Bundesarchiv Bild 102-14381, Berlin, Polizeipatrouille am Wahltag

The ''Hilfspolizei'' (abbreviated ''HiPo'' or ''Hipo''; meaning "auxiliary police") was a short-lived

auxiliary police Auxiliary police, also called special police, are usually the part-time reserves of a regular police force. They may be armed or unarmed. They may be unpaid volunteers or paid members of the police service with which they are affiliated. The po ...

force in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1933. The term was later semi-officially used for various auxiliary organizations subordinated to the

Ordnungspolizei The ''Ordnungspolizei'' (), abbreviated ''Orpo'', meaning "Order Police", were the uniformed police force in Nazi Germany from 1936 to 1945. The Orpo organisation was absorbed into the Nazi monopoly on power after regional police jurisdiction ...

as well as various military and paramilitary units set up during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

German-occupied Europe German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

Hipo 1933

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

, newly appointed as Interior Minister of

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

, established the Hilfspolizei on 22 February 1933 to assist regular police in maintaining order and later in handling communists in the wake of the

Reichstag fire The Reichstag fire (german: Reichstagsbrand, ) was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on Monday 27 February 1933, precisely four weeks after Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of ...

. The organization quickly spread from Prussia to other German states and Hitler endorsed it in the

Reichstag Fire Decree The Reichstag Fire Decree (german: Reichstagsbrandverordnung) is the common name of the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State (german: Verordnung des Reichspräsidenten zum Schutz von Volk und Staat) issued by Germ ...

. The units were staffed mainly by members of

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; literally "Storm Detachment") was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi ralli ...

(SA) and

Allgemeine SS The ''Allgemeine SS'' (; "General SS") was a major branch of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany; it was managed by the SS Main Office (''SS-Hauptamt''). The ''Allgemeine SS'' was officially established in the autumn ...

wearing SA or SS uniforms with a white

brassard A brassard or armlet is an armband or piece of cloth or other material worn around the upper arm; the term typically refers to an item of uniform worn as part of military uniform or by police or other uniformed persons. Unit, role, rank b ...

. It is estimated that the auxiliary units had 25,000 SA and 15,000 SS members. The units also included members of ''Der Stahlhelm'' veterans organization ('' Der Stahlhelm''). The force carried out or organized numerous violent attacks against Nazi opponents and staffed the early

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

and

Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

s. The

SS-Totenkopfverbände ''SS-Totenkopfverbände'' (SS-TV; ) was the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organization responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps for Nazi Germany, among similar duties. While the ''Totenkopf'' was the univer ...

grew out of this formation. The force was disbanded in August 1933 due to international protests that the units violated the disarmament provisions of the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1 ...

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

's growing distrust of SA, and outliving its purpose during the consolidation of the new Nazi régime.

Hipo during the war

Bundesarchiv Bild 121-0224, Berlin, Tag der deutschen Polizei, Vorführungen

Technical Hipo

* Air raid protection police (''

Luftschutzpolizei Luftschutzpolizei (LSP) ''(Air Raid Protection Police)'' was the local civil defense organization in Nazi Germany. Formation LSP was the civil protection service in charge of rescuing victims of bombings in connection with the Technische Noth ...

'') was the civil protection service in charge of air raid defence and rescue victims of bombings in connection with the ''Technische Nothilfe'' (Technical Emergency Service) and the ''Feuerschutzpolizei'' (professional fire departments). Created as the Security and Assistance Service (''Sicherheits und Hilfsdienst'') in 1935, it was renamed ''Luftschutzpolizei'' in April 1942. The air raid network was supported by the ''

Reichsluftschutzbund The Reichsluftschutzbund (RLB; " Reich Air Protection League") was an organization in Nazi Germany in charge of air raid precautions in residential areas and among smaller businesses. Purpose The RLB was organized by Hermann Göring in 1933 as ...

'' (Reich Association for Air Raid Precautions), an organization controlled from 1935 by the Air Ministry under

. The RLB set up an organization of air raid wardens who were responsible for the safety of a building or a group of houses. *Technical Emergency Corps (''

Technische Nothilfe ''Technische Nothilfe'' (abbreviated as TN, T.N, T.H, Tech Nh, TeNo, TENO; ) was a German organisation. It began as a strikebreaker organisation after the First World War, but developed into a volunteer emergency response unit. During the Naz ...

''; TeNo) was a corps of engineers, technicians and specialists in construction work. The TeNo was created in 1919 to keep the public utilities and essential industries running during the wave of strikes. From 1937, the TeNo became a technical auxiliary corps of the police and was absorbed into Orpo ''Hauptamt''. By 1943, the TeNo had over 100,000 members. * Feuerwehren, volunteer fire departments, conscripted fire departments and industrial fire departments were auxiliary police subordinate to the Ordnungspolizei.

Special Hipo

* Radio protection (''Funkschutz'') was made up of SS and Orpo security personnel assigned to protect German broadcasting stations from attack and sabotage. The Funkschutz was also the primary investigating service which detected illegal reception of foreign radio broadcasts. *

Postschutz ''Postschutz'' (), after 1942 ''SS-Postschutz'', was a paramilitary unit of ''Reichspost'' with a mission to protect post office installations from armed attacks. Origins The Postschutz was created in 1933 in order to protect the establishments ...

(Postal protection) comprised roughly 45,000 members and was tasked with the security of Germany's ''Reichspost,'' which was responsible not only for the mail but other communications media such as the

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

and

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

systems. * SS-''Bahnschutz'' replaced the Railway police within the Reich territory from 1944. * Factory protection police (''Werkschutzpolizei'') were the

security guard A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) from a variety ...

s of Nazi Germany. Its personnel were civilians employed by industrial enterprises, and typically were issued paramilitary uniforms. * Urban and rural emergency police (''Stadt- und Landwacht'') created in 1942 as a part-time police reserve. Abolished in 1945 with the creation of the ''

Volkssturm The (; "people's storm") was a levée en masse national militia established by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II. It was not set up by the German Army, the ground component of the combined German ''Wehrmacht'' armed forces, ...

''.

Hipo in occupied Europe

The term ''Hilfspolizei'' was also used for various military and paramilitary units set up during

. In this context, the term often labels groups of local collaborators with the Nazi régime, such as the

HIPO Corps The HIPO Corps ( Danish: HIPO-korpset) was a Danish auxiliary police corps, established by the German Gestapo on 19 September 1944, when the Danish civil police force was disbanded and most of its officers were arrested and deported to concen ...

in Denmark, various Schutzmannschaft units,

Selbstschutz ''Selbstschutz'' (German for "self-protection") is the name given to different iterations of ethnic-German self-protection units formed both after the First World War and in the lead-up to the Second World War. The first incarnation of the ''Selb ...

, etc.

References

{{reflist, 2 1933 establishments in Germany 1933 disestablishments in Germany Nazi Party organizations Police forces of Nazi Germany Holocaust terminology Auxiliary police units