Weimar Police and medals / orders? Question

[ArHo]

Dear all,

looking at my Weimar police pictures I noted that in the early years one can seldom see men, who had definitely earned ww1 medals / orders, wearing them on their uniform.

I know that towards the end of the Weimar Republic the wearing of such decorations was explicitely allowed in different variants.

But my question to the members of this forum is: Was it ever explicitely and officially forbidden for Weimar Policemen to wear their decorations?

If any of you knows more about this topic I would love to hear about it / be grateful for any reading / sources tips - the book I managed to get says nothing about it (Löhken / Die Polizeiuniformen).

All the best

ArHo

[Glenn J]

Dear ArHo,

Please find below a scan from the 1932 edition of the Bekleidungsvorschrift für die Polizei und Landjägerei in Preußen.

As can be seen all wartime awards including wound badges and flight badges were explicitly permitted to be worn on duty as were life-saving and long service awards. Peacetime awards were allowed off-duty.

Regards

Glenn

 

 

[ArHo]

Dear Glenn,

thanks for your reply - I did not have this Bekleidungsvorschrift before in its original Form!

Do you perhaps happen to know of / have available any earlier Bekleidungsvorschriften where decorations are mentioned?

As I wrote before: I find it very curious that over the years most of the pictures of policemen from the 1920s mostly lack (definitely existant) medals except the Sportabzeichen (sports badge). And if it was allowed to wear them on the uniform in public this would be very strange, wouldn't it?

Greetings

ArHo

[Glenn J]

Hi Arho,

unfortunately. I do not have an earlier Weimar period Bekleidungsvorschrift. I was just looking through Erich Radecke's "Ordnungshüter 1919 bis 1939 in Deutschland". There are numerous photos of policemen wearing orders in the 1920s although as you say not all.

I think it is possible that most of the older policemen in the 1920s actually never served at the front and remained in their towns and cities and did not receive any awards! Presumably, only those members of the Landgendarmerie who served as Feldgendarmen received awards whilst in a police role. Of course, military veterans who later joined the police would have had and could wear their awards.

Regards

Glenn

[ArHo]

Hi Glenn,

I will try to order earlier Bekleidungsvorschriften through my library-network-service, let's see what happens in times of disease... (I will let you know the results). Thanks for the book tip - I did not have Radecke on the list but just found out my local library will give it to me ?

I agree on your further comments. When writing my question I thought primarily about ww1-veterans who later joined the police after the war had ended. There were quite a lot of them (among the officers they must have dominated) and enough held out until after 1932 when they had pictures made with their decorations.

All the best
ArHo

Edited January 16, 2021 by ArHo

[Bayern]

Hello ArHo and Glenn, The German writer Ludwig Renn , ( Arnold Vieth von Golstenau ) served during WW1 in the Saxon Army, after the War ,just returned he joined the Police greatly increased because of the political unrest he told his experiences in a book titled Post War. Well ,he says that there were the Old Policemen of long service who acted as Instructors and the New included him , The New , were uniformed with Army uniforms carried carbines and were organized in Centuries of Security Police . the Old weared the Old Police uniforms and continued basically the ordinary Police office . Renn says also that he must accustom to the Police manner of salute with a slight reverence and not clicking the heels .