Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice set of German Pre-WWII Weimar Period hinged police handcuffs, made with aluminum frames / cheek plates and steel / iron strands with ratchets. They measure approximately 9 3/4 inches across, and are in very good condition, showing wear and oxidation commensurate with age. The cuffs are made of two identical pieces attached together at the hinge 180 degrees apart, and they are marked on the locking mechanism with:

DEUTSCHE ✠ POLIZEI
     D.R.        PAT.
AUGUST SCHWARTZ
BERLIN S.W.11

Below this is the keyhole with ZU and AUF, indicating which direction to turn the key to release the lock and then the cuffs (AUF) or which direction locks them (ZU). When the cuffs are locked, the ratchet cannot be pushed in any farther forward, which prevents the wearer from pressing them farther closed, which could cause injury. This would be less than ideal, as having to remove cuffs that are too tight would run the risk of the prisoner escaping.

August Schwartz of Berlin is a known maker of these handcuffs from the Weimar period, and we have found many other examples by this maker. As best we can tell, the cuffs are fully functional, however these are being sold for collector and display purposes only.

Ready to research and display.

The Weimar Republic (Weimarer Republik), officially the German Reich (Deutsches Reich), also referred to as the German People's State (Deutscher Volksstaat) or simply the German Republic (Deutsche Republik), was the German state from 1918 to 1933. As a term, it is an unofficial historical designation that derives its name from the city of Weimar, where its constitutional assembly first took place. The official name of the republic remained the German Reich as it had been during the German Empire because of the German tradition of sub-states.

Although commonly translated as "German Empire," Reich here better translates as "realm" in that the term does not necessarily have monarchical connotations in itself. The Reich was changed from a constitutional monarchy into a republic. In English, the country was usually known simply as Germany, and the Weimar Republic name became mainstream only in the 1930s.

The Reichswehr (Realm Defense) formed the military organization of Germany from 1919 until 1935, when it was united with the new Wehrmacht (Defense Force). At the end of World War I, the forces of the German Empire were disbanded, the men returning home individually or in small groups. Many of them joined the Freikorps (Free Corps), a collection of volunteer paramilitary units that were involved in suppressing the German Revolution and border clashes between 1918 and 1923.

The Reichswehr was limited to a standing army of 100,000 men, and a navy of 15,000. The establishment of a general staff was prohibited. Heavy weapons such as artillery above the caliber of 105 mm (for naval guns, above 205 mm), armored vehicles, submarines and capital ships were forbidden, as were aircraft of any kind. Compliance with these restrictions was monitored until 1927 by the Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control. The Reichsmarine was the Navy Division of the Reichswehr.