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Ranks and insignia were used by the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) as paramilitary titles between approximately 1928 and the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945. Such ranks were held within the political leadership corps of the Nazi Party, charged with the overseeing of the regular Nazi Party members. The first purpose of the Nazi Party's political ranks was to provide election district leadership positions during the years where the Nazis were attempting to come to power in Germany. After 1933, when the Third Reich had been established, Nazi Party ranks played a much more important role existing as a political chain of command operating side by side with the German government. Contrary to modern day cinema and layman perceptions regarding the Nazi Party, which often portrays all Nazis as wearing brown shirts with swastika armbands, Nazi ranks and titles were only used by a small minority within the Party, this being the political leadership corps. Regular Nazi Party members, unconnected with the political leadership, often wore no uniforms at all except for a standard Nazi Party Badge issued to all members (a golden version of this badge also existed for early Nazi Party members). The history of Nazi Party ranks and insignia can be divided into the ranks used during several different time periods as well as the positions held by senior Nazis who were, by default, the supreme leaders of the Party regardless of what title they chose to call themselves by.

The senior leadership of the Nazi Party were intentionally removed from Nazi Party political ranks, with such senior leaders unquestionably above and outranking all other members of the Party. This concept has been interpreted by historians to imply that the leadership was the "spring" from which Nazi promotions, ranks, and awards were granted, to be bestowed upon the lesser members of the Party. Under this concept, Hitler and his inner circle needed no grand titles, heaps of awards, or elaborate uniforms since they were already known as the most senior members of the state and party. It is for this reason that Hitler and senior Nazis are frequently seen in photographic and film evidence as wearing uniforms with little insignia or uniforms without excessive decorations. This set Hitler apart from other dictators of the time, such as Benito Mussolini who appointed himself First Marshal of the Empire and wore a full Italian military uniform with many state and military decorations displayed. Hitler, who served as Führer of the Nazi Party, held the absolute highest possible Nazi Party position. Albert Speer (in his book Inside the Third Reich) remarked that Hitler was the only party member to wear an embroidered "Eagle of Sovereignty Pin" on his civilian jackets (every other member wearing the round party badge), though the jacket design itself did not differ from other civilian jackets of the time. This "Führer Badge" was the only unique insignia ever created to denote Hitler's rank as Führer. Prior to 1939, Hitler wore a brown paramilitary uniform, considered the uniform of the Oberste SA Führer (Supreme Storm Trooper Commander). Upon the outbreak of World War II, Hitler adopted a grey army style uniform, without any particular insignia, with Hitler pledging that he was the “first soldier” of the German Reich and would wear his army style uniform until "victory has been achieved or I will not survive the outcome". Heinrich Himmler was a senior member of the Nazi Party and is most well known as Reichsführer SS; as a result, most of Himmler's attire is connected to his SS uniform. In addition to being Reichsführer SS and a Reichsleiter, towards the end of World War II he held numerous high level positions including Commander of the Replacement Home Army and General Plenipotentiary for the entire Reich's administration (Generalbevollmächtigter für die Verwaltung). Himmler however, never chose to wear a Nazi Party uniform and all photographs of him are in either civilian clothes or in his SS uniform. Other high Nazi positions, that did not entail any particular insignia, included the office of Deputy Führer held by Rudolf Hess until he personally flew his Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighter plane to Scotland and crash landed at Eaglesham in 1941. He was captured, imprisoned, and then sent to England. The office of Deputy Führer was thereafter abolished. Martin Bormann held the title of Party Secretary, during which time he wore the uniform of a Reichsleiter. Bormann would later take up cabinet level positions in the German government, and after receiving his (honorary) SS membership he wore the insignia of an SS Obergruppenführer. Albert Speer, in his early days as the Party Architect, wore a brown Nazi party jacket similar to the insignia less uniform that Joseph Goebbels wore throughout his career as Nazi Propaganda Minister. As for Speer, he would later adopt the uniform of Organisation Todt, and towards the end of World War II wore a senior Nazi Party political uniform through his position as Minister of Armaments. Some senior Nazis did incorporate themselves into the standard Nazi Party rank system, but only at the highest levels. Robert Ley held the position of Reichsleiter and Julius Streicher was a Gauleiter. Hermann Göring is most associated with his rank of Reichsmarschall, but was also a Gruppenführer in the SA as well as the equivalent of a Reichsleiter through his position as Director of the Four Year Plan.

In its simplest form, 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 and Reichsleiters, and finally the position of Führer held solely by Adolf Hitler as supreme leader of the Party (a position of Deputy Führer also existed until 1941).