English: ORGANISATIONSBUCH DER NSDAP 1943: Tafel 21: Colour plate showing
The "armband system" was instituted by the Nazi Party in 1939 at the same time that the political leadership ranks were expanded into their final form. The purpose of the armband system was to denote positional titles within the Nazi Party in contrast to a party member's political rank.
The Nazi Party command structure was divided into four basic levels: the general membership known as the Parteimitglieder, the political leadership corps known as the Politische Leiters, the upper command levels of the Party encompassed by the Gauleiters (district leaders) and Reichsleiters (national leaders), and finally the position of Führer held solely by Adolf Hitler as supreme leader of the Party.
The Reichsleitung was the national leadership with members of the NSDAP Party Directorate. The Gaue (singular Gau) were NSDAP regional districts which functioned as administrative organization of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. These were further subdivided into: Bezirke (districts), Kreise (counties, subdistricts, smaller units of the Bezirk), Ortsgruppen (Party branch or local branches with a minimum of fifteen members), Hauszellen (tenement cells), Straßenzellen (street cells), and Stützpunkte (strong points).
Cropped page copied from
Organisationsbuch der NSDAP by
Reichsorganisationsleiter Robert Ley (1890 – 1945) published 1943 ("Herausgeber: Robert Ley"; "7 Auflage: 301-400 Tausend"). Publisher : Zentralverlag der NSDAP, Franz Eher Nachf., München. 856 pages. 596 (ie 750) p: ill, maps, ports, plates; 22 cm; German language. Letters in
Fraktur style typefaces.