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 cockade insignia was officially worn on the Visored Field Caps and the Visor Caps for German Police personnel. It was also unofficially added to German Police Field Caps during the Third Reich.

The cockade features the Wehrmacht national colours in three concentric rows, from exterior to interior black-white-red.

On the German Police Visored Field Caps the cockade is embroidered or woven, and it has an additional exterior row of silver or gold, for Officers and Generals, respectively. There is no additional row of colour for Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) and Enlisted Men (EMs). The cockade insignia may be added separately or as part of the embroidered police eagle insignia.

On the German Police Visor Caps the cockade is composed of plastic, metal, and paint, with no additional rows for the wearer’s rank.