TRAINED TO SERVE (GERMANY 1948) [Main Title]

The training and work of the new police forces in post-war Germany, focusing on Hamburg.

Commentary describes (with dramatic reconstructions) how Nazi Germany was a police state ruled by fear. After the war, there was an urgent need for law and order after the Nazi police force was destroyed, thus Public Safety Officers went in with the Army of Occupation to train new German police (young, non-Nazi). The Polizeischule Hamburg, where recruits are taught that "the Police Officer is the servant of the public, not its master". Their tasks: checking up on ex-Nazis and looking after refugees (seen gathering in old air raid shelter). Major problem of delinquent children is dealt with by "a new idea" - uniformed policegirls, trained to deal with problem children. These policegirls also look after young women (prostitutes, though the word is not used) and help them return to a decent way of life. The biggest problem is the black market, which hampers Germany's recovery: black marketeers are arrested and the goods returned to the open market.

35mm