Wikipedia
bgcolor="#efefef" colspan=2 align="center"|Hauptmann (Heer / Luftwaffe) |-----
align="center" colspan=2 style="border-bottom:2px solid gray;font-size:smaller" |
DH231-Hauptmann.png
LD B 43 Hauptmann.svg
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Rank insignia
German officer rank |-----
Introduction
19th century |-----
Rank group
Commissioned officers |-----
Army / Air Force
Hauptmann |-----
Navy
Kapitänleutnant |-----
NATOequivalent
OF-2 |-----
Army
Captain |-----
Navy
Captain lieutenant |-----
Hauptmann is a German word usually translated as captain when it is used as an officer's rank in the German, Austrian and Swiss armies. While "haupt" in contemporary German means "main", it also has the meaning of "head", i.e. Hauptmann literally translates to "head man", which is also the etymological root of "captain" (from Latin caput head). It equates to Captain in the British and US Armies, and is rated OF-2 in NATO.
More generally, it can be used to denote the head of any hierarchically structured group of people, often as a compound word. For example, a Feuerwehrhauptmann is the captain of a fire brigade, while the word Räuberhauptmann refers to the leader of a gang of robbers.
Official Austrian/German titles incorporating the word include Landeshauptmann, Bezirkshauptmann, Burghauptmann and Berghauptmann.
In Saxony during the Weimar Republic, the titles of Kreishauptmann and Amtshauptmann were held by senior civil servants.
The word may cognate with the Swedish Hövitsman, which has the root meaning "Head man" or "the man at the head" and is closely related to the word "hövding," meaning Chieftain. Since medieval times, both titles have been used for state administrators rather than military personnel.
See also:Hauptmann is a German word for captain but may also refer to:
- Hauptmann Deutschland, comic-book character
- Hauptmann (officer), OF2-rank, equivalent to captain in English speaking armed forces
Hauptmann is the surname of:
- Bruno Hauptmann, kidnapper of Charles Lindbergh's baby
- Elisabeth Hauptmann, writer who worked with Bertolt Brecht
- Gerhart Hauptmann (1862–1946), German author
- Moritz Hauptmann, musician
- Ralf Hauptmann, footballer
Hauptmann is a crater on Mercury. It has a diameter of 120 kilometers. Its name was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1985. Hauptmann is named for the German playwright Gerhart Hauptmann, who lived from 1862 to 1946.