In the organizer's words:

Friends and helpers on the one hand, street fighters on the other - this is the essential contrast that characterized the police of the Weimar Republic (1918-1933). In the first German democracy, the idea of a helpful, citizen-oriented police force was born - an idea that is still relevant today.

But history shows how quickly an aspiration can get lost in everyday reality: Bloody battles between political opponents characterized the last years of the republic. The police themselves became street fighters. In 1933, the National Socialists dealt democracy the death blow. The police became accomplices of the dictatorship.

The exhibition invites visitors to get to know the contradictory history of the Weimar Republic's police force. The focus is on the development of the Prussian police, with a look at the areas of present-day Lower Saxony. Selected originals from the museum collection provide an exciting journey through time.

Extensions on the former coexistence of the Prussian and Bremen police forces in the urban area of today's Bremerhaven and a look at developments up to 1945 complement the Lower Saxony traveling exhibition with local historical features.

The exhibition is a cooperation between the Research Center for the History of Police and Democracy/Police Academy of Lower Saxony, the Bremerhaven local police authority, the Bremerhaven Association for Police Prevention and Police History and the Bremerhaven Historical Museum.