The ''Ordnungspolizei'' (),
abbreviated
An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
''Orpo'', meaning "Order Police", were the uniformed
police force
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...
in
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
from 1936 to 1945.
The Orpo organisation was absorbed into the Nazi monopoly on power after regional police jurisdiction was removed in favour of the central Nazi government ("
Reich
''Reich'' (; ) is a German language, German noun whose meaning is analogous to the meaning of the English word "realm"; this is not to be confused with the German adjective "reich" which means "rich". The terms ' (literally the "realm of an emp ...
-ification", ''Verreichlichung'', of the police). The Orpo was controlled nominally by the
Interior Ministry
An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs.
Lists of current ministries of internal affairs
Named "ministry"
* Ministry ...
, but its executive functions rested with the leadership of the ''
SS'' until the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Owing to their green uniforms, Orpo were also referred to as ''Grüne Polizei'' (green police). The force was first established as a centralised organisation uniting the municipal, city, and rural uniformed police that had been organised on a state-by-state basis.
The ''Ordnungspolizei'' encompassed virtually all of Nazi Germany's law-enforcement and emergency response organisations, including fire brigades, coast guard, and civil defence. In the prewar period,
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
, head of the ''
SS'', and
Kurt Daluege
Kurt Max Franz Daluege (15 September 1897 – 24 October 1946) was chief of the national uniformed ''Ordnungspolizei'' (Order Police) of Nazi Germany. Following Reinhard Heydrich's assassination in 1942, he served as Deputy Protector for th ...
, chief of the Order Police, cooperated in transforming the police force of the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
into militarised formations ready to serve the regime's aims of conquest and racial annihilation. Police troops were first formed into battalion-sized formations for the
invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
, where they were deployed for security and policing purposes, also taking part in executions and mass deportations. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the force had the task of policing the civilian population of the occupied and colonised countries beginning in spring 1940.
Orpo's activities escalated to genocide with the invasion of the Soviet Union,
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...
. Twenty-three
Order Police battalions
The Order Police battalions were militarised formations of the German Order Police (uniformed police) during the Nazi era. During World War II, they were subordinated to the SS and deployed in German-occupied areas, specifically the Army Group ...
, formed into independent regiments or attached to
''Wehrmacht'' security divisions and ''
Einsatzgruppen
(, ; also ' task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the im ...
'', perpetrated mass-murder in the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
and were responsible for widespread
crimes against humanity
Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
and
genocide
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...
targeting the civilian population.
History
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
, head of the ''
SS'', was named Chief of German Police in the Interior Ministry on 17 June 1936 after Hitler announced a decree which was to "unify the control of police duties in the Reich". Traditionally, law enforcement in Germany had been a state and local matter. In this role, Himmler was nominally subordinate to Interior Minister
Wilhelm Frick
Wilhelm Frick (12 March 1877 – 16 October 1946) was a prominent German politician of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), who served as Reich Minister of the Interior in Adolf Hitler's cabinet from 1933 to 1943 and as the last governor of the Protectorate ...
. However, the decree effectively subordinated the police to the ''
SS''. Himmler gained authority as all of Germany's uniformed law enforcement agencies were amalgamated into the new ''Ordnungspolizei'', whose main office became populated by officers of the ''SS''.
The police were divided into the ''Ordnungspolizei'' (Orpo or regular police) and the ''
Sicherheitspolizei
The ''Sicherheitspolizei'' ( en, Security Police), often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Germany for security police. In the Nazi era, it referred to the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the ...
'' (''SiPo'' or security police), which had been established in June 1936. The Orpo assumed duties of regular uniformed law enforcement while the SiPo consisted of the secret state police (''Geheime Staatspolizei'' or
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
) and criminal investigation police (''
Kriminalpolizei
''Kriminalpolizei'' (, "criminal police") is the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of Germany, Austria, and the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. In Nazi Germany, the Kripo was the criminal polic ...
'' or Kripo). The ''Kriminalpolizei'' was a corps of professional detectives involved in fighting crime and the task of the Gestapo was combating
espionage
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...
and
political dissent
Political dissent is a dissatisfaction with or opposition to the policies of a governing body. Expressions of dissent may take forms from vocal disagreement to civil disobedience to the use of violence.Sicherheitsdienst
' (, ''Security Service''), full title ' (Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence organization ...
'' (SD) and the ''SiPo'' were folded into the
Reich Security Main Office
The Reich Security Main Office (german: Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and ''Reichsführer-SS'', the head of the Nazi ...
(''Reichssicherheitshauptamt'' or RSHA). The RSHA symbolised the close connection between the ''SS'' (a party organisation) and the police (a state organisation).
In broad terms, Himmler pursued the amalgamation of ''SS'' and police into a form of "State Protection Corps" (''Staatsschutzkorps''), and used the expanded reach the police powers gave him to persecute ideological opponents and "undesirables" of the Nazi regime such as Jews,
freemasons
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
, the churches, homosexuals,
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
, and other groups defined as "
asocial
Asociality refers to the lack of motivation to engage in social interaction, or a preference for solitary activities. Asociality may be associated with avolition, but it can, moreover, be a manifestation of limited opportunities for social relati ...
". The Nazi conception of criminality was racial and biological, holding that criminal traits were hereditary, and had to be exterminated to purify German blood. As a result, even ordinary criminals were consigned to concentration camps to remove them from the German racial community (''
Volksgemeinschaft
''Volksgemeinschaft'' () is a German expression meaning "people's community", "folk community",Richard Grunberger, ''A Social History of the Third Reich'', London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971, p. 44. "national community", or "racial community", ...
'') and ultimately exterminate them.
The Order Police played a central role in carrying out the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
. By "both career professionals and reservists, in both battalion formations and precinct service" (''Einzeldienst'') through providing men for the tasks involved.
[Browning, ''Nazi Policy'', p. 143.]
Organization
The German Order Police had grown to 244,500 men by mid-1940.
The Orpo was under the overall control of ''Reichsführer-SS'' Himmler as Chief of the German Police in the Ministry of the Interior. It was initially commanded by ''SS-
Oberstgruppenführer und
Generaloberst
A ("colonel general") was the second-highest general officer rank in the German ''Reichswehr'' and ''Wehrmacht'', the Austro-Hungarian Common Army, the East Germany, East German National People's Army and in their respective police services. ...
der Polizei''
Kurt Daluege
Kurt Max Franz Daluege (15 September 1897 – 24 October 1946) was chief of the national uniformed ''Ordnungspolizei'' (Order Police) of Nazi Germany. Following Reinhard Heydrich's assassination in 1942, he served as Deputy Protector for th ...
. In May 1943, Daluege had a massive heart attack and was removed from duty. He was replaced by ''SS-
Obergruppenführer
' (, "senior group leader") was a paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and adopted by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) one year later. Until April 1942, it was the highest commissio ...
und General der
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
und der Polizei''
Alfred Wünnenberg __NOTOC__
Alfred Wünnenberg (20 July 1891 – 30 December 1963) was a high-ranking commander in the Waffen-SS and the police of Nazi Germany. He commanded of the SS Polizei Division between December 1941 and June 1943. He was a recipient of th ...
, who served until the end of the war. By 1941, the Orpo had been divided into the following offices covering every aspect of German law enforcement.
The central command office known as the ''Ordnungspolizei Hauptamt'' was located in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. From 1943 it was considered a full ''SS''-Headquarters command.
[.] The Orpo main office consisted of Command Department (''Kommandoamt''), responsible for finance, personnel and medical; Administrative (''Verwaltung'') charged with pay, pensions and permits; Economic (''Wirtschaftsverwaltungsamt''); Technical Emergency Service (''Technische Nothilfe''); Fire Brigades Bureau (''Feuerwehren''); Colonial Police (''Kolonialpolizei''); and SS and Police Technical Training Academy (''Technische SS-und Polizeiakademie'').
Branches of police
![Bundesarchiv Bild 101III-Weiss-047-31, Russland, Minsk, Ordnungspolizei, Bach-Zelewski](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Bundesarchiv_Bild_101III-Weiss-047-31%2C_Russland%2C_Minsk%2C_Ordnungspolizei%2C_Bach-Zelewski.jpg)
* Administration (''
Verwaltungspolizei'') was the administrative branch of the Orpo and had overall command authority for all Orpo
police station
A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "house") is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, al ...
s. The ''Verwaltungspolizei'' also was the central office for record keeping and was the command authority for civilian law enforcement groups, which included the ''Gesundheitspolizei'' (health police), ''Gewerbepolizei'' (commercial or trade police), and the ''Baupolizei'' (building police). In the main towns, ''Verwaltungspolizei'', ''Schutzpolizei'' and ''Kriminalpolizei'' would be organised into a police administration known as the ''Polizeipräsidium'' or ''Polizeidirektion'', which had authority over these police forces in the urban district.
* State protection police ''(
Schutzpolizei des Reiches)'', state uniformed police in cities and most large towns, which included police-station duties (Revierdienst) and barracked police units for riots and public safety (''Kasernierte Polizei'').
*Municipal protection police ''(
Schutzpolizei der Gemeinden)'',
municipal uniformed police in smaller and some large towns. Although fully integrated into the ''Ordnungspolizei''-system, its police officers were municipal civil servants. The civilian law enforcement in towns with a municipal protection police was not done by the ''Verwaltungspolizei'', but by municipal civil servants. Until 1943 they also had municipal criminal investigation departments, but that year, all such departments with more than 10 detectives, were integrated into the
Kripo
''Kriminalpolizei'' (, "criminal police") is the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of Germany, Austria, and the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. In Nazi Germany, the Kripo was the criminal polic ...
.
*''Gendarmerie'' (state rural police) were tasked with frontier law enforcement to include small communities, rural districts, and mountainous terrain. With the development of a network of motorways or ''
Autobahnen'', motorised gendarmerie companies were set up in 1937 to secure the traffic.
* Traffic police (''Verkehrspolizei'') was the traffic-law enforcement agency and road safety administration of Germany. The organisation patrolled Germany's roads (other than motorways which were controlled by Motorized Gendarmerie) and responded to major accidents. The ''Verkehrspolizei'' was also the primary escort service for high Nazi leaders who travelled great distances by automobile.
* Water police (''
Wasserschutzpolizei
The ''Wasserschutzpolizei'' (WSP - literally translated "Water Protection Police" in German) is the river police that patrols the waterways, lakes and harbours of Germany around the clock. The WSP are part of the ''Landespolizei'' (State Pol ...
'')
was the equivalent of the
coast guard
A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...
and
river police. Tasked with the safety and security of Germany's rivers, harbours, and inland waterways, the group also had authority over the ''SS-Hafensicherungstruppen'' ("harbour security troops") which were ''
Allgemeine-SS
The ''Allgemeine SS'' (; "General SS") was a major branch of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany; it was managed by the SS Main Office (''SS-Hauptamt''). The ''Allgemeine SS'' was officially established in the autum ...
'' units assigned as port security personnel.
* Fire police (''
Feuerschutzpolizei'')
consisted of all professional fire departments under a national command structure.
''Hilfspolizei''
* The Orpo ''Hauptamt'' also had authority over the ''Freiwillige Feuerwehren'', the local volunteer civilian
fire brigade
A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...
s. At the height of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, in response to heavy bombing of Germany's cities, the combined ''Feuerschutzpolizei'' and ''Freiwillige Feuerwehren'' numbered nearly two million members.
* Air raid protection police (''
Luftschutzpolizei
Luftschutzpolizei (LSP) ''(Air Raid Protection Police)'' was the local civil defense organization in Nazi Germany.
Formation
LSP was the civil protection service in charge of rescuing victims of bombings in connection with the Technische Nothil ...
'') was the
civil protection service in charge of air raid defence and rescue victims of bombings in connection with the ''Technische Nothilfe'' (Technical Emergency Service) and the ''Feuerschutzpolizei'' (professional fire departments). Created as the Security and Assistance Service (''Sicherheits und Hilfsdienst'') in 1935, it was renamed ''Luftschutzpolizei'' in April 1942. The air raid network was supported by the ''
Reichsluftschutzbund
The Reichsluftschutzbund (RLB; "Reich Air Protection League") was an organization in Nazi Germany in charge of air raid precautions in residential areas and among smaller businesses.
Purpose
The RLB was organized by Hermann Göring in 1933 as a ...
'' (Reich Association for Air Raid Precautions) an organisation controlled from 1935 by the Air Ministry under
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
. The RLB set up an organisation of air raid wardens who were responsible for the safety of a building or a group of houses.
*Technical Emergency Corps (''
Technische Nothilfe
''Technische Nothilfe'' (abbreviated as TN, T.N, T.H, Tech Nh, TeNo, TENO; ) was a German organisation. It began as a strikebreaker organisation after the First World War, but developed into a volunteer emergency response unit. During the Nazi ...
''; TeNo) was a corps of engineers, technicians and specialists in construction work. The TeNo was created in 1919 to keep the public utilities and essential industries running during the wave of strikes. From 1937, the TeNo became a technical auxiliary corps of the police and was absorbed into Orpo ''Hauptamt''. By 1943, the TeNo had over 100,000 members.
*Volunteer Fire Department (''Feuerwehren''), volunteer fire departments, conscripted fire departments and industrial fire departments were auxiliary police subordinate to the Ordnungspolizei.
* Radio protection (''Funkschutz'') was made up of SS and Orpo security personnel assigned to protect German broadcasting stations from attack and sabotage. The Funkschutz was also the primary investigating service which detected illegal reception of foreign radio broadcasts.
* Urban and rural emergency police (''Stadt- und Landwacht'') created in 1942 as a part-time police reserve. Abolished in 1945 with the creation of the ''
Volksturm
The (; "people's storm") was a levée en masse national militia established by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II. It was not set up by the German Army, the ground component of the combined German ''Wehrmacht'' armed forces, b ...
''.
* Auxiliary Police (''
Schutzmannschaft
The ''Schutzmannschaft'' or Auxiliary Police ( "protective, or guard units"; plural: ''Schutzmannschaften'', abbreviated as ''Schuma'') was the collaborationist auxiliary police of native policemen serving in those areas of the Soviet Union and ...
'') was the collaborationist auxiliary police in occupied Eastern Europe.
''Sonderpolizei''
''Sonderpolizei'' was the special police authorities not subordinate to the Hauptamt Ordnungspolizei or the
Reichssicherheitshauptamt
The Reich Security Main Office (german: Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and ''Reichsführer-SS'', the head of the Nazi ...
:
* ''
Reichsbahnfahndungsdienst'', the "Railway criminal investigative service", subordinate to the
Deutsche Reichsbahn
The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'', also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regiona ...
.
* ''
Bahnschutzpolizei
Bahnschutzpolizei (BSP) ''(Railway Protection Police)'' in Nazi Germany was made up of full-time and part-time police officers who were employees of the ''Reichsbahn'' (state railways). The ''Bahnschutzpolizei'' was tasked with railway safety and ...
'', subordinate to the
Deutsche Reichsbahn
The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'', also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regiona ...
.
* ''SS-Bahnschutz'' replaced the ''
Bahnschutzpolizei
Bahnschutzpolizei (BSP) ''(Railway Protection Police)'' in Nazi Germany was made up of full-time and part-time police officers who were employees of the ''Reichsbahn'' (state railways). The ''Bahnschutzpolizei'' was tasked with railway safety and ...
'' within the Reich territory from 1944.
* Postal protection (''
Postschutz
''Postschutz'' (), after 1942 ''SS-Postschutz'', was a paramilitary unit of ''Reichspost'' with a mission to protect post office installations from armed attacks.
Origins
The Postschutz was created in 1933 in order to protect the establishments ...
'') comprised roughly 45,000 members and was tasked with the security of Germany's ''Reichspost,'' which was responsible not only for the mail but other communications media such as the
telephone
A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...
and
telegraph
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
systems.
* ''
SS-Postschutz''; created with the transfer of the
Postschutz
''Postschutz'' (), after 1942 ''SS-Postschutz'', was a paramilitary unit of ''Reichspost'' with a mission to protect post office installations from armed attacks.
Origins
The Postschutz was created in 1933 in order to protect the establishments ...
from the Reichministry of Post to the
Allgemeine-SS
The ''Allgemeine SS'' (; "General SS") was a major branch of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany; it was managed by the SS Main Office (''SS-Hauptamt''). The ''Allgemeine SS'' was officially established in the autum ...
in 1942.
* ''
Forstschutzpolizei'', under the ''Reichsforstamt''.
* ''Jagdpolizei'' (Hunting Police), under the ''Reichsforstamt''. It was largely exercised through the ''
Deutsche Jägerschaft''.
* ''Zollpolizei'' (Customs Police), exercised through the
Zollgrenzschutz and the Customs Authorities under the Ministry of Finance.
* ''Flurschutzpolizei'' (Agricultural Field Police), under the Ministry of Agriculture.
* Factory protection police (''Werkschutzpolizei'') were the
security guard
A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) from a variety ...
s of Nazi Germany. Its personnel were civilians employed by industrial enterprises, and typically were issued paramilitary uniforms. They were ultimately subordinated to the
Ministry of Aviation
The Ministry of Aviation was a department of the United Kingdom government established in 1959. Its responsibilities included the regulation of civil aviation and the supply of military aircraft, which it took on from the Ministry of Supply.
...
.
* ''Deichpolizei'' (Dam and Dyke Police), subordinated to the Ministry of Economy.
Police battalions
Invasion of Poland
![Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-030-0780-25, Krakau, Razzia von deutscher Ordnungspolizei](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-030-0780-25%2C_Krakau%2C_Razzia_von_deutscher_Ordnungspolizei.jpg)
Between 1939 and 1945, the ''Ordnungspolizei'' maintained military formations, trained and outfitted by the main police offices within Germany.
[Goldhagen 1997, p. 204.][Browning 1998, p. 38.] Specific duties varied widely from unit to unit and from one year to another. Generally, the Order Police were not directly involved in frontline combat,
except for
Ardennes
The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...
in May 1940, and the
Siege of Leningrad
The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of L ...
in 1941. The first 17 battalion formations (from 1943 renamed ''SS-Polizei-Bataillone'') were deployed by Orpo in September 1939 along with the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
army in the
invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
.
The battalions guarded
Polish prisoners of war
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
behind the German lines, and carried out
expulsion of Poles from ''
Reichsgaue
A (plural ) was an administrative subdivision created in a number of areas annexed by Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945.
Overview
The term was formed from the words (realm, empire) and , the latter a deliberately medieval-sounding word wi ...
'' under the banner of ''
Lebensraum
(, ''living space'') is a German concept of settler colonialism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. First popularized around 1901, '' lso in:' became a geopolitical goal of Imperi ...
''. They also committed atrocities against both the
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and the
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
populations as part of those "resettlement actions". After hostilities had ceased, the battalionssuch as
Reserve Police Battalion 101
Reserve Police Battalion 101 (german: Reserve-Polizei-Bataillon 101) was in Nazi Germany a paramilitary formation of the uniformed police force known as Order Police (''Ordnungspolizei#Police battalions, Ordnungspolizei'', abbreviated as Orpo), o ...
took up the role of security forces, patrolling the perimeters of the
Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland
Ghettos were established by Nazi Germany in hundreds of locations across occupied Poland after the German invasion of Poland.Yitzhak Arad, ''Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka.'' Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1987.''Biuletyn G ...
(the internal ghetto security issues were managed by the ''SS'',
''SD'', and the Criminal Police, in conjunction with the Jewish
ghetto administration).
Each battalion consisted of approximately 500 men armed with light infantry weapons.
[ In the east, each company also had a ]heavy machine-gun
A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or t ...
detachment. Administratively, the Police Battalions remained under the Chief of Police Kurt Daluege
Kurt Max Franz Daluege (15 September 1897 – 24 October 1946) was chief of the national uniformed ''Ordnungspolizei'' (Order Police) of Nazi Germany. Following Reinhard Heydrich's assassination in 1942, he served as Deputy Protector for th ...
, but operationally they were under the authority of regional SS and Police Leaders (''SS- und Polizeiführer''), who reported up a separate chain of command
A command hierarchy is a group of people who carry out orders based on others' authority within the group. It can be viewed as part of a power structure, in which it is usually seen as the most vulnerable and also the most powerful part.
Milit ...
directly to ''Reichsführer-SS'' Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
. The battalions were used for various auxiliary duties, including the so-called anti-partisan operations
Axis forces were involved in counter-insurgency operations against the various resistance movements during World War II.
During the Second World War, resistance movements that bore any resemblance to irregular warfare were frequently dealt with ...
, support of combat troops, and construction of defence works (i.e. Atlantic Wall
The Atlantic Wall (german: link=no, Atlantikwall) was an extensive system of coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defence against an anticip ...
). Some of them were focused on traditional security roles as an occupying force, while others were directly involved in actions designed to inflict terror and in the ensuing Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
.[Browning 1998, pp. 11-12, 31-32.] While they were similar to ''Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
'', they were not part of the thirty-eight ''Waffen-SS'' divisions, and should not be confused with them, including the national 4th SS Polizei Panzergrenadier Division.[ The battalions were originally numbered in series from 1 to 325, but in February 1943 were renamed and renumbered from 1 to about 37,][ to distinguish them from the '']Schutzmannschaft
The ''Schutzmannschaft'' or Auxiliary Police ( "protective, or guard units"; plural: ''Schutzmannschaften'', abbreviated as ''Schuma'') was the collaborationist auxiliary police of native policemen serving in those areas of the Soviet Union and ...
'' auxiliary battalions recruited from local population in German-occupied areas.[
]
Invasion of the Soviet Union
The Order Police battalions
The Order Police battalions were militarised formations of the German Order Police (uniformed police) during the Nazi era. During World War II, they were subordinated to the SS and deployed in German-occupied areas, specifically the Army Group ...
, operating both independently and in conjunction with the ''Einsatzgruppen
(, ; also ' task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the im ...
'', became an integral part of the Final Solution
The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution to th ...
in the two years following the attack on the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...
. The first mass-murder of 3,000 Jews by Police Battalion 309
The Police Battalion 309 (''Polizeibattalion 309'') was a formation of the Order Police (uniformed police) during the Nazi era. During Operation Barbarossa, it was subordinated to the German Army's 221st Security Division and deployed in Germ ...
occurred in occupied Białystok
Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area.
Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...
on 12 July 1941. Police battalions were part of the first and second wave of murders in 1941–42 in the territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union
Seventeen days after the Nazi Germany, German invasion of Poland in 1939, which marked the beginning of the Second World War, the Soviet invasion of Poland, Soviet Union entered the eastern regions of Second Polish Republic, Poland (known as the ...
and also during the killing operations within the 1939 borders of the USSR, whether as part of Order Police regiments, or as separate units reporting directly to the local ''SS'' and Police Leaders. They included the Reserve Police Battalion 101
Reserve Police Battalion 101 (german: Reserve-Polizei-Bataillon 101) was in Nazi Germany a paramilitary formation of the uniformed police force known as Order Police (''Ordnungspolizei#Police battalions, Ordnungspolizei'', abbreviated as Orpo), o ...
from Hamburg, Battalion 133 of the Nürnberg Order Police, Police Battalions 45, 309 from Koln, and 316 from Bottrop
Bottrop () is a city in west-central Germany, on the Rhine–Herne Canal, in North Rhine-Westphalia. Located in the Ruhr industrial area, Bottrop adjoins Essen, Oberhausen, Gladbeck, and Dorsten. The city had been a coal-mining and rail cente ...
-Oberhausen
Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Rout ...
. Their murder operations bore the brunt of the ''Holocaust by bullet'' on the Eastern Front. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, this latter role was obscured both by the lack of court evidence and by deliberate obfuscation, while most of the focus was on the better-known ''Einsatzgruppen'' ("Operational groups") who reported to the ''Reichssicherheitshauptamt'' (RSHA) under Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( ; ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a high-ranking German SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust.
He was chief of the Reich Security Main Office (inclu ...
.
Order Police battalions
The Order Police battalions were militarised formations of the German Order Police (uniformed police) during the Nazi era. During World War II, they were subordinated to the SS and deployed in German-occupied areas, specifically the Army Group ...
involved in direct killing operations were responsible for at least 1 million murders. Starting in 1941 the Battalions and local Order Police units helped to transport Jews from the ghettos in both Poland and the USSR (and elsewhere in occupied Europe
German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...
) to the concentration and extermination camps, as well as operations to hunt down and murder Jews outside the ghettos. The Order Police were one of the two primary sources from which the ''Einsatzgruppen'' drew personnel in accordance with manpower needs (the other being the ''Waffen-SS'').[Hillberg, pp 105–106.]
In 1942, the majority of the police battalions were re-consolidated into thirty SS and Police Regiments. These formations were intended for garrison security duty, anti-partisan functions, and to support ''Waffen-SS'' units on the Eastern Front. Notably, the regular military police
Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear recon ...
of the ''Wehrmacht'' ''(Feldgendarmerie
The ''Feldgendarmerie'' (, "field gendarmerie") were a type of military police units of the armies of the Kingdom of Saxony
The Kingdom of Saxony (german: Königreich Sachsen), lasting from 1806 to 1918, was an independent member of a number o ...
'') were separate from the ''Ordnungspolizei''.
Waffen-SS Police Division
The primary combat arm of the ''Ordnungspolizei'' was the ''SS Polizei'' Division of the ''Waffen-SS''. The division was formed in October 1939, when thousands of members of the Orpo were drafted and placed together with artillery and signals units transferred from the army. The division consisted of four police regiments composed of Orpo personnel and was typically used to rotate police members into a military situation, so as not to lose police personnel to the general draft of the ''Wehrmacht'' or to the full ''SS'' divisions of the regular ''Waffen-SS''. Very late in the war several Orpo ''SS''-Police regiments were transferred to the ''Waffen-SS'' to form the 35th ''SS''-Police Grenadier Division. Cossack Orpo units were rolled into the XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps
The XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps was a cavalry corps in the armed forces of Nazi Germany during World War II.
Background
During the Russian Civil War (1917–1923), Cossack leaders and their governments generally sided with the White movement. A ...
with other units to nominally form 2nd Cossack Division.
Orpo and SS relations
By the start of the Second World War in 1939, the ''SS'' had effectively gained complete operational control over the German Police, although outwardly the ''SS'' and Police still functioned as separate entities. The ''Ordnungspolizei'' maintained its own system of insignia and Orpo ranks as well as distinctive police uniforms. Under an ''SS'' directive known as the "Rank Parity Decree", policemen were highly encouraged to join the ''SS'' and, for those who did so, a special police insignia known as the ''SS'' Membership Runes for Order Police was worn on the breast pocket of the police uniform.
In 1940, standard practice in the German Police was to grant equivalent ''SS'' rank to all police generals. Police generals who were members of the ''SS'' were referred to simultaneously by both rank titlesfor instance, a ''Generalleutnant'' in the Police who was also an SS member would be referred to as ''SS Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei''. In 1942, ''SS'' membership became mandatory for police generals, with ''SS'' collar insignia (overlaid on police green backing) worn by all police officers ranked ''Generalmajor'' and above.
The distinction between the police and the ''SS'' had virtually disappeared by 1943 with the creation of the ''SS'' and Police Regiments, which were consolidated from earlier police security battalions. ''SS'' officers now routinely commanded police troops and police generals serving in command of military troops were granted equivalent ''SS'' rank in the ''Waffen-SS''. In August 1944, when Himmler was appointed ''Chef des Ersatzheeres'' (Chief of the Home Army), all police generals automatically were granted ''Waffen-SS'' rank because they had authority over the prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war.
There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. P ...
s.
See also
*Ranks and insignia of the Ordnungspolizei
The ranks and insignia of the ''Ordnungspolizei'' were developed in 1936 after the nationalization of Germany's regular police forces.
''Ordnungspolizei''
''Ordnungspolizei'' (Orpo) ranks were based on local police titles and were considered ...
*Police Long Service Award
The Police Long Service Award (Germany) (''Polizei-Dienstauszeichnung'') was a long service medal awarded to active members of the German Police during the era of Nazi Germany as a political award. Professor Richard Klein designed the awards, whi ...
*Glossary of Nazi Germany
This is a list of words, terms, concepts and slogans of Nazi Germany used in the historiography covering the Nazi regime.
Some words were coined by Adolf Hitler and other Nazi Party members. Other words and concepts were borrowed and appropriated, ...
*''Schutzmannschaft
The ''Schutzmannschaft'' or Auxiliary Police ( "protective, or guard units"; plural: ''Schutzmannschaften'', abbreviated as ''Schuma'') was the collaborationist auxiliary police of native policemen serving in those areas of the Soviet Union and ...
'', auxiliary policemen raised from local populations in occupied Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
during World War II
*''Hilfspolizei
The ''Hilfspolizei'' (abbreviated ''HiPo'' or ''Hipo''; meaning "auxiliary police") was a short-lived auxiliary police force in Nazi Germany in 1933. The term was later semi-officially used for various auxiliary organizations subordinated to the ...
'', a type of German police unit
Notes
References
* Browning, Christopher,
Nazi Policy, Jewish Workers, German Killers
', Cambridge University Press, 2000. .
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Further reading
*
* Nix Philip and Jerome Georges (2006). ''The Uniformed Police Forces of the Third Reich 1933-1945'', Leandoer & Ekholm.
{{Authority control
Allgemeine SS
Holocaust terminology
Nazi SS
Ordnungspolizei
Police forces of Nazi Germany
Police of Nazi Germany