SS-Brigadeführer was an SS rank that was used in Nazi Germany between the years of 1932 and 1945.Brigadeführer was also an SA rank.

The rank was first created due to an expansion of the SS and assigned to those officers in command of SS-Brigaden. In 1933, the SS-Brigaden were changed in name to SS-Abschnitte; however, the rank of Brigadeführer remained the same.

Originally, Brigadeführer was considered the second general officer rank of the SS and ranked between Oberführer and Gruppenführer. This changed with the rise of the Waffen-SS and the Ordnungspolizei. In both of those organizations, Brigadeführer was the equivalent to a Generalmajor and ranked above an Oberst in the German Wehrmacht or police. Note that the rank of Generalmajor was the equivalent of brigadier general, a one-star general in the US Army.

The insignia for Brigadeführer was at first two oak leaves and a silver pip, however was changed in April 1942 to a three oak leaf design after the creation of the rank SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer.

Dr Gustav Krukenberg (8 March 1888 - 23 October 1980) was Brigadeführer of the Charlemagne Division of the Waffen-SS and further commander of its remains and the SS Division Nordland during the Battle of Berlin in April 1945.

He was born in Bonn, the son of a professor at Bonn University and his mother was the daughter of the archeologist Alexander Conze. He gained a doctorate in law and joined the army in 1907. During World War I, he served as an ordnance officer and adjutant and was promoted to Hauptmann in 1918. After the war he served in the Civil Service as the private secretary to the Foreign minister and was briefly a director in industry. He joined the Nazi Party in 1932 and he worked at the propaganda ministry after Adolf Hitler came to power and was a member of the Allgemeine SS.

With the outbreak of World War II he re-joined the army as a Major and served on the General Staff in Paris. In December 1943 he transferred from the Wehrmacht Heer, in which he had reached the rank of Oberstleutnant, to the Waffen SS which he joined with the equivalent rank of Obersturmbannführer. He was soon promoted to Standartenführer and then Oberführer. A fluent French speaker, he commanded the French volunteers of the SS Charlemagne Division and following a summons to help with the defence of Berlin he breached several obstacles to lead the remnants of the division into the city in April 1945.

Juan Williams (born April 10, 1954) is an American journalist and political analyst for Fox News Channel. He also writes for several newspapers including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal and has been published in magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly and Time. He was a senior news analyst for National Public Radio (NPR) from 1999 until October 2010. At The Washington Post for 23 years, Williams has worked as an editorial writer, op-ed columnist, White House correspondent and national correspondent.

Williams is the author of Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965 (1988), a companion to the documentary series of the same name about the African-American Civil Rights Movement;Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary (2000), a biography of Thurgood Marshall, the first black American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States; and Enough (2006), which was inspired by Bill Cosby's speech at the NAACP gala, and deals with Williams' critique of black leaders in America, and as he puts it the "culture of failure." Williams has received an Emmy Award and critical praise for his television documentary work and he has won several awards for investigative journalism and his opinion columns.

Heinz Harmel (June 29, 1906 - September 2, 2000) was a German Waffen-SS General during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.

Heinz Harmel was born on June 29, 1906, in Metz, the largest fortress of the German Empire. Harmel was the son of a medical officer of the 67th Infantry Regiment in Magdeburg. A military career seemed to offer the best opportunities for him. Volunteering in 1926, Heinz Harmel enlisted in the Reichswehr, in the 15th Company of the 6th Infantry Regiment in Ratzeburg. But the Treaty of Versailles, which limited the size of the Reichswehr, did not allow him to pursue an active military career, so Harmel continued to serve in the Army reserve, where he achieved the rank of Oberfeldwebel.

When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, Harmel retired from the Army and on October 2, 1935, entered to the SS-Verfügungstruppe (Later known as Waffen-SS) as SS-Oberscharführer and was assigned to the 1st Company of the SS-Standarte "Germania" in Hamburg. On January 30, 1937, Harmel was promoted to the SS-Untersturmführer and served as platoon commander in the 7th Company of the SS-Standarte "Deutschland" in Munich. On 30 January 1938, Harmel obtained the rank of SS-Obersturmführer. After the annexation of Austria to the German Reich, on March 13, 1938, Harmel moved with his unit to Klagenfurt, capital of Carinthia. There, Harmel was appointed as commander of the 9th Company of the new SS-Regiment "Der Führer". On January 30, 1939, Harmel was further promoted to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer, captain.

SS-Gruppenführer Hans Georg Otto Hermann Fegelein (30 October 1906 – 28 April 1945) was a General of the Waffen-SS in Nazi Germany. He was a member of Adolf Hitler's entourage and brother-in-law to Eva Braun through his marriage to her sister, Gretl. Fegelein was highly decorated for his service on the Eastern Front during World War II, where units under his command were responsible for the deaths of over 17,000 Jews and other civilians at the Pripyat swamps in Byelorussia in 1941. Fegelein was shot for desertion on 28 April 1945, two days before Hitler's suicide.

Fegelein was born in Ansbach, Bavaria, to the retired Oberleutnant Hans Fegelein. As a young boy working at his father's horse riding school in Munich, he became proficient in riding skills and participated in horse jumping events. During this period he met Christian Weber, an original member of the Nazi Party. Weber later sponsored Fegelien for entry into the Schutzstaffel (SS).