MP40

The MP40 was a German automatic firearm that was widely deployed by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the Second World War. The weapon was developed by Heinrich Vollmer and produced from 1940 onwards, as a successor to the earlier MP38. The MP40 was compact, lightweight, and suitable for use in confined spaces, making it ideal for combat in built-up areas, vehicles, and trenches.
The weapon fired pistol ammunition in fully automatic mode and was loaded with a 32-round magazine. The folding stock made it easy to transport and conceal. MP40s were standard issue for non-commissioned officers, tank crews, paratroopers, and infantry unit commanders. The weapon was recognizable by its metal frame, the forward-folding stock, and the distinctive curved magazine on the underside.
In the occupied Netherlands, the MP40 was the face of German weaponry on the streets. Soldiers manning checkpoints, conducting raids, or patrolling through Dutch cities and towns carried the weapon visibly. For the civilian population, the MP40 was therefore not just a military object, but a symbol of oppression and fear. The sight of a soldier with an MP40 signified authority, threat, and the immediate presence of the occupier.
During raids on Jewish residents, arrests of resistance members, and the guarding of transports to labor and concentration camps, the MP40 was a constantly present instrument of the occupying forces. The weapon was thus at the heart of the daily reality of the occupation, not on the battlefield, but in the streets of ordinary Dutch cities and towns.
At the end of the war, during the liberation in 1944 and 1945, Allied soldiers faced the MP40 with their own weapons in combat through built-up areas. Abandoned or captured specimens sometimes ended up in the hands of resistance members or were kept as war trophies after the liberation. In museum collections, the MP40 is a common object, recognizable and laden with the history of occupation and violence.