by Starinov 12 Aug 2002, 21:51, Post Some participants were sent to concentration camps. For the most part, members of the church did not offer political resistance but simply wanted to ensure that organizational doctrine remained intact. [99] Personnel assigned to these auxiliary duties were often removed from the Gestapo chain of command and fell under the authority of branches of the SS. [158], The Gestapo was a secretive plainclothes agency and agents typically wore civilian suits. [36] An oddity of the system was that the prisoner had to sign his own Schutzhaftbefehl, an order declaring that the person had requested imprisonmentpresumably out of fear of personal harm. Diels was appointed with the title of chief of Abteilung Ia (Department 1a) of the Prussian Secret Police. [156], In 1997, Cologne transformed the former regional Gestapo headquarters in Colognethe EL-DE Hausinto a museum to document the Gestapo's actions. [66] According to Gestapo case files, the majority of those arrested for homosexuality were males between eighteen and twenty-five years of age. It is quite likely that you have come across the terms SS, SA, and Gestapo frequently when studying or reading world history, especially the history of Germany and other parts of Europe from the 1920s to the 1940s. The Gestapo was somewhat of a division of the SS, making SS the parent organization. [70], Between 1934 and 1938, opponents of the Nazi regime and their fellow travellers began to emerge. The Gestapo was officially declared to be answerable only and only to Hitler, and could not be reviewed by the judiciary in any way. [94] However, Gestapo leader Heinrich Mller was never tried, as he disappeared at the end of the war. When Church leaders (clergy) voiced their misgiving about the euthanasia program and Nazi racial policies, Hitler intimated that he considered them "traitors to the people" and went so far as to call them "the destroyers of Germany". After another two or three years in that grade, the female detective could advance to Kriminalobersekretrin. The resistance group, later discovered by the Gestapo because of a double agent of the Abwehr, was in contact with Allen Dulles, the head of the US Office of Strategic Services in Switzerland. The Gestapo is a short-lived police organization that existed around 1934-1939 only while the SS is longer since they existed for sixteen years around 1929-1945 before being abolished. The Gestapo ruthlessly eliminated opposition to the Nazis within Germany and its occupied territories and, in partnership with the Sicherheitsdienst (SD; "Security Service"), was responsible for the roundup of Jews throughout Europe for deportation to extermination camps. [14] Himmler and Heydrich both immediately began installing their own personnel in select positions, several of whom were directly from the Bavarian Political Police, such as Heinrich Mller, Franz Josef Huber and Josef Meisinger. Abwehr was the German military intelligence organization. However, this fact was cashed upon to invite empathy from the public as well as to add shock value. The Geheime Staatspolizei (German pronunciation: [ham tatspolitsa] (listen); transl. [33] In January 1943, Himmler appointed Ernst Kaltenbrunner RSHA chief; almost seven months after Heydrich had been assassinated. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. [27] Heinrich Mller was at that time the Gestapo operations chief. Just like its parent organization, the Schutzstaffel, the Gestapo was officially declared a criminal organization and banned in 1945. The Gestapo was the political police force of the Nazi state. The SS remained in existence until the end of the war. In 1929, Heinrich Himmler was appointed as the head of the SS. Both the Gestapo and Kripo became distinct departments within the RSHA. Deans were to be targeted as the "eyes and ears of the bishops" and a "vast network" established to monitor the activities of ordinary clergy: "The importance of this enemy is such that inspectors of security police and of the security service will make this group of people and the questions discussed by them their special concern". [102], In 1933, there was no purge of the German police forces. A similar co-ordination existed in the local offices. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Excellent Work! Department C (Administration and Party Affairs), central administrative office of the Gestapo, responsible for card files of all personnel including all officials. Opposition became more difficult. The stricter laws did not apply to lesbians as their behaviour was never officially criminalised, even though their behaviours were labelled "deviant". [43] The Maier group informed very early about the mass murder of Jews. [114] "V-men", as undercover Gestapo agents were known, were used to infiltrate Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and Communist opposition groups, but this was more the exception than the rule. ), however, is missing: a security-classified withdrawal card remains in place, and the withdrawn item is listed among the contents of an envelope of withdrawn items subsequently declassified by the IWG, however that document was not in the . "[141] Once the German armies advanced into enemy territory, they were accompanied by Einsatzgruppen staffed by officers from the Gestapo and Kripo, who usually operated in the rear areas to administer and police the occupied land. The word Gestapo is an abbreviation of the German term Geheime Staatspolizei, which translates to Secret State Police. In 1929 General Kurt von Schleicher combined all service units under his Ministry of Defence. Nevertheless, in practice there was jurisdictional overlap and operational conflict between the SD and Gestapo. [5] Up to 30 April 1944, at least 6,639 persons were arrested under Nacht und Nebel orders. [134] As historian Eric Johnson remarked, "The Nazi terror was selective terror", with its focus upon political opponents, ideological dissenters (clergy and religious organisations), career criminals, the Sinti and Roma population, handicapped persons, homosexuals and above all, upon the Jews. The gestapo were Nazi Germany's brutal secret-police. It became known as Amt (Dept) 4 of the RSHA and was considered a sister organisation to the Sicherheitsdienst (SD; Security Service). It was mainly used in riots, demonstrations, and the ransacking and destroying of Jewish homes and synagogues. [6] This gave Gring command of the largest police force in Germany. Whereas the Gestapo agents, were mostly of police background. [63], Between June 1942 and March 1943, student protests were calling for an end to the Nazi regime. Before establishing the SA as a paramilitary wing, it was known as a sports division in the party to avoid suspicion. Copyright Historyplex & Buzzle.com, Inc. Gestapo, abbreviation of Geheime Staatspolizei (German: Secret State Police), the political police of Nazi Germany. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). [133], While the total number of Gestapo officials was limited when contrasted against the represented populations, the average Volksgenosse (Nazi term for the "member of the German people") was typically not under observation, so the statistical ratio between Gestapo officials and inhabitants is "largely worthless and of little significance" according to some recent scholars. Though the Gestapo, the SS, and the SA were all created to serve Hitler and his Nazi regime, they differed somewhat in their functioning and the way they were controlled. [96][97], In total, there were some fifty-four regional Gestapo offices across the German federal states. It was officially declared to be a criminal organization and banned in Germany by the International Tribunal in 1945, and some of its surviving officials were arrested, tried, and executed for inhuman war crimes. In lieu of naming convention changes, the original construct of the SiPo, Gestapo, and Kripo cannot be fully comprehended as "discrete entities", since they ultimately formed "a conglomerate in which each was wedded to each other and the SS through its Security Service, the SD". Himmler also gained authority over all of Germany's uniformed law enforcement agencies, which were amalgamated into the new Ordnungspolizei (Orpo; Order Police), which became a national agency under SS general Kurt Daluege. [129] The "other" category associated with non-conformity included everything from a man who drew a caricature of Hitler to a Catholic teacher suspected of being lukewarm about teaching National Socialism in his classroom. Historian George C. Browder contends that there was a four-part process (authorisation, bolstering, routinisation, and dehumanisation) in effect which legitimised the psycho-social atmosphere conditioning members of the Gestapo to radicalised violence. The simple answer is that Josef Jakobs, Karel Richter and all of the Operation LENA spies who landed on the green shores of England were agents of the Abwehr, the military intelligence arm of the German Army. The SS also identified and arrested Jews in the German-occupied territories. Hosted by Andrey. 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Individuals in Austrian resistance groups led by Heinrich Maier also managed to pass along the plans and the location of production facilities for V-1, V-2 rockets, Tiger tanks, and aircraft (Messerschmitt Bf 109, Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet, etc.) The Gestapo ruthlessly eliminated opposition to the Nazis within Germany and its occupied territories and, in partnership with the Sicherheitsdienst (SD; Security Service), was responsible for the roundup of Jews throughout Europe for deportation to extermination camps. Nonetheless, operations performed either by German members of the Gestapo or auxiliaries from willing collaborators of other nationalities were inconsistent in both disposition and effectiveness. [50], Many parts of Germany (where religious dissent existed upon the Nazi seizure of power) saw a rapid transformation; a change as noted by the Gestapo in conservative towns such as Wrzburg, where people acquiesced to the regime either through accommodation, collaboration, or simple compliance. No reason was ever given for their arrest or executionjust the fact that they seemed suspicious was enough. [72], In May 1935, the Gestapo broke up and arrested members of the "Markwitz Circle", a group of former socialists in contact with Otto Strasser, who sought Hitler's downfall. In 1931, the SA was handed over to Ernst Rhm, who headed it till his murder in 1934. These units traveled to villages in the German-occupied regions and shot down civilians, men, women, and children included, and buried them in mass graves. [61] Homosexuals were correspondingly considered a threat to the Volksgemeinschaft (National Community). [109], Whether trained as police originally or not, Gestapo agents themselves were shaped by their socio-political environment. Employing biological metaphors, Best emphasised a doctrine which encouraged members of the Gestapo to view themselves as 'doctors' to the 'national body' in the struggle against "pathogens" and "diseases"; among the implied sicknesses were "communists, Freemasons, and the churchesand above and behind all these stood the Jews". [121], The popular picture of the Gestapo with its spies everywhere terrorising German society has been rejected by many historians as a myth invented after the war as a cover for German society's widespread complicity in allowing the Gestapo to work. As the war progressed, however, the number of people working for the Gestapo increased to approximately 150,000 men. After Heydrich (who was staunchly anti-Catholic and anti-Christian) was assassinated in Prague, his successor, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, relaxed some of the policies and then disbanded Department IVB (religious opponents) of the Gestapo. [50] Meanwhile, the SA and police occupied trade union headquarters, arrested functionaries, confiscated their property and assets; all by design so as to be replaced on 12 May by the German Labour Front (DAF), a Nazi organisation placed under the leadership of Robert Ley. [148] Other Danish civilians, like in many places across Europe, acted as Gestapo informants but this should not be seen as wholehearted support for the Nazi program, as motives for cooperation varied. [137] Lastly, the Gestapo's effectiveness, while aided by denunciations and the watchful eye of ordinary Germans, was more the result of the co-ordination and co-operation amid the various police organs within Germany, the assistance of the SS, and the support provided by the various Nazi Party organisations; all of them together forming an organised persecution network. It had the authority of preventive arrest, and its actions were not subject to judicial appeal.