Original Item: Only One Available. This is a lovely, genuine steel construction M34 "Square Dip" Third Reich helmet, outfitted for German WW2 Ordnungspolizei civic police issue. Features genuine double decals of civic eagle and NSDAP swas shield. Comes with a complete leather liner and torn chinstrap with all 4 original liner attachment split pins present, along with their cork spacers. The exterior of this German helmet retains most of the original satin black paint on the exterior, with some scuffs and chips through to the steel. Both decals are retained at about 80%, showing some scratches with some nice age discoloration and light wear, giving them a great patina.

The interior has retained the black paint very well, showing little in the way of wear or damage. There is also a faint DRP / THALE stamp on the rear skirt under a "Lion" logo, indicating production by the Eisenhüttenwerke, Thale factory. This is the same factory that developed the M-35 lineage of helmets. Next to the marking is a large letter "A". The helmet shell does have the locations for a top comb, but the three holes are plugged, with no evidence that a comb was ever installed.

The helmet is equipped with a standard civic style leather liner, similar to the military issue with nine "fingers" fully intact and supple, and the top tie is still present It is constructed with a fiber band padded by red foam rubber and oil cloth under the leather, and there is a leather crown pad as well, which even has mesh covered vent holes matching those in the shell. It still retains all five tabs for the attachment of a neck shield, and is size stamped with 54 on one of the fingers. The original black pebbled leather double buckle chinstrap is still fully intact, showing wear to the finish but no tears or major damage.

A very nice complete 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.