A First Look at the "Class" Struggle in Das Boot

The separation between ranks of power in Das Boot is drawn perfectly clear. The primary figure of the "elite" would be the cliche SS Officer who, throughout the movie, is doing his job representing the Führer and spreading the, now common, dribble of the Nazi party among the shipmates. This is where we see the strong dissasociation between the two social groupings in the sub.

The officer is constantly mocked by the rest of the deckands and sailors, reinforcing our idea of the dissociation of the two sides. This could be representing how out of place the Nazi officer was, in an attempt to clear the German conscious or some such thing since the regulars appeared to have beter morals and cordiality, but more likely is that Peterson simply used him as an icon for which the audience (and Germans themselves) to recognize the disparity between rank and file and the Germans' "brass."