museum as a learning resource and tool for his agency. Since then, many Washington, D.C.-area law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, have incorporated a tour of the museum as a regular part of recruit training. In addition, law enforcement
in-service training programs and the FBI National Academy have integrated tours and subsequent discussions about the
Holocaust into ethics and other general police training.

The permanent exhibit at the museum provides a unique opportunity to experience images and artifacts dating from the period 1933 to 1945. The museum’s exhibits include displays and videos on the Nazi’s rise to power; Nazi programs and policies to control and manipulate the German people; Nazi schemes to create a master race; Nazi persecution of Jews, Romas
(Gypsies), Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, and political opponents; and the “Final Solution” (the systematic extermination of Jews in Nazi-controlled territory). Also, the museum’s displays and videos provide insight into individual stories of Holocaust victims and rescuers and events at the end of World War II in Europe, such as the Nuremberg trials of accused Nazi war criminals.

Contemporary Implications
Material prepared by the museum staff and distributed to law enforcement officers provides interesting information concerning
the state of law enforcement in Germany prior to the Nazi assumption of power and the eventual involvement of German police in Nazi programs and policies. The material also includes explanations on how the Nazis assumed control of local and state police and integrated them into the Nazi’s plans to control all aspects of German society.

Because Nazi programs were so extensive, they necessarily involved the control and use of German law enforcement authorities. However, it is often noted during tours that individuals from all professions in Germany played a role in supporting and furthering Nazi goals, including teachers, doctors, and judges. For example, doctors and scientists helped eliminate undesirables in society through euthanasia. This primarily involved killing individuals with mental and physical handicaps. Also, scientists and researchers assisted in programs to create a master race through the use of eugenics and the promotion of selective breeding.

Because Nazi programs were carried out by a modern technologically advanced society, it is interesting to compare and contrast the activities of German law enforcement in the 1930s and 1940s and challenges facing American law enforcement officials today. For instance, the German police suffered from budgetary restraints during the Weimar Republic, the government prior to the Nazi assumption of power. Funding was cut for hiring, training, promotions, and raises, and the police had little money for such items as new forensic equipment and firearms.

The economic distress of the Weimar Republic contributed to a rapid increase in crime and organized criminal activity. Restrictions on law enforcement authority frustrated the police. The courts dismissed some criminal cases because the police failed to safeguard the rights of the accused. The emergence of a free press highly critical of police operations exacerbated these failures. Public criticism fostered a siege mentality among the police, who resented that the public blamed them when constitutional

Special Agent McCormack serves in the Ethics Unit at the FBI Academy.