Colonial police

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German police units, including ranks from the German colonies Togo, German South West Africa and German New Guinea (left half of the picture)
Police soldier of the Togo police force before 1910. Khaki uniform, red fez. In 1910 a khaki visor was introduced.

As a colonial police were police forces in European and American colonies or protectorates in Africa , Asia , Latin America and Oceania , respectively. With the end of colonial rule, they were either dissolved or converted into national police forces . The management personnel consisted as a rule of officers from the colonial power , while the men and officers were recruited from the local population.

German colonial police

Empire

Police force in the African colonies of the German Empire, before 1910

The German Empire maintained police forces in all German colonies; The so-called Kiautschou leased area was a special case due to its constitutional status . The police forces were part of the civil authorities; The state police leader was the governor with the subordinate district and local police authorities. In independent communities , police force was exercised by the community leader . From 1895 to around 1906, the police forces were closely related to the protection forces, but then became independent again.

In 1914 the German police forces had a workforce of over 6,000 men. A large part of the staff came from the respective protection forces, with the exception of Togo and the South Sea holdings, in which there were no protection forces.

The activities of the German colonial police ended with the occupation of the respective colonial area by troops of the western Entente powers during the First World War , for example in Togo , Kiautschou and the possessions in the South Seas in 1914, in German South West Africa in 1915, in Cameroon in 1916 and German East Africa 1917. Its formal dissolution took place in 1919 as a result of the Treaty of Versailles . In individual cases, as can be proven for Togo, the staff was partly taken over by the new colonial powers, in this case Great Britain.

Police force German East Africa

Police askaris in German East Africa, between 1906 and 1918

The colony was during the so-called Arab uprising ( abushiri revolt ) by the police force for East Africa , the informal after its leader, the Reichskommissar Hermann Wissmann , Wissmann force conquered was called. With effect from February 1, 1892 there was a separation into protection and police forces.

In 1914 the police force consisted of four officers , 61 “white” police sergeants , 147 “colored” NCOs and 1863 police askaris . In the residences of Urundi , Rwanda and Bukoba , which belong to German East Africa , police violence was exercised by the local native rulers.

State Police German South West Africa

A first police force was formed in 1891; In 1894 there was a separation into police and protection forces . In 1903 members of the Nama were temporarily recruited as police officers for a special unit and named Witbooi police officers after their captain Hendrik Witbooi . Under the leadership of Lieutenant Berneck, they searched for the cattle robber Blauberg. The Witboois wore protection troop uniforms with the characteristic white hats of the Nama, on which the imperial eagle was attached as a sovereign badge . Blauberg was caught and shot at the beginning of October 1903, his gang disbanded. Details are not known. The Witboois had been recruited because the government was unable to get hold of Blauberg's with German police officers.

In 1907 the so-called Mounted or Imperial State Police (Lapo) was founded, which, unlike other German colonial police forces, has consisted exclusively of white police officers since the Herero and Nama uprising . Until the uprising, Nama had also been in the police force. Their target number was 720 police constables and sergeants , but this number was never reached.

In 1913 police depots were set up in Kupferberg and Spitzkoppe for better training and supply of the troops. In 1914, the Lapo had seven officers, nine administrative staff, 68 police sergeants, 432 police sergeants and 50 contract police officers. In addition there were 370 "colored" police officers and 155 auxiliary workers, the police officers also being armed and uniformed, albeit not according to the standard of the "white" police officers.

In 1912 there were a total of 92 police stations in the 16 districts or districts including the Caprivizipfel residency of the colony. In the four regions of Caprivi Strip, Kavango , Ovamboland and Kaokoveld , police rule was not exercised by the LaPo, but by local African authorities .

Police force Cameroon

German commander and member of the Cameroon police force, around 1894
Haussa mercenaries in the German colonies
Cameroon police force Police soldier in customs service, around 1910

The police force of Cameroon was established in October 1891, originally consisted of 15 Hausa - mercenaries , and 18 to 20 Kru -Söldnern from Liberia . Already in the initial phase of the so-called 21 were Dahomey - slave set in the troops, whose numbers grew to 55 to the 1,893th These slaves freed by the governorate, which by no means all came from the Dahomey area, but also from other West African regions, were supposed to serve their freelance purchases during their service time, analogous to former slaves in the Togo police force.

In December 1893 there was the Dahomey uprising , which was suppressed by the Germans, mainly through the use of the stationary of the West African station of the Imperial Navy , Hyena . The gunboat deployed a landing corps and shelled the rebel positions. From Wilhelmshaven was light cruisers Sperber been sent for reinforcement, as a company Marines , but not arrived on time in Cameroon. 47 of the mutineers were executed or sentenced to new forced labor. The uprising, triggered by the brutal mistreatment of the police soldiers by their German leaders and the rape of their wives by their superiors , was one of the greatest scandals in the early days of German colonial history.

In the period that followed, mercenaries from Sudan and Liberia were recruited, some of them also personnel who had previously been in British or French service. In the course of time, as in the other German colonies, more and more people were recruited from the local population. In 1894 there was a reorganization. While most of the police force was absorbed into the new protection force, 100 men formed the core of a state police force.

In 1914, the troops consisted of four officers, 37 other “white” service personnel and 1,255 “colored” crews, excluding the 50-strong customs personnel .

Police force Togo

Police force from Misahöhe (Togo), before 1905

The establishment of the police force for Togo took place through a decree of the Reich Chancellor Otto von Bismarck of October 30, 1885. Since the protected area of ​​Togo did not have its own protection force, the force was also used for military tasks. The first "colored" police soldiers were 12 Haussa mercenaries who were recruited in Nigeria at the end of 1885 through an agency of the British authorities . The staff was strengthened through further recruitment from Haussa, Yoruba and other ethnic groups . In some cases, ransomed slaves were used who had to pay their purchase price to their German employer.

The service period of the police soldiers was originally three, from 1908 five years. "Colored" police soldiers could be promoted to the rank of sergeant . The salary was well above the remuneration of an unskilled worker or carrier, and they had the right to free accommodation and free medical care for themselves and their family members. The mercenaries had to carry their own food, but not on expeditions or business trips . Due to a bonus system that had been introduced in the early 1890s, the German administration succeeded in repeatedly winning over a large proportion of the mercenaries for new engagements.

In 1910, based on the model of French troops in West Africa, a police reserve was introduced into which honorably discharged police soldiers and locals who were politically reliable were accepted. Until 1914, more and more staff were also being recruited from the local population. A so-called expedition company was stationed in Lomé and was supposed to be used during uprisings. Between 1894 and 1900 alone, the police force was deployed on 35 campaigns and in 50 smaller skirmishes .

In 1914 the troops were under the command of the Privy Councilor and Major a. D. Hans-Georg von Doering . They comprised two officers, an unknown number of white police masters, and 530 colored soldiers. Since there was no protection force there, the police took up the fight against invading British and French colonial troops when the First World War broke out in Togo , but surrendered on August 27, 1914 at the Kamina radio telegraph station in view of the hopeless strategic and tactical situation . Some of the police soldiers entered British colonial services after brief imprisonment .

Police forces in the South Seas holdings

New Guinea Company Police, 1885
Police officers in German service in Samoa

The German colonies in the South Pacific , known as German New Guinea and German Samoa , comprised the areas and islands of Kaiser-Wilhelms-Land (today North Papua New Guinea ), Bismarck Archipelago and Bougainville (both today Papua New Guinea), the northern Solomon -Islands (now the Solomon Islands ), the Northern Mariana Islands , the Marshall Islands , Palau , the Carolines , Nauru and German Samoa.

The New Guinea Company , which initially took over the administration of German New Guinea, trained Melanesian police soldiers. The regular police force of New Guinea was established in 1899 with a staff of two "white" officers and 99 "colored" police soldiers. Due to the geographic conditions, the police force worked closely with the stationers of the Australian station of the Imperial Navy . The police force and landing corps of German marine units operated together to suppress the uprising on Ponape in 1910/11 ( uprising of the Sokehs ). In 1914, the force consisted of 19 “white” police officers and 670 “colored” police officers.

In 1914 a white police chief, 30 so-called Fitafita and 20 to 25 state police officers, called Leoleo, apparently served in German Samoa . German residents have been demanding the dissolution of Fitafita since 1902, as they were, in their opinion, too self-confident towards “white” residents.

An incident on February 8, 1914, when Fitafita Ao, Faalili, Fili and Sefo, who had only recently been on duty, ran amok after a visit to the cinema in Apia , robbed Chinese workers and murdered two German residents on their flight , became an occasion for dissolution . They were arrested on February 11, 1914 in the village of Malie. After a four-hour exchange of fire in which Sefo was killed, the survivors were overwhelmed and Faalili and Fili were immediately lynched by some Samoans , while the seriously injured Ao was executed a few days later . The governor explained the process as a western that the four police officers had seen. The troops were therefore disbanded in March 1914 and only a few long-serving staff were taken over into general administration.

Police force Kiautschou

Chinese police in Tsingtau, before 1914

Kiautschou took on a special status in the German colonial system as a so-called lease area and naval base . It was therefore not subordinate to the Foreign Office or, later, the Reich Colonial Office , but to the Reich Navy Office . Therefore, no protection troops were stationed in the leased area, but marines of the marine infantry of the Imperial Navy .

At the beginning of 1898, six Chinese police officers were hired to supervise the Chinese population of the city of Tsingtau , and by the end of 1899 their number was 28. Also in 1899 the so-called Chinese company was set up, which consisted of Chinese mercenaries and was intended for military use both in the leased area and in other German colonies. However, their relatives tended to desert during the Boxer Rebellion , so that the unit was dissolved again in 1901; their relatives joined the so-called Chinese Police or Chinese Police , which in 1914 consisted of 60 men.

These police were also used against the Japanese invasion troops at the outbreak of the First World War ; their fate is unknown. The uniform of the police force consisted of a mixture of European and Chinese elements; A khaki uniform was worn in the summer and a dark blue uniform in the winter months. The force was commanded by a European staff. It is still unclear how the police service in the European part of Tsingtau was organized.

Third Reich

In order to prepare for the expected future conquest of colonies in Africa , in February 1938 selected members of the regulatory police received a special colonial course at the Police College Abroad in Berlin. The learning content was language lessons, cartography, colonial law , tropical hygiene and colonial technology.

In March 1939, 380 officers and 2000 sergeants of the Ordnungspolizei reported for the future colonial police. For this purpose, in the spring of 1941, on the instructions of the Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police, Heinrich Himmler , a colonial police school was set up in Oranienburg Palace near Berlin , in which officers of the Ordnungspolizei were to be prepared for service in future German colonies. The school, which was able to train 600 police officers at the same time, was opened by Kurt Daluege on April 21st. The first in command was Colonel of the Gendarmerie Herbert Jilski . Another colonial police school was located in Vienna-Strebersdorf.

Due to the course of the Second World War , there were only small deployments in Libya in 1941/42. The organizational model for this police force was not the German colonial police of the empire, but the contemporary Italian Polizia dell'Africa Italiana (PAI), which was stationed in Libya and East Africa .

Great Britain

British police forces during the May 30th Movement , Shanghai, 1925
Seychelles, Police Honor Guard during the Governor-General's inspection , 1972

China

Great Britain had its own police force both in the Crown Colony of Hong Kong and in the other British concessions in China . A great reluctance among the Chinese population won the majority of Sikhs and British existing Shanghai Municipal Police , which for the 1925 massacre of 30 May was responsible.

Ghana

In what is now Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast ), the British set up the first police forces in 1831. In 1844 the Gold Coast Militia and Police was founded , and in 1876 it was converted into the Gold Coast Constabulary . In 1894 it was converted into a pure police force. In 1948, special units were set up to combat rioting , and in 1958 the previous colonial police were converted into the Ghanaian state police.

Canada

In Canada , the North-West Mounted Police was set up in 1873 to control the Northwest Territories ; The model was the Royal Irish Constabulary . The troop merged with the Dominion Police in 1920 to form the Royal Canadian Mounted Police .

Kenya

In the area of ​​what is now Kenya , the British set up a police company in 1887, but it was mainly responsible for guarding the coastal area. In 1907 the Kenya Police Force was founded . During the First World War it was used against the Schutztruppe in German East Africa, but was reorganized in 1918. After independence in 1963, they were converted into a national police force, with the higher ranks previously occupied by the British being replaced by Kenyans.

Nigeria

The first British police force in what is now Nigeria was set up in 1861 in the form of a consular guard of over 30 men . In 1879 the Hausa Constabulary was formed with 1200 men. In 1888 the Royal Niger Company Constabulary was formed in Lohoja, and in 1890 the Niger Coast Constabulary in Calaban . After various restructuring and reorganization as a result of the colonial administrative reforms, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) was founded in 1930 . After independence , the NPF was regionalized in the 1960s , but later nationalized again as an NP and today has around 370,000 members.

Belgium

Members of the Force publique from Fort de Shinkakasa , around 1900
Uniform of a soldier of the Force publique , 1918

In the course of the establishment of the Congo Free State in 1885, its army, the Force Publique , which was involved in the so-called Congo atrocities . During the First World War it was used in German East Africa against the German protection force under Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck . The Force publique was transformed into the Armée Nationale Congolaise in the process of independence for the colony in 1960 .

Netherlands

Marechaussees of the Koninklijk Nederlandsch-Indisch Leger , 1896

In the Dutch East Indies , the Marechaussee te voet corps (German: Maréchaussée -Korps zu Fuß ) was set up as part of the colonial army ( Koninklijk Nederlandsch-Indisch Leger ). The force served mainly to fight guerrilla forces and was disbanded in 1942.

Italy

Libya, fighting Italian police forces, 1915

Italy had colonial police in its colonies of Libya and East Africa , the Zaptié and the Polizia dell'Africa italiana . Both were mainly composed of askaris . The Polizia dell'Africa served as a model for the German colonial police planned from around 1938.

Portugal

In the Portuguese colonies in Africa, the police service was exercised after their conversion into so-called overseas territories around 1952 by the Policía de Segurança Pública . Like the Portuguese secret service , the Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado (PIDE) , it was significantly involved in the fighting against the liberation movements in Guinea ( Guinea-Bissau ), Angola and Mozambique during the Portuguese colonial war until 1974.

Spain

In 1729, Spain founded a paramilitary force of dragoons in the viceroyalty of New Spain , who were informally known as Dragones de Cuera ( leather dragons ) because of their special protective clothing .

The leather dragons served as a kind of border police from the Pacific coast of California in the west to the eastern border of Texas and Florida . Their name was derived from the cuera ( leather ); a quilted leather armor modeled on the Aztec warriors of the early 16th century, which was worn over a simple uniform. The cuera protected from Indian arrows and lances . The dragoons also wore lederhosen to keep thorn bushes out . The dragoon's main weapon was a lance, although they were also equipped with a carbine , two pistols , a saber , dagger and leather shield .

Based on a chain of presidios, small forts , they operated company-by-company on research expeditions to the Indian regions and protected missions and settlements , but also Indian tribes they were friends with, from nomadic Comanches and Apaches .

After the founding of the Republic of Mexico in 1821, the leather dragons were incorporated into the emerging Mexican national army and apparently disbanded in the 1840s.

United States

Although the USA never appeared formally as a colonial power, it temporarily occupied the Philippines , Cuba , Haiti , Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic between 1898 and 1934 in the so-called Banana Wars . In some cases, they set up paramilitary troops there, who also performed police duties.

Gendarmerie d'Haïti

The Gendarmerie d'Haïti was founded in September 1915 at the beginning of the American occupation of Haiti and, like its later sister organizations in Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, was built up by the United States Marine Corps . Its staff strength was initially 183 officers and 2537 non-commissioned officers and crew ranks. She was with Krag - rifles and Colt - machine guns equipped; their uniforms came from Marines' stocks. Its first commanding officer was Lieutenant Colonel Smedley D. Butler , who in this capacity received the rank of Haitian Major General . The gendarmerie was used in cooperation with the marines against an insurgent guerrilla , the so-called cacos . In the 1930s, apparently after the departure of the Marines in 1934, the force was renamed the Garde d'Haiti .

Guardia Nacional Dominicana

The Guardia Nacional Dominicana (GND) was founded during the American occupation of the Dominican Republic after the occupying power had dissolved the previous national army. The GND was converted into the Policia Nacional after the occupation forces withdrew in 1924 . Its most prominent member was the future dictator Trujillo .

1st lieutenant Lewis B. Puller with members of the Guardia Nacional

Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua

The Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua (GN) was set up and trained by the Marines in 1927 for use against General Augusto César Sandino . The uniforms of the GN in the 1930s / 40s corresponded completely to those of the Marines. At the height of the fighting against Sandino in 1932, the GN had a staff of 303 officers and 2,274 men. Until its dissolution during the Nicaraguan Revolution in 1979, it also carried out the police duties in Nicaragua.

Major Cornelius C. Smith (first from right), 1910

Philippines

The Philippine Constabulary and later the Moro Constabulary were founded there in 1901 . The Philippine Constabulary was converted into today's National Police in 1991. It served as a model for the Pennsylvania State Police , which was founded in 1905 as the first state police force in the United States.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Stefan Klemp: Oranienburger Schriften edition 1/2015, Die Oranienburger Polizeieunheiten from 1936 to 1945 , p. 90.
  2. ↑ a b Stefan Klemp: Oranienburger Schriften edition 1/2015, The Oranienburger Police Units from 1936 to 1945 , p. 91
  3. ↑ a b Patrick Bernhard: The "Colonial Axis " - The Nazi State and Italian Africa 1935 to 1943, in: Lutz Klinkhammer, Amedeo Osti Guerrazzi, Thomas Schlemmer (eds.): The Axis in War 1939-1945 - Politics, Ideology and warfare 1939–1945. Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn / Munich / Vienna / Zurich 2010, ISBN 978-3-506-76547-5 , pp. 147-175.
  4. ↑ Frederic Wakeman Jr .: Policing Shanghai. Berkeley Press, 1995, p. 41.
  5. ^ Gotelind Müller: China, Kropotkin and Anarchism. A cultural movement in China in the early 20th century under the influence of the West and Japanese models. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2001, p. 529.

literature

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