Kurtz or Kriminal?
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wikipedia info
Not sure if you speak German or not... anyhow
according to this info it is both...."Polizeipistole Kriminalmodell" or in German slang "Plizeipistole Kurtz"
Not sure if you speak German or not... anyhow
according to this info it is both...."Polizeipistole Kriminalmodell" or in German slang "Plizeipistole Kurtz"
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Regrettably I don't, but there is an English page for uneducated Americans
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_PPK
It seems to say that either is correct. I'd have to imagine that it would be one or the other though. Thanks P88.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_PPK
It seems to say that either is correct. I'd have to imagine that it would be one or the other though. Thanks P88.
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Pre-war factory literature which has been posted in the forum before proves beyond a doubt that „Kriminalmodell“ is the word behind the K. For real language nerds, it is worth noting that there is no indication that PPK was actually a true abbreviation for the complete term „Polizeipistole Kriminalmodell“, but just the model code. Walther never seems to have written it out like that, and it would be very inelegant in German. If they didn‘t use PPK, it was just the Kriminalmodell.
Alternately, Kriminal Kurtz, a character from a Joseph Conrad novel.
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Among my other bad habits. I collect Police badges. This is an East German Kriminal Polizei warrant disc. The secret police were referred to as the KRIPO. And, generally refers to all Detectives and undercover Officers.
I’ve always believed the K in PPK stood for Kriminal. Much like the Colt .38 duty gun with a short barrel and round grip became the Detective Special.
![97805]()
I’ve always believed the K in PPK stood for Kriminal. Much like the Colt .38 duty gun with a short barrel and round grip became the Detective Special.
But of course the Kripo of the Vopo did not carry the PPK at any point
Nice disc. You know the story behind the Berlin 9?
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Maybe. The logo on the back is different because they had to work in a city that was split in the middle. Any info you’ve got would be appreciated.
I was about 7 years old when we went back and visited Germany. (I was born there). We still had relatives on the east side. My mother and I were not allowed off the train as we had American passports but, my grandmother was still a German citizen and was allowed to meet her family, briefly in East Germany.
I swear, you could feel the change as we crossed the border into East Germany. Colors were subdued.Sounds were muted. It felt oppressive. You could actually feel it.
But, even unified Germany uses the same title.
![97815]()
I was about 7 years old when we went back and visited Germany. (I was born there). We still had relatives on the east side. My mother and I were not allowed off the train as we had American passports but, my grandmother was still a German citizen and was allowed to meet her family, briefly in East Germany.
I swear, you could feel the change as we crossed the border into East Germany. Colors were subdued.Sounds were muted. It felt oppressive. You could actually feel it.
But, even unified Germany uses the same title.
In the former "DDR", GDR in English, the " Kriminalpolizei (KRIPO)", Criminal Police in English, belonged to the "Volkspolizei (VOPO)", People's Police in English, and had nothing to do with the secret police, called "Staatssicherheit (STASI)", State Security in English.
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There is one hint that PPK is a abbreviation: In Walther's own pre-far factory publications we can read sometimes "P.P.K." which seems to be more than just a model code like "PPK" could be and for example "PPX" really is. I agree completely that the term "Kriminalmodell" was the gun's common name used often in the mentioned literature. But reading the slide's inscription "Mod. PPK" leads me conclusively to "Modell Polizeipistole Kriminal" instead of "Modell Polizeipistole Kriminalmodell" whith the full common name. The repetition of "Modell" sounds terrible in my ears.
For this reason I prefer the following nomenclature:
Mod. PP = Modell Polizeipistole, simply called Polizeipistole or just PP
Mod. PPK = Modell Polizeipistole Kriminal, simply called Kriminalmodell or just PPK
Indeed. The numbers 1 through 8 were assigned to the districts making up East Germany and issued to the Vopo-Kripo in 1950. Number 1 was (East)-Berlin.
The back said “Volkspolizei der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik”. For the Berlin discs, that became an immediate issue as East Berlin under Four-Power status was not legally part of the “German Democratic Republic”.
I don’t know who complained, but the 1 discs were immediately withdrawn and replaced by the 9 discs like yours, which just said “Deutsche Volkspolizei” on the back.
I’ve always liked the explanation that they attached the K to the back rather than the front (KPP = Kriminalpolizeipistole) because around 1930 in Germany any abbreviation with the letter sequence KP would have triggered the wrong associations within the prospective customer circles
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