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.

The brocade dress belt strap was worn as part of the police dress uniform for Generals and Officers, as well as Officials of equivalent rank. It was worn in conjunction with the Officer belt buckles.

There are two patterns of the German police brocade dress belt strap. The 1st pattern was introduced on January 11, 1937. The body is composed of interwoven silver-coloured thread with a pattern of two exterior black stripes and a central red stripe, all on a grey backing. In February 1939, the 2nd pattern was introduced for wear by police personnel who also held an SS commission. The body of these belt straps was also made from woven silver-coloured thread, but it features interchanging black and aluminum stripes along the top and bottom and alternating oak leaves and SS runes along the centre. This 2nd pattern is almost identical to the design of the SS brocade belt strap, except the sliders on the police brocade dress belt strap do not have any SS runes or oak leaf designs and the backing tends to be composed of green wool or velvet.