Warsaw Orpo HQ
In a building in central Warsaw, the German Order Police (ORPO) had its headquarters in occupied Poland. Orpo was the uniformed police force in Germany and when Himmler was appointed chief of all german polices forces in June, 1936, Orpo was incorporated into the SS. Their green uniforms gave them the nickname the Green police. As part of the SS, Orpo inevitably became involved in Nazi war crimes committed during the war. Orpo participated in round-ups of Jews and participated in mass executions of Jews in eastern Europe. During the Warsaw uprising of 1944, Orpo participated in the fighting against the Polish insurgents.
Current status: Preserved with memorial tablet (2022).
Location: 52°13' 04.12" N 20°59' 02.84" E
Get there: Tram.
Follow up in books: Höhne, Heinz: The Order of the Death’s Head: The story of Hitler’s SS (1969).
Among all the Warsaw sites linked to the Second World War and the suffering Poland was subjected to, this is relatively unknown. One reason is probably that Orpo is not emotive loaded as Gestapo is. On a facade there is a small memorial tablet for prisoners who were tortured and killed in the headquarter’s cells.