International police exhibition in Berlin, 1926

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Opening of the Berlin Police Exhibition by Carl Severing

From September 25 to October 17, 1926, a large police exhibition with international participation took place in the exhibition halls in Berlin , combined with the third International Police Congress from September 26 to 30, 1926.

The exhibition

This special exhibition was intended for both trade visitors and the public and, after years of preparation, was shown in the old exhibition halls on Kaiserdamm opposite the Witzleben ring station . The radio tower located around 300 m further south had only gone into operation a few weeks earlier.

The exhibition was opened by the Prussian Minister of the Interior, Carl Severing (SPD), who pushed for the democratization of administration and police after the First World War. The aim of the event was to re-establish contacts with the other countries and to improve the relationship between the police and the citizens. The Reich Chancellor Wilhelm Marx (Zentrum) was absent at the opening and asked to be excused. Servering resigned from his position as Prussian Minister of the Interior for health reasons during the police exhibition on October 6, 1926. Albert Grzesinski was his successor .

Model of a police armored car, behind it a training model of the traffic storm at Potsdamer Platz
From the "Criminology" department: The demonstration of a crime scene from the murder to the apprehension of the perpetrator.

The Vossische Zeitung reported in detail on the first tour of the exhibition.

The reporting in Vorwärts , which was also accompanied by a site plan, was even more extensive .

In the first hall (old car hall) the police of the German states presented themselves with historical representations, followed by the non-German states. The actual police exhibition also dealt with controversial topics such as police and censorship as well as police and press. Statistics and comparisons, an ideal police station and the various areas of expertise of the police rounded off the exhibition in this hall.

According to the report in Vorwärts, the original of the traffic tower planned for Alexanderplatz and designed by Heinrich Kosina and Paul Mahlberg was set up in the second hall (new car hall) . There was also an American traffic tower with half-timbering in this hall, which the New York police had given to the Berlin police. The police's own training model of the traffic tower at Potsdamer Platz as well as vehicles for the police service, including the model of the police wheeled armored vehicle Daimler DZVR 21, could also be seen in this hall . A Junkers police plane, with which a police officer set a world record in the Rhön, hovered over the ceiling. Police equipment was presented in some booths (exhibition stands) in the industry.

The third hall (radio hall) was reserved for the criminal police and the fire brigade. Well-known criminal cases and their investigation were described there. One of the main attractions was the murder ready vehicle developed according to the specifications of Ernst Gennat , colloquially called "murder car", which was based on the Benz sedan 16/50 hp and was presented here with its equipment. The architect Carl Jacobi from the UFA had reconstructed a crime scene around which the individual stages of the investigation took place in dioramas. After all, the railway attack near Leiferde was modeled. In August 1926, two perpetrators derailed the D 174 night express train there in order to rob the mail car. 21 travelers were killed and another 40 travelers were injured.

In addition to the actual exhibition, there was an extensive supporting program with festive events, sports competitions and a car parade at the AVUS .

The exhibition was generally rated as very successful, with a total of almost 500,000 visitors. The extension beyond October 17th, called for by many sides, was not possible because of a follow-up event.

Trivia

A brutal robbery on a jewelry store on Tauentzien on the opening day of the police exhibition caused a great media sensation , in which jewelry worth around 150,000 marks was looted. Even the head of the murder inspection, Kriminalrat Ernst Gennat, was delegated from the exhibition to investigate.

Since the perpetrator behaved very carelessly after the robbery, he was quickly identified and arrested along with the booty. To demonstrate the speedy investigation, a showcase in the police exhibition was cleared to showcase the jewelery that had been seized and the progress of the investigation.

literature

  • Prussian Ministry of the Interior (Ed.): Great Police Exhibition Berlin 1926. September 25th - October 10th, exhibition halls Kaiserdamm (catalog) , Berlin 1926
  • Hans Emil Hirschfeld , Karl Vetter , Albert Grzesinski (Hrsg.): A thousand pictures: Great Police Exhibition Berlin 1926 , Gersbach & Son, Berlin 1927
  • 1926: "Great Police Exhibition Berlin". In: Berliner Polizeihistoriker , Förderkreis Polizeihistorische Sammlung Berlin eV, No. 62, June 2018

Web links

Commons : International Police Exhibition in Berlin, 1926  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ September 26, 1926: On the International Police Congress. In: Forward . September 26, 1926, morning issue No. 454, p. 6, accessed August 30, 2019.
  2. ↑ September 25, 1926: Severing opens the police show. In: Vossische Zeitung , September 25, 1926, morning edition, p. 1, accessed on August 29, 2019.
  3. ↑ September 25, 1926: Marx to Severing. In: Vossische Zeitung . September 25, 1926, evening edition, p. 1, accessed on August 29, 2019.
  4. ↑ October 6, 1926: Grzesinski successor Serverings In: Vorwärts . October 6, 1926, evening edition No. 471, p. 1, accessed on September 3, 2019.
  5. ↑ September 25, 1926: The police exhibition opens - first tour. In: Vossische Zeitung . September 25, 1926, evening edition, p. 3, accessed on August 29, 2019.
  6. ↑ a b September 25, 1926: Under the police star - opening on Kaiserdamm - a tour through the halls. In: Forward . September 25, 1926, evening edition No. 453, p. 3, accessed on August 29, 2019.
  7. ↑ October 4, 1926: A Sunday of the Police and The Car Parade on the AVUS In: Forward . October 4, 1926, evening edition No. 467, p. 3, accessed on September 1, 2019.
  8. ↑ Note: Occasionally one finds publications and advertising stamps for the police exhibition with an end date of October 10, 1926. The exhibition has obviously been extended by one week to October 17, 1926.
  9. ↑ October 18, 1926: The end of the police exhibition In: Vorwärts . October 18, 1926, evening edition No. 491, p. 3, accessed on September 1, 2019.
  10. ↑ September 26, 1926: Sensational Jewel Robbery In: Forward . September 26, 1926, evening edition No. 454, p. 6, accessed on September 2, 2019.
  11. ↑ October 1, 1926: The case: Jewel robbers In: Forward . October 1, 1926, morning issue No. 462, p. 6, accessed September 2, 2019.
  12. ↑ October 5, 1926: The interrogations on the jewel theft ... In: Forward . October 5, 1926, morning issue No. 468, p. 6, accessed September 2, 2019.