Reich Criminal Police Office

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The Reichskriminalpolizeiamt ( RKPA ) was a central authority for criminal police matters in the German Reich that emerged on July 16, 1937 from the Prussian State Criminal Police Office (LKPA) . Until 1944, the founding director was the detective Arthur Nebe , who was promoted to Reichskriminaldirektor and who in 1941 was promoted to SS group leader and lieutenant general of the police . He was succeeded on August 15, 1944 by SS-Obersturmbannführer and Oberregierungsrat Friedrich Panzinger .

history

Memorial plaque on the house, Werderscher Markt 11 (formerly 5–6), in Berlin-Mitte

At the beginning of the 20th century, centralization by the creation of a central authority for the criminal police apparatus was recognized by the criminal police as being useful and increasing efficiency. On July 18, 1922, the Reichstag passed a law on the creation of a Reich Criminal Police Office. Subordinated to the Reich Ministry of the Interior , this should be based on criminal police offices that would have to be created by the states. According to the provisions of the law, the Reich government had to determine the entry into force of the law with the consent of the Reichsrat . However, in some cases (not in Baden, for example) the regional criminal police offices were set up between 1922 and 1928, but not a Reich criminal police office as a transnational central authority. This failure can be traced back to the various concerns and reservations of individual countries, which saw their competences affected. B. RKPA officials were allowed to be deployed throughout the Reich and they were allowed to issue instructions to the state officials.

In practice, however, the Prussian State Criminal Police Office, the largest in the German Reich, already acted as a quasi-central authority for the criminal police.

According to the law, there should be a State Criminal Police Office (LKPA) in every country with subordinate Criminal Police Control Centers (KPLSt) and these in turn subordinate Criminal Police Offices (KPSt). The KPLSt were also KPSt at their headquarters. Most countries introduced a KPLSt, only in Prussia there were several.

After the death of Paul von Hindenburg and the complete takeover of power by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialists, the state sovereignty was curbed shortly afterwards, Reich Interior Minister Frick began to take up the concept from the beginning of the Weimar Republic and the Prussian LKPA by integrating the political police and subordinating the State centers for combating counterfeit money offenses , pickpockets and trafficking in girls , the identification service and the Reich center for combating drug offenses to be converted into a central criminal police station. As early as December 18, 1934, the Prussian LKPA was disbanded by the Berlin criminal police and organized in the Berlin police headquarters as an independent "specialist center for the Prussian police" . As a penultimate step, the Prussian Interior Minister's decree of September 20, 1936 separated the Prussian LKPA from the Berlin Police Headquarters and assigned it with the "technical management of the criminal police of all German states". On July 16, 1937, the Prussian LKPA was finally converted into the Reich Criminal Police Office. In 1939 the staffing consisted of 302 detective officers, 24 administrative officers, 62 employees and 24 other employees.

In the course of the amalgamation of party and state tasks and the transformation of state organizations into "leader-direct" organizations, the RKPA was finally combined with the Secret State Police in the Main Security Police Office and on September 27, 1939 integrated as Office V into the newly created Reich Security Main Office ( RSHA ) . Reinhard Heydrich became head of the RSHA . Arthur Nebe was head of the Prussian LKPA, the RKPA and finally the Office V of the RSHA from 1935 and 1937 respectively .

From 1939 the official seat was in the building of the former Prussian State Criminal Police Office Werderscher Markt 5–6 (headquarters) in Friedrichswerder , the former fashion house Hermann Gerson, which had been stolen from the Freudenberg family in the course of the " Aryanization ", as well as in Wörthstraße 20 (Departments VB 1 and VB 2) and in Hauptstrasse 144 (Department VC).

Structure and structure

The task of the RKPA was the nationwide centralization of the fight against crime, against which the latest knowledge and forensic methods should be made available by specialists at any time and anywhere. In addition, a central data collection should be set up and local conflicts of competence should be resolved. For this purpose, the RKPA had a network of 51 criminal police stations, which were combined in an organizational structure of 14 criminal police control stations, as well as the various Reich headquarters, such as B. for "capital crimes", "drug offenses", "trafficking in girls", "counterfeiting", to " fight against the gypsy " etc. available.

Affiliated and newly formed Reich headquarters from September 20, 1936:

  • Reich Identification Service Headquarters,
  • the imperial headquarters for combating counterfeiting,
  • to combat drug offenses,
  • for the missing and unknown dead,
  • to combat lewd pictures, writings and advertisements,
  • to combat international trafficking in girls,
  • to fight international pickpockets,
  • to combat gambling and cheating,
  • to combat the gypsy insanity
  • to fight capital crimes,
  • to combat traveling and commercial fraudsters and counterfeiters,
  • for combating traveling and commercial intruders

The structure of the RKPA as Amt V of the RSHA was as follows according to the business allocation plan of March 1941:

The Forensic Science Institute (KTI), known as Office Group D, was formed in April 1938 from the forensic chemistry and forensic technology department of the Stuttgart State Chemical Institute . The head of this department, Walter Heeß , was also entrusted with the management of the CTI, which began its work in October 1938 and with the latest technical instruments and means to identify tool and fiber traces, the investigation of incendiary and firearms, the Forgery of documents etc. worked. The CTI was responsible for the development of the mass killing of people using poisonous gases (carbon monoxide, engine exhaust) in gas chambers and gas vans, which were initially used as part of Action T4 .

Successor institutions

After the end of the war, the RKPA found a direct successor in the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) on March 15, 1951. Wiesbaden was chosen as the seat of the new office . Due to the experience with the executive central authority of the RKPA, however, the competences of the BKA were essentially limited to coordinating functions without their own executive powers (cf. Art. 87 and 73 of the Basic Law ).

The KTI also found a successor in the BKA's forensic technology department with a similar catalog of tasks, such as research to improve and establish efficient investigation procedures, provision of devices and data from criminal offenses as well as technical and scientific facilities for ballistics , fire and explosion tests , DNA analyzes, etc. .

literature

Web links

Commons : Reichskriminalpolizeiamt  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ [1] (PDF) Martin Eberhardt: Master's thesis; The Criminal Police, 1933–1939.
  2. ↑ Stadtmuseum Foundation (publisher): Robbery Center, The "Aryanization" of Jewish property in the Berlin city center 1933-1945 (exhibition catalog) , Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-9812257-2-3 .