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 Ordnungspolizei was also divided into smaller branches of service, and each branch was associated with a branch of service/troop colour (Truppenfarbe). The troop colours include:

Schutzpolizei des Reichs (National Protection Police): Green
Schutzpolizei der Gemeinden (Municipal Police) pre-1942: Red
Schutzpolizei der Gemeinden (Municipal Police) post-1942: Green
Gendarmerie (Gendarmes/Rural Police): Orange
Verwaltungspolizei (Administrative Personnel) pre-1942: Red over grey
Verwaltungspolizei (Administrative Personnel) post-1942: Light grey
Feuerschutzpolizei (Fire Protection Police): Carmine
Wasserschutzpolizei (Water Protection Police): Yellow

The uniform garments worn by members of the Wasserschutzpolizei (Water Protection Police) and the Feuerschutzpolizei (Fire Protection Police) remained blue after the 1936 uniform redesign.

The design of the police visor cap mirrors the design of the SS visor cap, except the police visor caps are composed of “police green” wool. The quality of the wool is varied according to rank. For Generals and Officers, higher quality wool was used, such as doeskin. For Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) and Enlisted Men (EMs), lower quality wool was used, such as tricot. These visor caps were also produced in a summer version with a white top cover.

The cap band on police visor caps is always composed of brown-coloured felt.

The colour of the cord piping was associated with the wearer’s branch of service. The visor caps worn by Generals, however, feature golden-yellow piping.

The insignia featured on these visor caps include a cockade and the police eagle insignia. The national tricolour cockade is composed of painted metal. It is most often composed of aluminum, and the colours are, from inside to outside, red-silver/white-black. The police eagle insignia is composed of silver-coloured metal for Officers, NCOs and EMs, and from gold-coloured (gilt) metal for Generals. The insignia for Officers and Generals tends to have been produced with closer attention to detail and higher quality materials, while those for NCOs and EMs are generally made from stamped metal, such as aluminum.

When the visor caps were worn by Generals, they feature chin cords composed of celleon cord. Those worn by Officers feature chin cords composed of twisted silver bullion thread. The visor caps for NCOs and EMs have black leather chin straps with buckles.

The visors were made from Vulcanfibre, and the colour of the underside correlates with the wearer’s rank. The visor caps for Officers generally have a brown or crème coloured underside, while the visor caps for NCOs and EMs generally have a green coloured underside.

These visor caps generally feature two ventilation grommets on either side. The holes are covered on the inside with a fine mesh, but in rare instances, this mesh is missing.

The interior lining of these visor caps is made from higher quality material for higher ranking personnel. For Generals and Officers, the lining may be composed of silk or rayon, while the lining for NCOs and EMs tends to be made from tan-coloured cotton lining. A transparent moisture shield may be included in the interior lining and it may feature a manufacturer’s name.

The leather sweatband may also be stamped with a manufacturer’s mark.

Variances occur due to the manufacture of visor caps by both private and official manufacturers.