Description
Die Deutsche Polizei
Sonntag, 15. Oktober 1944 · XII. Jahrgang · Nr. 19 · Ausgabe: Ordnungspolizei
Herausgegeben im Auftrage des Reichsführers SS und Chefs der Deutschen Polizei vom Kameradschaftsbund der Deutschen Polizei — Berlin
16 pages scanned. Instant PDF download.
Für Kriegsdauer vereinigt mit der Zeitschrift “Sport der Ordnungspolizei”; issue notes upcoming shift to monthly publication from 1 October 1944 due to wartime paper/labour shortages
Cover Page
Caption: “Deutsche Polizei an der Westgrenze. Mit schweren Waffen schießen Männer der Polizei Widerstandsnester sturmreif” (“German police at the western border. Using heavy weapons, police men are shooting resistance nests into readiness for storming”)
Subject: A police heavy-weapons crew firing from a smoke-wreathed position at the western border.
Location: German western border (Westgrenze).
Photo credit: SS-Kriegsberichter Frost.
Major Headlines & Content
Trugschluß der Kurzsichtigen (The Short-Sighted Man’s Fallacy) — Political commentary reflecting on the war’s course in autumn 1944, arguing that territorial losses in the East and West do not by themselves decide the war and that enemy war-weariness and coalition strain favor Germany. Author: Oberleutnant d. SchP. d. Res. Doebel.
Drei neue Ritterkreuzträger der Polizei (Three New Knight’s Cross Holders of the Police) — Announcement of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross awarded to SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei Friedrich Jeckeln (commanding police forces in the Ostland) and to SS-Standartenführer und Oberst der Schutzpolizei Heinrich Hannibal, plus the War Merit Cross with Swords to Hamburg police president SS-Brigadeführer Hans Kehrl. Places named: Ostland, Peskawer Wald, Cherson, Bochum-Süd, Hamburg.
Zehn Gendarmen hielten den Brückenkopf von P. (Ten Gendarmes Held the Bridgehead at P.) — Combat report on ten men of a motorized Gendarmerie unit under Zugwachtmeister K. who defend a canal bridgehead near “P.” against a Soviet assault with mortars, artillery and repeated infantry attacks, holding out until relieved. Author: SS-Kriegsberichter Kurt Herwarth Ball.
25 Tage in der Hölle der Polnischen Notenbank (25 Days in the Hell of the Polish National Bank) — Account of Rottwachtmeister W. of a police training unit, wounded and trapped for 25 days inside the besieged Polish National Bank building during the Warsaw Uprising, surviving on scavenged bread crumbs and rainwater before finally reaching German lines. Location: Warschau (Warsaw), the Polnische Notenbank. Author: SS-Kriegsberichter Heinz O. Wuttig.
An der Küste Istriens (On the Coast of Istria) — Photo feature on the Wasserschutzpolizei (harbor/coastal police) inspecting incoming fishing boats and cargo, cleaning weapons, and scrambling to alert positions during a low-flying aircraft alarm along the Istrian coast. Location: Istrien (Istria).
Der Dreißigjährige Krieg, ein Kampf um das Reich (The Thirty Years’ War, a Struggle for the Reich) — Historical essay framing the Thirty Years’ War as fundamentally a contest over the shape of the German Reich, tracing the roles of Kaiser Ferdinand II, Wallenstein, King Gustav Adolf of Sweden, and Cardinal Richelieu, and the war’s resolution at the Peace of Westphalia. Location: Regensburg. Author: SS-Obersturmführer Prof. Dr. Günther Franz, Straßburg.
Polizei an der Westfront (Police on the Western Front) — Photo spread on police units transferred from internal French deployment duty to combat positions on the western front: police artillery engaging an enemy strongpoint, police grenadiers moving through a French village, and captured enemy weapons and ammunition. Photo credit: SS-Kriegsberichter Frost.
Durch ernste Arbeit zu frohen Stunden (Through Serious Work to Happy Hours) — Report on the disabled-veterans department (Versehrtenabteilung) of the Ordnungspolizei sports school, inspected by SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei und Waffen-SS Wünnenberg, covering medical care, physical rehabilitation, and retraining of wounded policemen, capped by a handball match. Photo credit: Film- und Bildstelle der Ordnungspolizei.
Other Content
Human-interest column — Auf Streife zwischen Front und Heimat — “Der Zauberer Mirko” by SS-Kriegsberichter Fritz Busch, an anecdote about a Balkan conjuror named Mirko performing at a café; and “Zenzi mit den Sommersprossen” by Steffen Stargg, a light story about a freckled dairymaid, Zenzi, and the folk remedies suggested by “Viehdoktor” Bichler Franz.
Science column — Das sollte man wissen! — “Zusammenstoß mit Sternschnuppen,” a short explainer on the physics of meteors/shooting stars and how their height and speed are measured, with reference to the Treptow observatory.
Puzzle feature — Unsere Denksportaufgabe — “Der Ball muß raus!,” a logic riddle about a boy’s ball trapped down a hole and a gendarme’s practical solution.
Feature — Frau Magda Goebbels besucht Kriegsversehrte der Polizei — Magda Goebbels, wife of the Reich Minister, tours the police sports school’s disabled-veterans department, greeted by Police President General Göhrum and the school’s commander, SS-Sturmbannführer und Major der SchP. Hoecke. Photo credit: Film- und Bildstelle der Ordnungspolizei.
Professional/legal column — Aus unseren Fachgebieten! — “Die Schule des Verbrechens” by Dr. jur. Hans Schneickert, a criminological essay on whether depictions of crime in theatre, film, and literature encourage criminal behaviour; followed by “Aufgabe und Lösung,” practice case questions on youth protection, animal cruelty, guard-service licensing, and hunting law for police readers.
Official notices — Amtliche Mitteilungen des Kameradschaftsbundes der Deutschen Polizei — directives on ideological training (weltanschauliche Erziehung) within the police, notice of recreation homes (Erholungsheime) open for winter 1944/45, a Christmas benefit appeal for members with many children, a notice to readers that the paper will shift to monthly publication from October 1944 due to wartime shortages, and a Personalnachrichten list of police promotions, transfers, and retirements.
Humour column — Die Polizei hat nichts zu lachen? Hier bitte… — short barracks and courtroom jokes and cartoons about police life, plus a two-panel “Modenwechsel im Osten” cartoon.
Puzzles — Hier steht die Polizei vor einem Rätsel? — a syllable riddle (Silbenrätsel), a chess problem (“Die Schwalbe,” mate in two by H. Lange), and a fill-in word square, with solutions to the previous issue’s puzzles also printed.
Advertisements — Egerer Urbräu, Gehwol, Dr. Willmar Schwabe.