New Luger Rig Police All matching 1918/1920

[Don M]

I now have a total of nine records of this marking in my database, with weapon numbers ranging from 17 to 120. Eight are on Imperial-era P08s with 1920 property stamps and sear safeties. One is on a mag only.

This suggests to me that this was a relatively small unit with perhaps 140 men, about the size of a large police Hundertschaft (company). If so, the "survival rate" of these is about 6%. Compared to other police units, this is relatively high and may indicate a high desirability among GI "souvenir" collectors.

Where the information is available (seven of the eight P08s), all have sear safeties indicating they were in police service in 1934 and probably through the war.

I would be cautious about jumping on the Konzentrationslager bandwagen. It is much too enticing! There are no known markings on pistols of concentration camp guards and it is very uncertain whether they would have been considered police for the purpose of installing sear safeties. Perhaps someone who has studied concentration camps will have a knowledgeable opinion about this.