Rheinisch-Bergisches Center for Police History
Our history center also serves as a place of remembrance: We commemorate the victims of arbitrary crimes of the Nazi dictatorship - committed by blinded racial ideologues and compliant helpers in the ranks of the police.
Josef Hufenstuhl was born on July 16, 1880 in Röttgen near Wipperfürth. During the Weimar Republic, Hufenstuhl was already a detective in Wuppertal - and a member of the SPD. Hufenstuhl served in the political department of the Wuppertal criminal investigation department with the rank of detective commissioner. He joined the NSDAP after the seizure of power. On September 30, 1940, he became head of the Gestapo field office in Wuppertal. On April 24, 1941, he was promoted to criminal councillor. He is accused of being responsible for a number of the most serious crimes committed by the Wuppertal State Police (StaPo) - for example, he was responsible for the deportation of Jews from the region and the murder of an unknown number of foreign forced laborers and prisoners of war. In the final phase of the war, he ordered the shootings in Burgholz and in the Wenzelnbergschlucht gorge. At the end of the war, he fled to Schildgen near Odenthal, where he evaded his responsibility by committing suicide on May 24, 1945.
Learning location Presidium
"Police history" is by no means made up of closed chapters from a bygone era. On the contrary: we learn from it in order to better understand our constitutional mandate and strengthen our professional ethos. In Wuppertal and Remscheid, we have unique artifacts that allow us to look at our own police history in the Rhineland and Bergisch region. We have a great opportunity here to offer police officers, especially young people, a place to learn and reflect on their ideal professional identity. We also offer events and visits for schools and interested members of the public.
Permanent exhibition at police headquarters
Order and Destruction - The Police in the Nazi State"
The German Police University in Münster created the original exhibition as part of a project commissioned by the Federal Conference of Interior Ministers - in cooperation with the German Historical Museum in Berlin.
From this exhibition, an exhibition module was developed that presents the key developments of the police in the Weimar Republic, in the Nazi state and in the post-war years in a condensed form. It documents the role of the police during the Nazi era. It demonstrates the considerable extent to which the police were involved in the most serious crimes, including genocide. An eminently important confrontation, not only for police officers, in order to reflect on the moral mandate for a democratic and constitutional police force.
Aims of the exhibition
The German Police University writes about the aims of the exhibition:
Who were the men (and a few women) in the German police force who persecuted and ultimately murdered political and ideological opponents of National Socialism? What mental preconditions and structural conditions shaped the behavior of police officers so that they accepted the Nazi regime, participated in it and in many cases even became murderers? Who refused to obey the criminal orders? What were their motives? The project "The Police in the Nazi State" attempts to provide answers to these fundamental questions[...]
In the public eye, the crimes committed by the police in the Nazi state are still attributed solely to the Gestapo. However, academic research over the last 15 years has impressively confirmed that the regular criminal and regulatory police were also significantly involved in Nazi crimes. Using the example of the order police, the "foot soldiers of the 'Final Solution'", it is possible to demonstrate the extent to which "ordinary men" (Christopher Browning) were involved in the murder of the European Jews. The majority of police officers were neither convinced ideological warriors nor mere followers of orders. They certainly had options for action. Nevertheless, only a few of them evaded the criminal orders.
The exhibitions and the educational materials based on them aim to communicate these findings to both the general public and the police for the first time. The aim is to clarify the organizational structures of the complex and confusing police apparatus in the Nazi state, but also to address the behaviour and options for action of individual police officers. At the same time, fundamental questions about the behavior of people in a dictatorship are addressed. Learning from historical examples is intended to make police officers aware of the problematic aspects of their profession in the present day. Police officers should be reminded of how easily the legitimate exercise of power can turn into an abuse of power.
We are sticking to these goals in Wuppertal!
So equipped, we also offer an authentic search for clues in the presidential building. This guided tour presents the building itself and the regional facts about police history - vividly and impressively.
Historical tours of the presidium
We have unique conditions in Wuppertal for a critical reflection on the past: The police headquarters - planned in 1922, built from 1936 and completed on September 1, 1939, the day of the invasion of Poland - was a place of terror for the Nazi apparatus. Every day, visitors and members of the police force walk past the preserved architectural evidence of Nazi ideology. Be it the large murals, Room 300, floor mosaics, decorative windows or frescoes - the Rheinisch-Bergisches Zentrum für Polizeigeschichte is intended to ensure that police officers, employees and visitors no longer just walk past these historical traces, but also engage with them and thus with the role of the police.
Like the historic ballroom, for example:
From dictatorship to democracy
A postcard from 1940 shows the original decor of the ballroom. Magnificently decorated, chandeliers illuminate the hall: ostentation and propaganda. During the Nazi era, the worst crimes were planned in the hall, raids and deportations were prepared. After the war, the denazification committee met in the ballroom. The laborious establishment of local parliamentary democracy took place here when, in 1948, the city council elected Robert Daum as mayor of the city of Wuppertal in the meeting room of the police headquarters. In addition, the Białystok trial against police officers and members of Police Battalion 309 for the mass murder of Jews in Białystok in 1941 took place in the same ballroom.
Offers for events
Visit offers are aimed at groups such as schools, clubs or police stations: Visits are only possible by prior appointment. Please note that visits are only possible in compliance with the current coronavirus protection regulations.
- Exhibition "Order and Destruction - The Police in the Nazi State", duration: approx. 1 ½ hours
- Lecture and historical tour in the presidential building, duration: approx. 1 ½ hours
- Lectures on individual topics - please note public invitations and announcements
Contact/contact person
Rheinisch-Bergisches Center for Police History
at the Wuppertal police headquarters
Friedrich-Engels-Allee 228
42285 Wuppertal
Telephone: 0202/ 284 -2014 or -2021
