and 'Sturmbannführer' mean in german. 2) Don´t know about this, but I will look for it. Hope it helps a bit.

Probably intellegence teacher (teaching the skill of interpreting information about the enemy)

Oh I can help you. 'Bahn' refers to rail-transportation, whether it's the U- Bahn (subway), or Strassenbahn (trolley) or Rollbahn (roller-coaster but also the supply corps ala redball express). He had it right it is 'sturmbann...',

The correct spelling is: Sturmbannf hrer.

A gross translation would be 'storm spell leader.' However, I would defer to Nele Abels-Ludwig's previous explination:

<begin quote>

A very archaic meaning of the word 'Bann' is used in this context. 'Bann' describes the Germanic kings' power to issue orders. One 'Bann' was the so-called 'Heerbann', the power to summon an army - thus a 'Sturmbann', in the pseudo-ancient terminology of the Nazis, is a fighting unit.

<end quote>

[snip]