Gröfaz Hitler

[LAstry]

Gröfaz – Größter Feldherr aller Zeiten (German) – "the greatest leader of all time", a popular ironic term for Hitler among officers
DId this start after the defeat at Volgagrad?

[Alanmccoubrey]

Apart from being in very poor taste this question seems to be based upon an error on your part. The "nickname" was used literally by sycophants and not ironically. Second there was no battle at Volgograd, the city hadn't changed its name in 1942.

[gebhk]

There are a number of theories for the origins of this nickname though none I have heard suggest it was ever coined as a compliment! One is that it is a clipping of gross fatzke (fatzke being Berlin slang for an unpleasnatly vain or arrogant man). Saying it out loud would have no doubt likely caused unpleasant consequences for the sayer, so the clipping provided plausible deniability (that you, of course meant, 'the greatest commander of all time' - after Keitel who of course meant it in all sincerity). Then over time and no doubt as German fortunes in the war waned, the 'plausible deniability' developed currency of its own as a piece of irony. There seems to be consensus that it was first documented in 1943 but the coincidence with the Stalingrad defeat may well have been just that.