History

During the Third Reich, an effort was made to unite all of Germany’s disparate provincial police forces and agencies into a single cohesive national unit. To attain this goal, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler was named Chief of the German Police in the Ministry of the Interior in June 1936. That same month, Himmler implemented new standardized uniforms, headgear, and insignia. The uniforms worn prior to Himmler’s appointment were often navy blue, particularly in what had been Prussia. The new uniforms were green, in a shade that was then dubbed “Police green”.

The German Police were divided into two main units, the Ordnungspolizei (Orps or Regular Police) and the Sicherheitspolizei (Secret Police); the Ordnungspolizei were unofficially called the green police (Grüne Polizei) as a result of their uniform colour. The Sicherheitspolizei were made up of two main organizations, the Gestapo and the Kriminalpolizei (Criminal Investigation Police). At the beginning of the Second World War, the Sicherheitspolizei were brought under the auspices of the Reich Main Security Office.

Trade insignia were worn by Police members that were qualified specialists. They were introduced on July 1, 1937 and worn on the lower right sleeve. Only one trade insignia could be worn at any given time, multiple insignia were not allowed. In May of 1942, it was decided that from then on the insignia would be worn on the lower left sleeve, however, on October 3 of the same year, trade insignia were discontinued for wear, with the single exception of the medical insignia.

Trade insignia were made of embroidered police-green cloth, machine-embroidered for Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) and Enlisted Men (EMs), and hand-embroidered for Officers (where applicable). The insignia are either oval or round in shape.

The Communications insignia features a downward pointing bolt of lighting, which is green for National Police, red for Municipal Police, and silver-coloured for Officer ranks.