Kriminalpolizei (Nazi Germany)


Kriminalpolizei, often abbreviated as Kripo, is the German name for a criminal investigation department. This article deals with the agency during the Nazi era.
In Nazi Germany, the Kripo consisted of the Reichskriminalpolizeiamt, which in September 1939 became Department V of the Reich Main Security Office. The Kripo had directly subordinated criminal investigation centers, as well as the criminal investigation divisions of the local state and municipal police departments. In 1943 both the latter became directly subordinated to the criminal investigation centers. The personnel consisted of detectives in the Junior Criminal Investigation Career, the Executive Criminal Investigation Career, and the Female Criminal Investigation Career.

Organization

After Adolf Hitler took office in January 1933, the Nazis began a programme of "coordination" of all aspects of German life, in order to consolidate the Nazi Party's hold on power. In July 1936, the Prussian central criminal investigation department became the central criminal investigation department for Germany, the Reichskriminalpolizeiamt. It was combined, along with the secret state police, the Geheime Staatspolizei or Gestapo into two sub-branch departments of the Sicherheitspolizei, which had a central command office known as the Hauptamt Sicherheitspolizei. Reinhard Heydrich was in overall command of the SiPo, including its central command office. Arthur Nebe was appointed head of the Reichskriminalpolizeiamt, and reported directly to Heydrich.
In September 1939, the Reichssicherheitshauptamt was created as the overarching command organization for the various state investigation and security agencies. The Hauptamt Sicherheitspolizei was officially abolished and its departments were folded into the Reich Main Security Office. The Reichskriminalpolizeiamt became Amt V, the Kriminalpolizei in the RSHA. It was commanded by Nebe until the summer of 1944, when he was denounced and executed subsequent to the failed 20 July plot to kill Hitler. In the last year of its existence, Amt V was commanded by Friedrich Panzinger who answered directly to Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the head of the Reich Main Security Office after Heydrich's assassination in 1942.
The Kriminalpolizei mostly consisted of plainclothes detectives and agents, and worked in conjunction with the Gestapo, the Ordnungspolizei and the Geheime Feldpolizei. The policy directives came from the SS-Hauptamt and after 1940, the SS Führungshauptamt. The Kripo was organized in a hierarchical system, with central offices in all towns and smaller cities. These, in turn, answered to headquarters offices in the larger German cities which answered to Amt V in Berlin.
boy's head in anthropological studies of criminals, Stuttgart in 1938
The Kriminalpolizei was mainly concerned with serious crimes such as rape, murder and arson. A main area of the group's focus was also on "blackout burglary," considered a serious problem during bombing raids when criminals would raid abandoned homes, shops and factories for any available valuables. The Kripo was also one of the sources of manpower used to fill the ranks of the Einsatzgruppen and several senior Kripo commanders, Arthur Nebe among them, were assigned as Einsatzgruppen commanders. The Einsatzgruppen’s mobile killing units were active in the implementation of the Final Solution, in the territories overrun by the Nazi war machine; which culminated in the Holocaust.
As part of the Nazi doctrines on crime and race, the Rassenhygienische und Bevolkerungsbiologische Forschungsstelle headed by psychiatrist and medical doctor Robert Ritter, was attached to the Kripo. Its role was to create racial profiles of non-Aryans, in particular, Roma. Both the Gestapo and the Kripo deferred their policies and guidelines to the criminal biology department on how to deal with "Gypsies". The Kripo aided in the round ups of Roma and their deportations to concentration camps and extermination camps.

Mission

The official mission of Amt V was to:
In 1945 Amt V had the following bureaus:
BureauResponsibilityTasks
V ACriminal policy and preventionsLegal affairs, international cooperation, research, crime prevention, female detectives
V BOperationsSerious violent crimes, fraud, sexual crimes
V CRegistration and surveillanceWar surveillance, surveillance technology, canine service
V DForensicsIdentification, chemical and biological laboratory examinations, document studies, technical workshops
V WiEconomic crimesCrimes against the war economy, war profiteering, corruption, business crimes

Field Organization

Field Organization 1939–1943

Towns with over 10,000 residents having a municipal police department were obliged to have a municipal criminal investigation division. It was supervised by the nearest Kripo-Stelle.

Field Organization 1943–1945

From 1943 all municipal criminal investigation divisions with over ten detectives, i.e. mainly in towns with over 50,000 inhabitants, were transferred to the state criminal police. Local state criminal investigations divisions were henceforth not subordinated to the local state police commissioner.
LevelAgencyOrganizational Subordination
RegionalKriminalpolizei-Leitstelle
criminal investigation department control center
Amt V
RegionalKriminalpolizei-Stelle
criminal investigation department center
Amt V
LocalKriminalpolizei-Aussendiensstelle
criminal investigation department field office
nearest Kripo-Leitstelle or Kripo-Stelle
LocalKriminalpolizei-Aussenposten
criminal investigation department outposts
nearest Kripo-Leitstelle, Kripo-Stelle or Kripo-Aussendienststelle

In 1944 there were 22 Kripo-Leitstellen with 150-250 detectives under an Oberregierungs- und Kriminalrat; 44 Kripo-Stellen with 80-120 detectives under a Regierungs- und Kriminalrat or Kriminaldirektor; and 698 Kripo-Aussendienstellen and Kripo-Aussenpost, of which the latter per definition had less than ten detectives.

Personnel

There were two separate detective careers: the junior criminal investigation career ' and the executive criminal investigation career '. There were also a female criminal investigation career .

Employment and training

Junior Criminal Investigation Career

A detective trainee had to be a policeman in the Ordnungspolizei or a soldier in the Waffen-SS with the rank of SS-Unterscharführer or above, having served at least 4 ½ years, and not be older than 24 years. The Kriminalassistentanwärter began his training as an intern for 12 months, followed by a 12 months course at the Kriminalfachschule in Berlin-Charlottenburg. After the college came a 12 months period as probationary detective . First employment was as apl. Kriminalassistent until a billet was free and he could be appointed to a permanent position as Kriminalassistent.

Executive Criminal Investigation Career

Externally recruited senior detective trainees ' must have taken the general university entrance exam and been selected through a special selection procedure '. Internally recruited senior detective trainees came from the lower ranks of the Ordnungspolizei or from the junior criminal investigation career. They were selected through a civil service exam. The training began with a 12 months internship, followed by a 9 months course at the Führerschule der Sicherheitspolizei in Berlin-Charlottenburg. The trainee was then promoted to Hilfskriminalkommissar; normally he was within a few days given a six months probationary appointment as Kriminalkommissar auf Probe, before being promoted to außerplanmäßigen Kriminalkommissar'' as a supernumerary.

Female Criminal Investigation Career

According to regulations issued by the Reich Main Security Office in 1940, women that had been trained in social work or having a similar education could be hired as female detectives. Female youth leaders, lawyers, business administrators with experience in social work, female leaders in the Reichsarbeitsdienst and personnel administrators in the Bund Deutscher Mädel were hired as detectives after a one-year course if they had several years professional experience. Later also nurses, kindergarten teachers and trained female commercial employees with an aptitude for police work were hired as female detectives after a two-year course. After two years as Kriminaloberassistentin promotion to Kriminalsekretärin could take place, after another two or three years in that grade the female detective could be promoted to Kriminalobersekretärin. Further promotions to Kriminalkommissarin and Kriminalrätin was also possible.

Criminal Investigation Employees

Criminal Investigation Aids, from 1935 Criminal Investigation Employees, were salaried public employees but not civil servants. There were three kinds of Criminal Investigation Employees, Kriminalangesteller in outer service, Kriminalangesteller were drivers, Kriminalangesteller were telex operators. The fact that Criminal Investigation Employees were not civil servants made it possible to recruit reliable members of the Nazi Party, irrespective of civil service regulations concerning employment requirements and regardless of budget plans. The only requirements that were made beyond the normal conditions for public employment in Nazi Germany was that the applicant were physically and mentally fit for police duties.

Pay

;Criminal Investigation Officers' Rank and Pay
Pay GradeAnnual Pay
Reichsmark
Grade in the einfachen Vollzugsdienst
Grade in the leitenden Vollzugsdienst
Corresponding rank in the SS
A8c22,160-2,340KriminalassistentSS-Oberscharführer
A7c
A8a
2,000-3,000KriminaloberassistentSS-Hauptscharführer
A7a2,350-3,500KriminalsekretärSS-Untersturmführer
A5b2,300-4,200KriminalobersekretärSS-Untersturmführer
A4c22,800-5,000KriminalinspektorSS-Obersturmführer
A4c12,800-5,300KriminalkommissarSS-Obersturmführer
A4c12,800-5,300Kriminalkommissar
with more than three years in the grade
SS-Hauptsturmführer
A3b4,800-7,000KriminalratSS-Hauptsturmführer
A3b4,800-7,000Kriminalrat
with more than three years in the grade
SS-Sturmbannführer
A2d4,800-7,800KriminaldirektorSS-Sturmbannführer
A2c24,800-8,400Regierungs- und KriminalratSS-Sturmbannführer
A2b7,000-9,700Oberregierungs- und KriminalratSS-Obersturmbannführer
A1b6,200-10,600Regierungs- und KriminaldirektorSS-Standartenführer
A1b6,200-10,600ReichskriminaldirektorSS-Standartenführer

Mean annual pay for an industrial worker was 1,459 Reichsmark in 1939, and for a privately employed white-collar worker 2,772 Reichsmark.
;Criminal Investigation Employees' Pay
The Criminal Investigation Employees were not paid according to the Civil Service pay scale, but in accordance with the salary scale for public employees. They were later paid according to a special pay scale :

Rank insignia

;Male personnel

Citations