Original German WWII M34 Square Dip NSDAP Double Decal Civic Police Steel Helmet – Ordnungspolizei Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a nice genuine steel construction M34 “Square Dip” Third Reich helmet, outfitted for German WW2 civic police issue. Features genuine double decals of civic eagle and NSDAP swas. Comes with complete leather liner and cork washers still intact with all 4 original hollow rivets still intact.

The exterior of this German helmet retains most of the original black paint on the exterior, though it does look to have been repainted during service, and the paint has bubbled up and flaked away in places. The underlying steel looks to have oxidized in places, possibly before it was repainted. The NSDAP decal is about 95% complete, with with a small scrape down to the paint, and the civic eagle is about 90%, with with no chips but light overall wear.

The interior of the helmet has much less paint than the exterior, and it is flaking off in large patches. Underneath is a gray color, which almost looks like the interior was galvanized at some point. We can’t tell whether it’s paint or a coating of some sort, but it is something we have never seen before, and paint definitely does not adhere well to it. Definitely worthy of further research.

There is also a partial Thale / Ededlstahl marking on the shell over the right ear, indicating production by the Eisenhüttenwerke, Thale factory from “improved steel”. This was a lightweight and strong alloy used on the M34 series of Civic Issue helmets.

The liner is in very good condition, with light wear and some deterioration along the front edge. It still has the original top tie intact, and a clear size 54 stamp on one of the rear fingers. It still retains the original leather crown pad, which is made from gray buff leather.

A very interesting example that comes ready to display!

The Ordnungspolizei, abbreviated Orpo, meaning “Order Police”, were the uniformed police force in NSDAP Germany from 1936 to 1945. The Orpo organization was absorbed into the NSDAP monopoly on power after regional police jurisdiction was removed in favor of the central N government (“Reich-ification”, Verreichlichung, of the police). The Orpo was controlled, nominally by the Interior Ministry but its executive functions rested with the leadership of the SS until the end of World War II. Owing to their green uniforms, Orpo were also referred to as Grüne Polizei (green police). The force was first established as a centralized organization uniting the municipal, city, and rural uniformed police that had been organized on a state-by-state basis.

The Ordnungspolizei encompassed virtually all of NSDAP Germany’s law-enforcement and emergency response organizations, including fire brigades, coast guard, and civil defense. In the prewar period, Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, and Kurt Daluege, chief of the Order Police, cooperated in transforming the police force of the Weimar Republic into militarized formations ready to serve the regime’s aims of conquest and racial annihilation. Police troops were first formed into battalion-sized formations for the invasion of Poland, where they were deployed for security and policing purposes, also taking part in executions and mass deportations. During World War II, the force had the task of policing the civilian population of the occupied and colonized countries beginning in spring 1940.