Bannführer was a paramilitary rank

Ranks and insignia of the Hitler Youth

The Ranks and insignia of the Hitler Youth were a Nazi Party paramilitary rank system that existed from 1932 to 1945. The Hitler Youth had existed for nearly a decade before, but the organization did not maintain any particular system of ranks. Such ranks were introduced in the early 1930s and...

 of the Hitler Youth

Hitler Youth

The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...

 that was created in the mid 1930s as a result of Hitler Youth expansion throughout Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

. The purpose of the rank was to provide more adult leadership ranks other than the previous title of Hitlerjugendführer

Hitlerjugendführer

Hitlerjugendführer was a paramilitary title of the Hitler Youth which existed within the Nazi Party from approximately 1928 to the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945.- Description :...

.

Bannführer was divided into three levels, mainly the basic rank of Bannführer followed by two higher ranks of Oberbannführer and Hauptbannführer. The insignia consisted of a leaf shoulder insignia worn on a Hitler Youth jacket.

The rank of Bannführer has made at least two appearances in modern motion pictures about World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

; mainly “Swing Kids

Swing Kids

The Swing Kids were a group of jazz and swing lovers in Germany in the 1930s, mainly in Hamburg and Berlin. They were composed of 14- to 18-year-old boys and girls in high school, most of them middle- or upper-class students, but some apprentice workers as well...

” (where a Bannführer is shown instructing a group of Hitler Youth in boxing) and in “Europa Europa

Europa Europa

Europa Europa is a 1990 German language film directed by Agnieszka Holland. Its original German title is Hitlerjunge Salomon, i.e. "Hitler Youth Salomon". It is based on the 1989 autobiography of Solomon Perel, a German Jewish boy who escaped The Holocaust by masquerading not just as a non-Jew, but...

” where a Bannführer runs a Hitler Youth academy. A Bannführer also plays a relatively big role in Hitlerjunge Quex.