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 90%, 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.

The helmet is equipped with a standard civic style leather liner, similar to the military issue with eight "fingers" fully intact and supple, though the top tie is missing. It is constructed with a fiber band padded by felt wool under the leather, and there is a leather crown pad as well. It still retains all five tabs for the attachment of a neck shield, and is size stamped with 57 on one of the fingers. There is a chinstrap present, which looks to have been over the brim of the helmet for some time. This unfortunately caused it to crack, and it is now torn through on one end, with that whole area now in very delicate condition.

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.