Germany lacks specific regulations, unlike most EU countries with well-established legal frameworks for private investigation. Despite this, numerous detective agencies have carved their niche in the market.
However, this hasn’t always been the case. The first detective agency in Germany was established in 1860 by S. Salomon, a real estate agent who sought to protect commercial interests in Stettin (now known as Szczecin, Poland). At the time, Stettin was part of Germany, situated just 130km from Berlin and a few kilometers from the eastern border of Germany with Poland.
Salomon named his agency the “Investigative Office for the Protection of Commercial Interests in Szczecin and the Province of Pomerania.” Following Salomon, HL Römer founded another detective agency in 1861, the “Detective and Legal Office Rex.”
During the industrialization era, the first detective agency in Germany responded to the growing demand for information about business partners, mirroring English and American models of detective work. As economic interests flourished, so did civil interests, leading to the establishment of numerous detective agencies in the following years.
In 1896, a central state agency named “Reichsverband Deutscher Detektive” was founded to regulate the detective agency market.
Due to the heightened security situation, Germany had 1,321 detective agencies in 1925. However, with the rise of the National Socialists, demand for detectives waned, and when Hitler came to power in 1939, detective work was prohibited.
After the fall of the Nazi regime, detective activity experienced a revival in post-war Germany, as the police force struggled to protect citizens’ rights and combat crime effectively. In 1946, the association “Deutscher Detektive wurde gegründet” was formed and still exists today. Just four months after its founding, it had over 100 members and received official permission to operate through a letter addressed to the mayor of Munich. The ban on detective work persisted only in the eastern part of Germany under Soviet influence.
Today, Germany boasts approximately 2,700 individuals engaged in detective work, operating without a clear legal framework. Nevertheless, specific rules must be followed for evidence gathered by detectives to be admissible in court. The Trade Regulation Act governs the detective activity. Additionally, detective work is considered an auxiliary legal activity, and it’s not uncommon to find agencies working as joint offices with lawyers.
As mentioned at the beginning of this text, despite the absence of a clear legal framework regulating detective activities, the market hosts numerous agencies specializing in private or commercial sectors. Some exclusively handle issues involving individuals, while others focus solely on corporate matters. Moreover, several specialized forensic agencies operate in information security, labor relations, insurance, debt collection, and more.
However, all involved in detective work abide by one fundamental rule – the existence of a legitimate interest on the client’s part, which must be unequivocal.