Polizei Schutzpolizei tunic

[SMV]

Hello Gentlemen,

The following tunic belonged to Obstlt. d. Schupo, u. Obrstmbnfhr. d. SS, Otto Franz Doebler. I believe that the tunic started out as a standard M36 with brown cuffs/collar, but sometime during the war it was converted into the all green combat style. There are not too many 8 button Schupo tunics with green collar/cuffs around. The coat-tail was altered as well. I don't know how much if any time he spent in an actual combat situation. It appears the Doebler was awarded the KVK 2X, but I don't know why or when it was awarded, perhaps for training or very late war Volkssturm participation. The buttons were painted green (most has worn away) and the shoulderboards have some sort of coating applied to the silver threads, not your regular muted boards.

From his records, Doebler joined the SS in 1943. Pior to that, he had served in the Great War, then on to the Berlin Schutzpolizei in 1919, until transfered to Munich in 1938. His SS-Personal-Akte states that he "ist Personalbearbeiter beim Kommando der Schutzpolizei Muenchen" though I'm not sure what that means, perhaps work in the police personnal dept.. Doebler was awarded the Olympia Order II Kl., probably something to do with his fluency in English and French. He was also promoted to Hauptmann on Sunday, July 1, 1934, one day after the Roehm Putsch on Sat., June 30, 1934, so I assume he participated in some capacity.

I was so fortunate that Joe Wotka took an interest in my research project and he sent me copies of all 23 pages of SS files, Ordnungspolizei Dienstliste, and photographs of Doebler. Many, many thanks again my friend!

All of the insignia is original on the tunic, except for the sleeve eagle, which I have removed as it was a reproduction. I do have a replacement though and someday I'll get around to having it applied properly.
For some reason, Doebler never bothered to attach pips to his shoulderboards after his last promotion on Jan. 30, 1945, at least I see no evidence of such and at that late date, I'm sure not a priority.

By coincedence, Doebler's award document for EK f. Front Kfp. was put up for auction in Germany, the same month I purchased his tunic in New Mexico.

Thanks for having a look.

Kind Regards,

Marcus

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Tunic liner and tailor's label inside inner pocket.

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Tunic liner and tailor's label inside inner pocket.

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Reworked collar and photos of Doebler.

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Reworked underside of collar.

Muted shoulderboards.

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Painted (very worn) green on the buttons.

Brown cuffs removed, replaced with pol. green wool fabric of wider rib width.

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Sleeve shows fading from the war years. The stitching where the fake eagle was applied lies above outline of original eagle.

Award document for the Hindenburg Cross for WW I frontline service.

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I found a replacement sleeve eagle that I believe matches the tunic's wear and tear.

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The rest of the photo are of various shots of Doebler's SS-Personal-Akte. Not the most interesting career in the Allgemeine SS, but he was a member of 1. Standarte Muenchen. No trace of SS membership runes on the tunic.

He had been a member of the NSDAP since May 1, 1933, almost an Alter Kampfer.

Does anyone know what a "Personalbearbeiter beim Kommando der Schutzpolizei Muenchen" is by chance? My translation say's "personal agent of Protection Police" but that could mean anything.

Doebler's name listed in the SS Service Listing.

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Edited May 3, 2009 by SMV

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Very discretely placed within his handwritten "Lebenslauf" Doebler mentions his promotion on July 1, 1934.

Did he participate in the Night of the Long Knives? I will probably never know. However, many men that did participate were promoted on the same day, including Heydrich.

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Dates and ranks of both promotions in the SS.

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[Paul R]

That is a really great tunic with a potential for some great research! Why did he not wear the "SS" patch on his tunic, indiciating his duel SS membership?

[Guest Rick Research]

Absolutely terrific!!!

He had quite an interesting career-- to have been commissioned from the NCO ranks was NOT a typical career path. Is his initial rank date as Polizei-Leutnant in there? He was then very well decorated-- Olympia 2nd as a CAPTAIN ( !!!) suggesting a "kid from the wrong side of the tracks" who had VERY great talent--

and most of that was BEFORE the Nazis came along.

By SS standards, he was a geriatric come-lately! So-- he didn't get where he did BECAUSE he was some Nazi punk.

A "Personalbearbeiter" is a personnel records staffer. (It may be that the Alien Prussian was in there to keep an eye on the Bavarian good-old-boys ). That does NOT sound very exciting.. so the possibility is there that he had been exiled for something or other. His late nominal appointment to the SS would seem contrary to that, though.

In post #11, page discusses over the hill officers who are over 50, but cuts off discussing D. with "He is...." onto the next page. THAT mght be important.

From his awards page-- never seen this sort of paperwork before he received BOTH versions of the KVK 2nd Class-- the "with Swords" replacing the "without."

Probably decorated the first one for general length of service during the war (desk riding) but the "mit X" most likely for action during an air raid or something like that, since nothing suggests he was anywhere but Munich.

That is an honestly worn and USER altered tunic. Perhaps by his 1945 promotion date he'd decided it was too shabby for an exalted Obersturmbannf?hrer and put it away.

Absolutely fantastic life/career story, which reminds me of Philip Kerr's ever expanding Bernie Gunther Berlin detective series. :cheers:

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Hi Paul R,

I am glad you found the tunic of iterest. I don't know why Doebler did not wear the SS membership runes on his pol. tunic. Perhaps he really did not want to join the SS, or as Rick suggested, he discarded this uniform before he could apply the runes or his shoulderboard pips.

Hi Rick,

I thought that his record indicated both the KVK 2, without and with swords. I never seen this before either.

On the surface, not the most interesting career, but perhaps there is more than meets the eye. I guess after the combat eligible men were siphoned off to the Waffen SS or Wehrmacht, the older and reliable officers of the Orpo were made to fill in the empty posts in the adminatrative departments within the Allgemeine-SS.

I don't know if any more information can be gleaned from some of the other pages, but I'll post a few just in case.

Thanks for having a look gents.

Kind Regards,

Marcus

Rick this next photo is of the continuation of the page on post #10 (photo set 11) "He is..... "

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Doebler's entry in the Dienstaltersliste.

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[bob wirtz]

Nice tunic. Have the shoulder boards been replaced? I ask because they're on the wrong sides. But I've seen tailored pieces before with the boards on the wrong side. Just wondering.

Bob

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I did not know that this type of board had a "right and wrong way". I have a Heer, Oberst"s boards, period sewn to a greatcoat and they too are of this configuration.

These Police shoulder boards should have a single pip to denote Doebler's rank of Lt. Col.. There seems to have been an attempt to mute the cords by brushing some type of "coating".

I raised the contrast in the photo to better show this "coating". Perhaps it was a luminating type of solution.