Nationalsozialistischer Führungsoffizier
(NSFO; "National Socialist Leadership Officers") were officers of the German in World War II tasked with teaching Nazi ideology to soldiers. It was regarded as important that some officers should have the responsibility of both military command and political instruction in the spirit of Nazism. In this respect, NSFO were different from political commissars of the Red Army, who did not have military command. The (National Socialist leadership staff) of the OKW was created by Adolf Hitler's directive of the 22 December 1943 and was put under the overall control of General Hermann Reinecke. His officers had to bring soldiers closer to the Nazi worldview through lectures and discussion. The goal was to instill ideological conviction in order to reinforce combat morale and turn the tide of the war. NSFO were regular officers, but they had to be approved by a commission created by the head of the Nazi Party Chancellery Martin Bormann. This commission, presided by Wilhelm Ruder, had to check whether the men were "flawless" in the Nazi sense. Ruder explained in a speech that, in the opinion of the Party Chancellery, the instruction of "political soldiers" and of the management had been neglected and correcting this would