Polizeihistorische Sammlung

Description

The Berlin Police Historical Collection is located in the Berlin Police Headquarters at Platz der Luftbrücke in Tempelhof. The permanent exhibition opened in early 1988 and is staffed largely by volunteers.

The collection originated from the merger of the criminal police teaching-materials collection on Gothaer Straße in Schöneberg with a small police museum at the former police school—today the Polizeiakademie Berlin—in Falkenhagener Feld in the Spandau district. After German reunification, the holdings of the Volkspolizeimuseum on Mauerstraße in Berlin-Mitte were also integrated into the collection.

Over approximately 500 m² the exhibition displays historical uniforms, work equipment, weapons, other technical objects, and original documents of the Berlin police. In addition, tools and methods used in exceptional criminal cases are documented. In the entrance area a model of the former traffic tower at Potsdamer Platz is on view.

Vehicles from the collection are shown to the public several times a year, including during the Berlin Police’s open day. More than 60 historic police vehicles and 35 motorcycles, which are attributable to the motorcycle sport group that existed until 2013, are housed in the halls of Directorate 4 on Eiswaldtstraße in Berlin-Lankwitz; maintenance and, by appointment, viewings take place there.

Those interested in history have access to an archive, an extensive photographic collection, and a reference library.