Gefreiter is the German, Swiss and Austrian equivalent for the military rank Private (NATO Rank Code OR-2). Gefreiter was the lowest rank to which an ordinary soldier could be promoted. As a military rank it has existed since at least the 16th century. From the 1920s on Gefreiter has expanded into several additional ranks, those being Obergefreiter, Hauptgefreiter, Stabsgefreiter and Oberstabsgefreiter (NATO Rank Code OR-3 and OR-4).
Gefreiter means "the exempted". It emerged in the 2nd half of the 16th century and denotes the older soldiers who were exempted from sentry duty.[1]
Efreitor (Russian: Ефрейтор, transliterated: Yefreytor) is a German loanword in Russian and denotes a similar rank in the Russian army.
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In today's German Federal Defence Forces (German: Bundeswehr), almost every soldier or sailor (military recruit/cadet) successfully passing the 12 weeks basic military training is promoted to the military rank of Gefreiter. Following the NATO ranking system, Gefreiter ranks as Private (OR-2), Obergefreiter as PFC (OR-3 lower half), Hauptgefreiter as Lance-Corporal (OR-3 upper half), Stabsgefreiter and Oberstabsgefreiter as Corporal (OR-4). The German equivalent of Private (OR-1) is Schütze (Rifleman) or another unit type-specific term (like Kanonier, "gunner") in the Heer (German Army), Matrose (sailor/seaman) in the German Navy, Flieger (aviator/airman) in the Luftwaffe (Airforce), or simply Soldat ("[ordinary] soldier").
During World War I and World War II, Gefreiter was considered more to be a lance corporal, with the rank of full corporal known as Unteroffizier (lowest grading Junior Non-Commissioned Officer), which ranked between an American sergeant and corporal and approximately equivalent to a British corporal in responsibility.
The German Navy, Marine, has also periodically maintained a rank known as Matrosengefreiter, translated as "Seaman Corporal", and equivalent to an Able Seaman or Leading Seaman.
One of the best known holders of the rank of Gefreiter was Adolf Hitler, who held the rank in the Bavarian Infantry during World War I. (Note: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a book written by William L. Shirer, a U.S. journalist and correspondent who reported from Berlin during the World War II, states that Adolf Hitler was examined for military service on February 5, 1914, and found unfit to serve by cause and or reason of poor health. When World War I started, he petitioned King Ludwig III of Bavaria for permission to enter military service in a Bavarian regiment and was accepted.)
See Swiss army ranks.
In Russia, the rank of Efreitor was introduced by Peter I in 1716 in infantry, cavalry and engineer forces. However, the rank wasn't used after 1722. During the reign of Paul I it was made an equivalent rank to Private senior salary, which after the reign of Alexander I was used only for the Imperial Guard. Efreitor was re-introduced in the course of the military reform of 1826.
In the armed forces of the USSR (and later the Russian Federation) Efreitor is higher than the Private rank and less than the Junior Sergeant rank.
In independent Ukraine this rank was changed to "Senior soldier".