Blockführer

{{Short description|Nazi paramilitary rank}} {{distinguish|Blockältester|Blockleiter}} {{italic title}} [[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-78612-0010, KZ Sachsenhausen, SS-Unterführer beim Zählappell.jpg|thumb|[[Rapportführer|Report Leader]] Campe with six Block Leaders during a roll call in [[Sachsenhausen concentration camp]], 1936.]]

'''''Blockführer''''' (Block Leader; female rank name: ''Blockführerin'') was a paramilitary title specific to the [[SS-Totenkopfverbände|SS-Death's Head Units]] in Concentration Camp Service. An SS-Block Leader was typically in charge of prisoner barracks ranging from two hundred to three hundred [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camp]] prisoners; in larger camps, the number of prisoners could reach as high as a thousand. The Block Leader was in charge of daily attendance, supervising daily work details, and distributing rations to prisoners. Assisting in this case were several prisoner trustees, known as ''[[Kapo (concentration camp)|kapo]]s''. The position of Block Leader was usually held by an SS soldier holding the rank of [[Unterscharführer|SS-Corporal]] or non-commissioned officer rank of [[Scharführer|SS-Sergeant]].

In the Nazi death camps, the task of gassing prisoners with [[Zyklon B]] was performed by a Block Leader.

A similar title, known as ''[[Blockleiter]]'' (Block Warden), also existed in the [[Nazi Party]] political organization.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Sources== * Zentner, Christian & Bedürftig, Friedemann, ''The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich'', (Macmillan), New York (1991)

[[Category:Nazi paramilitary ranks]]