Sicherheitspolizei (Weimar Republic)
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The Sicherheitspolizei, or security police, was a militarized German police group set up in most
In view of the unstable internal political situation in the early Weimar Republic, especially in the Reich capital, Berlin, Hauptmann Waldemar Pabst of the Garde-Kavallerie-Schützen-Division considered a barracked and militarily armed and trained police group necessary to control political violence.[citation needed] The Prussian Interior Ministry envisaged a militarily armed and trained police group to control political violence a more useful tool in the fight against insurrection than the existing police forces inherited from the monarchical era.[1] In the course of the
Conversion and reorganization
In response to protest from the French government in 1920, the national level security police units were dissolved were either sent to perform local policing. France feared a clandestine rearmament and saw the new para-military police force as a threat to its security. The planned airborne component of some security police had to be abandoned and their use of artillery and tanks were prohibited. France demanded the abolition of the green uniform, which they viewed as camouflage clothing. A blue uniform was introduced in most regions. Only Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Mecklenburg, and Bremen retained uniform components of a dark green color. The pants were mostly black or black-blue. Particularly striking was the Saxon version with a fairly light medium blue color. However, it took some years before the uniforming was completed, since the uniforms already purchased had to be used up before new ones could be requisitioned. Steel helmets were generally abolished and were not reissued until around 1930. The terms "Sipo" and "green police" continued in popular usage until the Nazi reorganization and disbandment of local police forces in 1935.
Strength, training, and equipment
The training of the security police was tailored to a para-militarily force. The standard service period, analogous to the Reichswehr, was 12 years. The transfer to the local police or gendarmerie was by no means guaranteed, although in general a takeover was planned for the administrative service. With the global economic crisis of 1929, this could no longer be realized, as all countries had to save on personnel costs.
Equipment and armament was entirely designed for combat against heavily armed insurgents. Depending on the size of the member state, the security police had a number of so-called special cars, mostly British Daimler DZVR 21s or German Ehrhardt 21s, which were usually equipped with two turrets with one machine gun each. Machine guns, carbines, and grenades were also issued. The entire training, equipment and armament aimed at a civil war-like use both in large cities and in the countryside.
The security police were deployed extensively, combating the
Evolution after 1933
The Nazi concept of the role of the police originally called for only a very small force. Like the Communists, the National Socialists saw a kind of praetorian guardianship of the mainstream democratic parties, especially the SPD in Prussia, which continuously constituted the government there from 1919 to 1932. Moreover, on 9 November 1923, the Hitler's putsch was defeated in Munich by the intervention of the Bavarian state police . As early as 1933, the transformation of the remaining local police into the national state police had begun. From August 1934 until the end of 1935 these were dissolved and its members transferred to the Wehrmacht.
Gallery
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Riot police fighting strikers during the March Action of 1921, in Eisleben.
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Regulating aKPDdemonstration in Berlin, 1926.
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An Ehrhardt 21 armored car of the police forces.
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Providing a security cordon at the Reichstag building in 1930.
References
- ^
Compare:
ISBN 9783161481208. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
Am 31. Mai 1919 veröffentlichte das Innenministerium Organisationsrichtlinien für die Berliner Polizei, die massgeblich von Stabsoffizier Waldemar Pabst ausgearbeitet wurden. Sie sahen die Umbildung der alten Schutzmannschaft zu einer uniformierten 'Ordnungsspolizei' und einer davon getrennten, militärisch gegliederten, in geschlossenen Verbänden operierenden 'Sicherheitspolizei' vor. Der Sicherheitspolizei wurden dabei die wichtigeren Aufgaben zugeteilt, denn ihr sollten die Sicherung von Leben und Eigentum gegen gewaltsame Angriffe und die Sicherung der Staatsordnung obliegen.
- ^ Gietinger 2009, pp. 167–169.
- ^ Gietinger 2009, p. 168.
- ^ Gietinger 2009, p. 169.
Bibliography
- Leßmann-Faust, Peter (2012). Die preußische Schutzpolizei in der Weimarer Republik: Streifendienst und Straßenkampf [The Prussian police in the Weimar Republic: patrol service and street fighting] (in German). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Publisher for Police Science. ISBN 978-3-86676-196-4.
- ISBN 3-428-09898-6.
- Danner, Lothar (1958). Ordnungspolizei Hamburg. Betrachtungen zu ihrer Geschichte 1919-1933 [Hamburg public order police. Reflections on its history 1919-1933]. Hamburg.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ISBN 978-3-89401-592-3.
- Hartenstein, Wilhelm (1926). Der Kampfeinsatz der Schutzpolizei bei inneren Unruhen [The combat deployment of the police during internal unrest] (in German). Charlottenburg: Offene Worte.
- Renn, Ludwig (1929). Nachkrieg [Postwar] (in German). Berlin, Germany: Wien.
- Lankenau, Heinrich: Denkschrift aus Anlaß des 10-jährigen Bestehens der Oldenburger Ordnungspolizei , Oldenburg 1929.
- Hellmuth Witt: Ergänzungen Lothar Danner: Ordnungspolizei Hamburg , Hamburg 1985.
- Zaika, Siegfried (1979). Polizeigeschichte. Die Exekutive im Lichte der historischen Konfliktforschung [Police story. The executive branch in the light of historical conflict research] (in German). Lübeck: Schmidt-Römhild. ISBN 978-3801620011.
- Schmidt, Daniel (2010). "Keine Kommissare. Preußische Polizeioffiziere zwischen soldatischem Selbstverständnis und polizeilicher Professionalität 1919 bis 1935" [No commissioners. Prussian police officers between soldierly self-image and police professionalism 1919 to 1935]. Militärgeschichtliche Zeitschrift (in German). 69. Munich , Germany: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag.
- ISBN 9783764810009.
- ISSN 0435-706X.
- ISBN 3-8258-5945-2.