BACKGROUND: On June 17^TH 1936, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler was appointed to the newly created position of Chef der Deutschen Polizei im Reichsministerium des Innern, (Chief of the German Police in the National Ministry of the Interior), effectively giving him full control of all police agencies within Germany. As a result of this appointment and the restructuring of all the separate German state police into a single national police force new regulations were instituted on June 25^TH 1936 to bring about uniformity in dress for all police through-out the country. One of the new uniform regulations dictated the color of all leather accoutrements according to branch of service with the Ordnungspolizei (Order Police), the Schutzpolizei, (Protection Police), and Gemeindepolizei, (Local Municipal Police), personnel wearing black leather while Gendarmerie, (Rural Police), and Polizeibeamten, (Police Officials), personnel wore brown leather. Of Note: The Ordnungspolizei, Schutzpolizei, and Gemeindepolizei, also utilized white leather accoutrements for special occasions. Regulations also dictated that all ranks wore a pistol on the right side of the waist belt for the standard service dress and a wide variety of pistols and holsters were utilized. Besides the uniformed police the Germans also had the Kriminalpolizei, or Kripo, (Criminal Police), and the Geheime Staatspolizei, or Gestapo, (Secret {Political} State Police), who worked in civilian clothes. As the name implies the Kriminalpolizei were standard police detectives who conducted regular police investigations into serious criminal matters while the Gestapo were employed in information gathering, observation and arrests of subversive individuals and groups. Both organizations had armed members but due to their clandestine nature the weapons were carried surreptitiously which resulted in the use of hidden under the clothing, shoulder holsters. The Carl Walther Waffenfabrik, (Armaments Manufacturer), was originally founded at Zella Mehlis in 1886 as a sporting arms manufacturer and produced its first automatic pistol in 1908. In 1915 the firm produced its first military pistol with a blowback recoil design which the German army found unsuitable. In 1929 the Carl Walther Waffenfabrik developed the 7.65 mm caliber PP29, Polizei-Pistole 29, (Police Pistol 29), for the police market and it became one of the mostly widely used pistols through-out Europe in the 1930's. In 1931 the firm developed the 7.65mm caliber, PPK, Polizei-Pistole-Kriminal, (Police Pistol Criminal), which was a smaller version of the PP29 and was intended for use by plain clothes policemen. Of Note: The RZM, Reichzeugmeisterei, (National Equipment Quartermaster), was officially founded in June 1934 in Munich by the NSDAP, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, (National Socialist German Worker’s Party), as a Reich Hauptamt, (State Central Office), and was based on the earlier SA ,Sturm Abteilung, (Storm/Assault Detachment), Quartermaster’s Department. The functions of the RZM were not only to procure and distribute items to Party formations, but also to approve chosen designs and to act as a quality control supervisor to ensure items manufactured for the Party met required specification and were standardized.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: The roughly, 8 1/4" tall, 5 3/4" wide at the top, tapering down to 2 1/4" wide at the bottom, traditional scalloped shaped, smooth finished, molded tan leather construction PPK pistol shoulder holster with machine stitched seams features a machine stitched, vertical, closure strap with a single stud eyelet to the opened, top edge with a corresponding alloy stud position on the scalloped, front, right, edge of the holster’s body. The holster doesn’t have the standard fold over top flap or a spare magazine pocket designed to make it less bulky and as a result less visible when concealed under the clothes. The bottom, opened, edge of the holster has a vertically extended, machine stitched, closed leather loop to the reverse to secure the holster to the waist belt. The reverse of the holster also has two, leather reinforced, nickel/silver plated, pebbled, steel, "D" rings with one positioned near the top edge and the other near the lower edge, designed to secure the separate leather shoulder strap. The holster has no visible manufacturer’s markings. The roughly, 36 1/2" long, 3/4" wide, tan leather shoulder strap is included. One end of the shoulder strap is folded over and rivetted to the reverse to secure a nickel/silver plated, pebbled steel friction clip, while the other end is looped and rivetted to secure a nickel/silver plated, pebbled steel, sliding length adjustment buckle. The looped section also has an additional nickel/silver plated, pebbled steel friction clip and a sliding leather loop. The reverse of the length adjustment buckle and one of the friction clips are well marked with matching impressed and embossed RZM logo with in a circular border and the manufacturer’s RZM code, "M5/71", indicating manufacture by, Overhoff & Cie of Lüdenscheid. The reverse of the other friction clip is also well marked with the impressed RZM logo with in dual circular borders, the manufacturer’s RZM code, "M5/8", and the manufacturer’s initial/logo consisting of a stylized, "A", both indicating manufacture by F. W. Assmann & Söhne of Lüdenscheid. The friction clip also has the impressed initials, "DRGM", indicating, Deutsche Reichs Gebrauchsmuster, (German National Registered Design). The holster and the shoulder strap are both in overall very good condition with light age and usage toning and minor chafe wear. Scarcely encountered police shoulder holster.

GRADE ***3/4                             PRICE $358.00