Oldenburg Order Police
The Oldenburg Order Police was founded in 1919 as the paramilitary security police (Sipo) of the Free State of Oldenburg . In 1920 it was renamed Ordnungspolizei (Orpo) for foreign policy reasons. In 1933, large parts of the Orpo were converted into the so-called state police, which were transferred to the Reichswehr or Wehrmacht in 1934/35 .
history
Overview. Police in the Free State of Oldenburg in 1919
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Despite the political consequences of the November Revolution of 1918, the police structure of the Free State was practically unchanged from that of the Grand Duchy . The former Grand Ducal Gendarmerie Corps continued to function as the state police . Medium-sized and small towns such as Rüstringen (since 1937 Wilhelmshaven ), Oldenburg , Delmenhorst , Varel , Elsfleth , Nordenham , Cloppenburg or Vechta had local police with protection teams or a few policemen or police officers. In the municipalities the police service was provided exclusively by the gendarmerie, in some cities it was wholly or partially responsible for the criminal police service. In 1914 , the municipal police of the city of Oldenburg consisted of 33 police sergeants and policemen, who, led by a police sergeant , were subordinate to the city counsel . The night duty was carried out by 12 so-called night guards and five night watchmen .
The Birkenfeld region had its own gendarmerie since 1817 . In the Lübeck part of the state , the Oldenburg Gendarmerie was also responsible in the municipalities since 1905.
founding
On October 3, 1919, the coalition government under Prime Minister Theodor Tantzen , consisting of the DDP , the SPD and the center , applied to the Oldenburg state parliament to set up a state security police. The state parliament accepted the application because the Reich had agreed to assume 80% of the costs. Apparently these costs were billed to the Reich Ministry of the Interior . Tantzen was therefore also referred to as the founder of Orpo. October 14th was set as the foundation day.
The Sipo emerged from the resolution commission of the Oldenburg Infantry Regiment 91 (OIR 91). Its leader, Major Oskar Wantke (1872–1940) became the commanding officer of the Orpo. Like Wantke, other future officers came from the OIR 91, such as Moritz von Drebber or Bruno von der Hellen, or had served as reserve officers in the First World War , such as Heinrich Lankenau , Wantke's future adjutant (until 1928) . In 1920 Wantke also became the commander of the gendarmerie after Major General Rudolf Kellner (1850–1929) had been retired in 1920 for reasons of age.
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The seat of the Sipo / Orpo was the barracks IIa of the former OIR 91 built in 1902 on the horse market . It remained until 1982 as the state police office or police office, the central office of the Oldenburg police. After extensive renovation, the former barracks has housed the Oldenburg State Library since 1987 . In the adjacent barracks IIb from 1924 to probably 1937 the district hundred (see below) was housed, today a student residence .
Legal basis, working hours
The legal foundations of Orpo were the "Law on the Order Police" from March 16, 1923 and the "Law for the part of the country Oldenburg on the organization police" of 17 July 1923. The officials had unlike Reichswehr members the right of association . They were organized in the Association of Officials of the Ordnungspolizei Oldenburg, which was affiliated with the Oldenburg Association of Officials. The police candidates were trained for a year and, if qualified, were taken on as police sergeants. After a total of seven years of service, he was hired as a regular police officer, usually as a police sergeant. After eight years of service, there was the possibility of joining the gendarmerie or local police. The service period was 12 years; Particularly suitable civil servants could be irrevocably recruited after 13 years of service, depending on the budget situation. A career advice and employment agency was set up in 1926 for the departing civil servants. In the police officer school (see below) the officers were also prepared for later civilian work.
The field service was also regulated in 1928 according to the 1911 “Service Regulations for the Grand Ducal Oldenburg Gendarmerie Corps”. Separate regulations had been issued for the back office, presumably based on the Prussian model.
Structure and outline
The Orpo was subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior as a state police authority. A police officer was responsible for the Orpo; Ministerialrat Zimmermann from 1923 to 1932 . Like the rest of the government, the MdI was housed in the State Ministry , which was secured by an Orpo guard. In 1929 the command of the Ordnungspolizei was structured as follows:
- Department I: Command and Registration Matters, Sports
- Department IIa: Personnel matters of the police sergeant
- Department IIb: Arms, Intelligence Service, Air Surveillance
- Department IIc: Automotive
- Division III: Medical Affairs
- Department IV: Administration and Accounting
- Department V: workshops for weapons, bicycles and technical equipment
- Department F: Training of police sergeants (police officer school)
The Orpo was divided into three hundred units that were stationed in the city of Oldenburg in Kaserne IIa until December 1924. The first hundred was set up on January 22nd, 1920, the second hundredth on February 13th, and the third hundredth in the course of the following year. A training department was added to the 3rd Hundred, which remained in Oldenburg when the Hundreds were moved to Delmenhorst in 1924. It was from her that the police readiness was formed around 1925, which also carried out the district duty in Oldenburg. A district department was set up in Bad Schwartau .
In 1924 the three hundreds were dislocated as so-called territorial hundreds:
1. Territory of the city of Oldenburg
2. Rüstringen territory
3. Delmenhorst district
In addition, from 1923/24 the Bad Schwartau district in the Lübeck district and from 1931 the Idar-Oberstein district in the Birkenfeld district.
The police readiness of police trainees served de facto as a police school . Its head from 1926 to 1932 was Dr. Heinrich Horst (1880 – approx. 1969), former seminar teacher of the Evangelical Teachers' Seminar , who was removed from service in 1932 for political reasons (see below). The lessons were given by both police officers and civilian teachers. Police officers were sent to courses at the higher police school Potsdam-Eiche . For a few months, unclear when, the Prussian Police Major Wilhelm Neese was seconded to Oldenburg, who in 1930 wrote “The Textbook for Police Schools”. The Orpo also had its own library .
In the founding phase of Sipo / Orpo, specialist police training was carried out by Gendarmerie Inspector Röhm and Police Sergeant Geck from the City of Oldenburg. General education was provided by the teacher Stolle, who had been teaching the budding gendarmes of the Gendarmerie Corps for decades. The officers received instruction from senior officers and judges from the Oldenburg Regional Court .
Physical education (so-called body training) was an important part of the training. So that the officers could also take part in public competitions together, the Association for Physical Exercise of the Ordnungspolizei, which was affiliated with the German Gymnastics Association , was founded as early as 1920 .
In April 1929 the total strength of the Orpo was around 400 men (22 officers, 378 sergeants). Thereof were accommodated:
- City council of Oldenburg: 98 sergeants, 4 officers
- City council of Rüstringen: 30 constables, 1 officer
- City magistrate Delmenhorst: 55 constables, 2 officers
- Government of Eutin (Lübeck part of the country): 15 sergeants, 1 officer
- Police standby Oldenburg: 85 constables, 3 officers.
Ranks, uniforms, armament, equipment
The Orpo ranks were used with the addition "Police", e.g. B. "Police sergeant", "Police lieutenant" etc. The form of the rank badges corresponded to that of the Prussian protection police, as they were also used by various West German state police , the Federal Border Police and the German People's Police after the Second World War :
Officers :
Wachtmeister (general: Wachtmeister SB; SB = collective term):
- Chief constable
- Platoon sergeant
- Sergeant major
- Sergeant with more than 4 years of service
- Sergeant with less than 4 years of service
- candidate
As far as is known, the prototype for uniforms was the Police of the Free State of Prussia . This originally wore the gray-green uniform of the Jägerregiments of the Prussian Army . From this uniform color, the informal term “green police” developed in Germany for barracked police in contrast to the mostly blue uniformed municipal police. Since the gray-green hunter uniforms were initially not available, the Sipo in Oldenburg was initially equipped with field-gray uniforms instead of with unknown special badges. From January 1920, gray-green uniforms were issued. However, due to the note from Boulogne in 1920, the Orpo was equipped with blue uniforms from 1924.
The blue mottled skirt had a stand-up collar with dark green trimmings, a concealed button placket and four outer pockets in different variations for officers and sergeants. Sergeants wore green tabs on their collars, officers wore silver braid . The pants (boot pants and long pants) were black. The epaulettes were underlaid in dark green and light green and interwoven with the Oldenburg national colors of blue and red. The headgear for the police officers consisted of a black shako made of woolen cloth, for the sergeants of black-dyed leather. The shakos wore the so-called sun or the guard star with the Oldenburg coat of arms . On duty and off duty, blue capped caps were worn instead of shakos. The sergeants also had a so-called "soft" house cap. There was also a coat with a mottled blue and black leather boots for officers and lace-up shoes and leather gaiters and small black boots for the sergeants. The sergeants were obliged to wear the uniform when they were not on duty.
With her blue uniform and shako, the Orpo was clearly distinguishable from the gendarmerie, who more or less still wore the gray-green uniform of the prewar period with a steel helmet in the shape of the spiked hat.
The armament consisted of a pistol 08 , a side rifle and, if necessary, a carbine 98 . Officers were authorized to carry a sword . The rubber club (contemporary "rubber club") was not considered a weapon, but a piece of equipment. Machine guns were only installed in the Orpo’s only special car.
In 1929 the Orpo motor vehicle fleet in the city of Oldenburg consisted of 5 cars, 3 trucks, a team transport vehicle, a special vehicle model Daimler / 21 and six motorcycles. The drivers were trained by the dispatcher who had a license as a driving instructor . The technical training of the drivers took place in the Police School for Technology and Traffic in Berlin . Since 1928, the vehicle fleet has been in a specially built vehicle hall on the premises of the state police building, to which workshop rooms were also connected. Apparently these vehicles were also used for regular traffic checks. A motorized patrol service with patrol cars did not take place; patrol duty was carried out exclusively on foot and by bicycle .
Use in the district service
Although the Sipo / Orpo originally as a paramilitary force to counter-insurgency similar to the subsequent riot was conceived, it was used in the Free State of Oldenburg yet directly in the construction phase in the police single service or replaced this part. In August 1921, the Orpo took over the district service in the city of Oldenburg, while the city police continued to be responsible for criminal, commercial, market and administrative services. The former palace guard on the palace square served as the main guard . On April 1, 1924, an independent police station was set up in the former commune of Osternburg on Ulmenstrasse, where Orpo and local police officers performed jointly. Nevertheless, the gendarmerie was still responsible for the criminal police service in Easter castle.
The district service was initially carried out in trains in 24-hour shifts until 1927, first in Rüstringen and then in Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, the 12-hour service was introduced.
Calls
At the time of the Kapp Putsch in March 1920, only the first hundred was set up and the second hundred was being established. As far as is known, the Orpo was not used directly, but was deployed to train a government force ordered by the ministry. Instead , an extensive guard service was set up by the resident army of the city of Oldenburg, which at that time comprised 12 hundreds and was led by former (reserve) officers such as the well-known sports teacher Nikolaus Bernett . In the summer of 1920, Orpo officials were deployed in Delmenhorst due to looting during food riots. At the end of 1920, all three hundred were sent to Delmenhorst to look for illegal weapons and associated ammunition.
In February 1922, the 3rd Hundred was deployed on the occasion of a railroad strike in Delmenhorst to secure rail facilities and goods at the main station. At the end of August / beginning of September there was another deployment in Delmenhorst on the occasion of a strike in the linoleum plant , during which so-called emergency workers had to be protected.
During the Hamburg uprising of the KPD in October 1923, smaller Orpo departments were sent to Berne and Augustfehn and a few dozen party members and supporters were arrested for breach of the peace . From 1927, the Orpo was increasingly called in to deployments against the rural people movement .
All three hundred were deployed together when Reich President Paul von Hindenburg visited the city of Oldenburg, Bad Zwischenahn and Rüstringen / Wilhelmshaven in May 1927 . On the occasion of the visit, a documentary was also made from an unknown source, in which Orpo officers and gendarmes were recorded during the security service.
From 1929 onwards, Orpo deployed on the occasion of political disputes between KPD and NSDAP supporters. At the beginning of May 1931 Orpo ended a fight between supporters of both parties with rubber truncheons on the horse market.
Restructuring and dissolution 1932–1937
After winning the state elections in May 1932, the new NSDAP state government under Carl Röver immediately intervened in the Orpo by giving Colonel Wantke a leave of absence in August 1932 and appointing Polish major Hermann Sassenberg (1886–?) As his successor and promoted to lieutenant colonel. The head of the police school, Dr. Horst, a member of the DDP, was dismissed; in addition, his license to teach history was revoked. Horst's successor was the NSDAP member Dr. Purnhagen, later Professor Dr. Kohnen. Captain Lankenau replaced Ministerialrat Zimmermann as police officer in the Ministry of the Interior. The former commander Wantke, who had been on leave since August, retired in November 1932. As early as 1934 Sassenberg was replaced by Lankenau, who joined the NSDAP in May 1933.
In June 1932 the state government set up an auxiliary police force of around 330 men, preferably made up of SA members, which, as far as is known, was subordinate to the gendarmerie. It was disbanded in August on the intervention of the Reich Minister of the Interior Wilhelm von Gayl , but it was apparently set up again in February 1933.
With the “Law on the Reconstruction of the Reich” of January 30, 1934, sovereign rights were transferred from the states to the Reich. This initiated the so-called implementation of the state police (Lapo), which was completed in 1937. Through the decree of March 26, 1933, state police were formed in the individual countries, which in principle comprised the majority of the barracked police units. These state police associations were taken over from March 15, 1935 in the course of the armament of the Wehrmacht .
This transformation began in the state of Oldenburg at the end of 1933. The Lapo Oldenburg apparently consisted exclusively of the younger Orpo years. As early as December 1933, military exercises by the Lapo took place in the Sennelager and Munsterlager . In November 1933 the barracked state police of the federal states of Anhalt , Oldenburg and Braunschweig were placed under the command of the Prussian state police inspection in Magdeburg . In February 1934, the Reich Ministry of the Interior took direct command of all state police forces. In August 1934, the state police in Anhalt, Oldenburg and Braunschweig were dissolved and incorporated into so-called police regiments , which in turn were integrated into the new Wehrmacht in October 1935.
After a list of motor vehicles, the Oldenburgische Lapo had three cars, a motorcycle and a personnel carrier for 33 people in August 1934. Lapo was dissolved on December 31, 1934, and eight officers and 162 sergeants were transferred to the Reichswehr on October 1, 44 of them to the 16th Infantry Regiment . The Orpo itself was renamed "Schutzpolizei des Landes Oldenburg" in 1934. In 1934 this still had 305 officials.
The Oldenburg Schutzpolizei was dissolved on April 1, 1937 in the course of the verreichisierung and its members were taken over by the new Ordnungspolizei (protection police, gendarmerie, municipal police) or other authorities such as the Reichspost or the Reichsbahn .
See also
literature
- Service regulations for the Grand Ducal Oldenburg Gendarmerie Corps , Oldenburg (Littmann) 1911.
- Dr. Heinrich Lankenau, Police Captain: Oldenburg Police Handbook , Oldenburg (Littmann) 1929.
- Command of the Ordnungspolizei for the Oldenburg region (ed.): Memorandum on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Oldenburg Ordnungspolizei , edited by Police Captain Dr. H. Lankenau, Oldenburg (Littmann) 1929.
- Dr. H. Lankenau, Major d. Sch (utz) .P (olizei) .: Supplements to the Oldenburg Police Handbook . Published by the commandos of the police and gendarmerie, addendum XI. Completed: December 31, 1934 , Oldenburg (Littmann) 1935.
- Police director Johannes Debring: 150 years of state police in the administrative district. Peter Friedrich Ludwig founded Land Dragoon Corps - discharged soldiers roamed around as vagabonds , in: Nordwest-Zeitung v. October 21, 1967.
- Georg Tessin : German troops and units 1918–1939. Old army. Volunteer associations. Reichwehr. Army. Air force. Landespolizei , Osnabrück (Biblio) 1974. ISBN 3-7648-1000-9
- Klaus Schaap: Oldenburg's way into the "Third Reich" , Oldenburg (Holzberg) 1983. ISBN 3-87358-151-5
- Helmut Lieber: History of the Police in the Birkenfeld Land. From the principality to the district , Birkenfeld (district adult education center Birkenfeld) 1987. ISSN 0723-3108
- Wolfgang Günther: Free State and Land of Oldenburg (1918-1946) , in: Albrecht Eckhardt / Heinrich Schmidt (ed.): History of the State of Oldenburg. A manual , 3rd edition. Oldenburg (Holzberg) 1988, pp. 403-489. ISBN 3-87358-285-6
- Jürgen W. Ulpts: The regulatory police of the Free State of Oldenburg. A reminder of the order police of the Free State of Oldenburg - October 14, 1919 to April 1, 1937 -, o. O. (Oldenburg), o. J. (1995) (Manuscript Landesbibliothek Oldenburg ).
- Udo Elerd (ed.): From the vigilante to the armed forces . On the history of the garrison and the military in the city of Oldenburg , Oldenburg (Isensee) 2006. ISBN 3-89995-353-3
- City of Oldenburg - Oldenburg City Archives (ed.): Oldenburg 1914–1918. A source volume on the everyday, social, military and mental history of the city of Oldenburg in the First World War , Oldenburg (Isensee) 2014. ISBN 978-3-7308-1080-4
- Christoph Spieker: Traditional work. A biographical study of the character, responsibility and work of the police officer Bernhard Heinrich Lankenau 1891–1983 , Essen (clear text) 2015. ISBN 978-3-8375-0394-4
Web links
- Manfred Rautenberg: History of the Delmenhorst Police , December 6, 2012; www.polizei-niedersachsen.de
- Friends helpers street fighters. Police in the Weimar Republic. A traveling exhibition of the Lower Saxony Police Museum ; www.pd-ol.polizei-nds.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lankenau, Oldenburg Police Handbook, p. 154
- ↑ Memorandum, p. 19
- ↑ Memorandum, p. 22
- ↑ Memorandum, p. 18
- ↑ Memorandum, pp. 55f.
- ↑ Memorandum, p. 33
- ↑ Lankenau, Police Handbook, p. 53
- ↑ Memorandum, p. 29f.
- ↑ Memorandum, p. 37
- ↑ Memorandum, p. 39f.
- ↑ Memorandum, p. 38f.
- ↑ Memorandum, p. 38
- ↑ Elerd, pp. 75-80
- ↑ Elerd, pp. 87ff.
- ↑ Elerd, p. 92
- ↑ Schaap, p. 90
- ↑ Schaap, p. 151, Günther, p. 443
- ↑ Schaap, pp. 136-139, Günther, p. 446
- ↑ Ulpts, pp. 178-181
- ↑ Ticino, pp. 459–462
- ↑ Ulpts, p. 180
- ↑ Lankenau, Handbuch, Supplement XI, p. 1022
- ↑ Ulpts, p. 188