Fire police
Fire protection police (also fire extinguishing police ) was the official name for the fire brigade in the German Reich from 1938 to 1945 , as a state body subordinate to the police .
The term fire protection police is not to be confused with the term fire-fighting police , although both belong to the history of the fire service in the time of National Socialism . The designation fire extinguishing police was introduced on December 15, 1933 with the law on fire extinguishing in Prussia as a designation for professional fire brigades and was replaced by the designation "fire protection police" in 1938 with the Reich Fire Extinguishing Act.
history
With the " Law on Fire Extinguishing " (Reich Fire Extinguishing Act) passed on November 23, 1938 and the implementing ordinance of the Reich Minister of the Interior of October 24, 1939, the federal states were deprived of their competence in fire-fighting . The municipalities (cities and municipalities) still had to bear all costs for personnel, equipment, accommodation, etc., but supervision was transferred to the Reich. As part of the Ordnungspolizei, the fire brigades were subordinate to the Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior . This was after the "annexation" of Austria to the German Reich in 1938 for the local fire departments.
The law formed a building block in the preparations of the National Socialist state for a coming war and was intended to ensure the basis for a nationwide uniform and effective defense against damage, especially in the case of expected enemy air raids (see: air raids ). The professional fire brigades that existed in the big cities became part of the order police and the officers and men were given police ranks, each with the addition of "the fire police" (e.g. sergeant of the fire police).
From 1939 the members of the fire police (professional fire brigades, fire service officers and special units / regiments) received green police uniforms. The volunteer fire brigades continued to wear blue uniforms. A special feature were crimson strands and tucks. From July 31, 1940, the rank badges were aligned with those of the fire police and all fire engines were only delivered to the police in fir green ( RAL 6009). Before that, the fire engines were mostly painted in red in various tones such as ruby red or cardinal red, but there were also brown, green and dark blue paintwork. The volunteer fire brigades lost their status as clubs and associations, unless they were already part of the community (e.g. in Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria) and belonged to the auxiliary police .
After the end of the Second World War , most of the fire brigades continued to operate as community facilities solely on the basis of administrative regulations. The responsibility for fire-fighting soon came back into the hands of the federal states. For Austria, in State Law Gazette No. 86/1945 of July 17, 1945, the German legal provisions in the field of fire extinguishing were repealed and the provincial regulations were reinstated in accordance with the status of the legislation of March 13, 1938.
Ranks
While the ranks of the regulatory police were introduced at the professional fire brigade, the volunteer fire brigades received special ranks:
| Volunteer fire brigades until 1940 | Volunteer fire brigades 1940–1943 |
Volunteer fire brigades 1943–1945 |
|---|---|---|
| Fire department candidate | candidate | Candidate d. Fw. |
| - | - | Unterwachtmeister d. Fw. |
| - | - | Rottwachtmeister d. Fw. |
| Firefighter | Troop man | Sergeant d. Fw. |
| - | - | Oberwachtmeister d. Fw. |
| Chief Fireman | Senior squad man | Platoon sergeant d. Fw. |
| - | Main troop man | Hauptwachtmeister d. Fw. |
| Fire-fighting master | Squad leader | Master d. Fw. |
| - | High Squad Leader | - |
| - | Main troop leader | - |
| Fire chief | Platoon leader | Platoon leader d. Fw. |
| Chief Fire Chief | Oberzugführer | Oberzugführer d. Fw. |
| Chief fire chief | Main platoon leader | Standby leader d. Fw. |
| Wehrführer | District leader | Head of Department d. Fw. |
| District fire chief | District Leader | Head of Department d. Fw. |
| Provincial Fire Brigade Leader State Fire Brigade Leader |
Section Inspector | Country Guide d. Fw. |
In the professional fire brigades, however, the following ranks were used:
| Professional fire brigades until 1938 | Fire police 1938 | Fire police 1941 |
|---|---|---|
| - | - | Red Sergeant |
| Firefighter | Constable | Constable |
| - | Sergeant major | Sergeant major |
| Chief Fireman | District sergeant major | District sergeant major |
| Fire-fighting master | Chief constable | Chief constable |
| Fire chief | master | master |
| Chief Fire Chief | Chief master | District Lieutenant |
| - | inspector | District Lieutenant |
| - | - | District Captain |
| Brand Engineer Brandoberingenieur Baurat (with less than three years in the rank) |
Captain | Captain |
| Building council | major | major |
| Senior building officer | Lieutenant colonel | Lieutenant colonel |
| Fire director | Colonel | Colonel |
| Chief Fire Director | Major General d. FSchP | Major General d. Pole. |
| - | - | Lieutenant General d. Pole. |
Fire police regiments
From 1938 to 1941 six motorized fire brigade regiments of the fire protection police were set up by the main office of the regulatory police. The fire brigade regiments should follow the advance of the Wehrmacht and bear the main responsibility for fire protection and civil protection in the occupied territories. Each regiment consisted of about 1,000 firefighters. In 1943 the regimental organization was abolished. The battalions were reclassified into ten independent fire protection police departments (FSchP-Abtl) and placed under a central management staff.
There were the fire police regiments: Fire Police Regiment 1 Saxony (1939-1943), Fire Police Regiment 2 Hanover (1941-1943), Fire Police Regiment 3 East Prussia (1941-1943), Fire Police Regiment 4 Ukraine (1941-1943) , Fire Police Regiment 5 Bohemia-Moravia (1942–1943) and Fire Police Regiment 6 Netherlands (1942–1943).
See also
- Fire department in Germany
- In Austria and Switzerland, the fire police generally refer to an authority that determines and monitors fire protection.
- Flags of the German Police (1933–1945)
literature
- Matthias Blazek : Under the swastika: The German fire brigades 1933-1945 , Ibidem Verlag, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-89821-997-6
- Axel Polnik: The Bayreuth fire brigades in the Third Reich: Fire protection in the Gau capital Bayreuth. A contemporary representation. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2011, ISBN 978-3-8423-9563-3
- Bolko Hartmann: German fire brigade uniforms and helmets , Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-17-008573-5
- Association for the Promotion of Fire Protection (ed.): Between Gleichschaltung and bombing. Symposium on the history of the German fire services under National Socialism 1933–1945 . Cologne, 2013
Web links
- www.feuerloeschpolizei.de Feuerlöeschpolizei - Feuerschutzpolizei, contributions to the history of the German fire brigades from 1933 to 1945
- Austrian Federal Fire Brigade Association: Handbook on Fire Brigade History
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sven Buchenau: "Feuerschutzpolizei": Fire brigade under National Socialism. Feuerwehr-Magazin, January 3, 2020, accessed on September 28, 2018 .
- ^ Franz-Josef Sehr : Development of fire protection . In: Freiwillige Feuerwehr Obertiefenbach e. V. (Ed.): 125 years of the Obertiefenbach volunteer fire brigade . Reference 2005, ISBN 978-3-926262-03-5 , pp. 114-119 .
- ↑ a b c Dieter Deuster, German Police Uniforms 1936-1945 (Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag, 2009), pp. 235–241.
- ↑ Saarlouis volunteer fire brigade: restructuring 1935 January 21, 2012
- ^ A b Erwin Rodehau: Uniforms of the Berlin professional fire brigade (1899 to 1944) . In: Fire Department Chronicle 5 (2009) 6. ( Memento from June 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) January 21, 2012
- ↑ The Fire Police Regiments
- ^ Matthias Blazek: Under the swastika: The German fire brigades 1933-1945 . Ibidem, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-89821-997-6 , 139 ff