Citizendia

The Gestapo (help·info) (contraction of Geheime Staatspolizei: "Secret State Police") was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. In Traditional grammar, a contraction is the formation of a new Word from one or more individual words Secret police (sometimes political police) are a Police agency which operates in Secrecy to maintain National security against internal Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Under the overall administration of the Schutzstaffel (SS), it was administered by the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) ("head office of the Reich's security service") and was considered a dual organization of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) ("security service") and also a suboffice of the Sicherheitspolizei (SIPO) ("security police"). The ( German for "Protective Squadron" abbreviated SS - or ( Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the The RSHA, or Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Security Head Office was a subordinate organization of the SS. An organization (or organisation &mdash see spelling differences) is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals which controls its own performance and The Sicherheitsdienst (SD Security Service was primarily the Intelligence service of the SS and the NSDAP. The Sicherheitspolizei (security police often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Nazi Germany to describe the state political and criminal investigation security

Contents

History

Heinrich Himmler (left) chief of the SS, with Adolf Hitler (right)
Heinrich Himmler (left) chief of the SS, with Adolf Hitler (right)

As part of the deal in which Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany, Hermann Göring was named as interior minister of Prussia. Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945 was a Nazi German politician and head of the Schutzstaffel (SS. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately The Head of government of Germany is called Chancellor (Kanzler Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member Prussia ( Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Prūsija Prūsija Prusy Old Prussian: Prūsa) was most recently a historic state This gave him command of the largest police force in Germany. Soon afterward, Göring detached the political and intelligence departments from the police and filled their ranks with Nazis. On April 26, 1933; Göring merged the two units as the Gestapo. Events 1467 - The miraculous image in Our Lady of Good Counsel appear in Genazzano, Italy. He originally wanted to name it the Secret Police Office (German: Geheimes Polizeiamt), but discovered the German initials "GPA" would be too similar to the Soviet GPU. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 The State Political Directorate was the Secret police of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic ( RSFSR) and the Soviet Union from 1922 until [1]

Its first commander was Rudolf Diels, a protégé of Göring. Rudolf Diels ( December 16, 1900 - November 18, 1957) was a German politician Diels was best known as the primary interrogator of Marinus van der Lubbe after the Reichstag fire. Marinus (Rinus van der Lubbe ( 13 January, 1909 – 10 January, 1934) was a Dutch council communist accused of and eventually On 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building was subject to an arson attack and as a result seen as the pivotal event in the establishment of Nazi Germany Göring himself took over the Gestapo in 1934 and urged Hitler to extend the agency's authority throughout Germany. Year 1934 ( MCMXXXIV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. This represented a radical departure from German tradition, which held that law enforcement was (mostly) a lander (state) and local matter. In this, he ran into conflict with Heinrich Himmler, who was police president of the second most powerful German state, Bavaria. Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945 was a Nazi German politician and head of the Schutzstaffel (SS. Bavaria ( German:, with an area of 70553 Km² (27241 square miles and almost 12

In April 1934, Göring and Himmler agreed to put aside their differences (due in large part to a combined hatred of the Sturmabteilung) and Göring transferred full authority over the Gestapo to Himmler, who was also named chief of all German police forces outside Prussia. The, abbreviated SA, ( German for "Assault detachment" or "Assault section" usually translated as " stormtroop(ers In 1936, most German police forces were united under Himmler's command. Year 1936 ( MCMXXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. At that point, the Gestapo was incorporated into the Sicherheitspolizei and considered a sister organization of the Sicherheitsdienst.

The Gestapo had the authority to investigate treason, espionage and sabotage cases, and cases of criminal attacks on the Nazi Party and Germany. In Law, treason is the Crime that covers some of the more serious acts of disloyalty to one's sovereign or Nation. Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening an enemy oppressor or employer through subversion obstruction disruption and/or destruction The, officially National Socialist German Workers' Party, ( abbreviated NSDAP) was a Political party in Germany between 1919 and 1945 Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. A law passed by the government in 1936 gave the Gestapo carte blanche to operate without judicial oversight. A blank cheque ( blank check, carte blanche) in the literal sense is a Cheque that has no numerical value written in but is already signed Judicial review is the power of the courts to annul the acts of the executive and/or the legislative power where it finds them incompatible with a higher norm The Gestapo was specifically exempted from responsibility to administrative courts, where citizens normally could sue the state to conform to laws. In law a lawsuit is a civil action brought before a Court in which the party commencing the action the Plaintiff, seeks a legal or equitable remedy As early as 1935, however, a Prussian administrative court had ruled that the Gestapo's actions were not subject to judicial review. Year 1935 ( MCMXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. [1]

A further law passed later in the year gave the Gestapo responsibility for setting up and administering concentration camps. Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people commonly in large groups without trial Also in 1935, Reinhard Heydrich became head of the Gestapo and Heinrich Müller, chief of operations; Müller would later assume overall command of the Gestapo after Heydrich's assassination in 1942 and Ernst Kaltenbrunner would take over as overall head of the RSHA and SD. Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( 7 March 1904 &ndash 4 June 1942) was an SS - Obergruppenführer, chief Heinrich Müller (born April 28, 1900, date of death unknown aka "Gestapo Müller" was head of the Gestapo, the political police of Nazi Ernst Kaltenbrunner (4 October 1903 &ndash 16 October 1946 was a senior Nazi official during World War II. Adolf Eichmann was Müller's direct subordinate and head of department IV, section B4, which dealt with Jews. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************

The power of the Gestapo most open to misuse was called Schutzhaft - "protective custody", a euphemism for the power to imprison people without judicial proceedings. Protective custody is a type of imprisonment (or care to protect a prisoner (or other person from harm either from outside sources or other prisoners A euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener or in the case of doublespeak The person imprisoned even had to sign his or her own Schutzhaftbefehl, an order declaring that the person had requested imprisonment (ostensibly out of fear of personal harm). In addition, thousands of political prisoners throughout Germany -- and from 1941, throughout the occupied territories under the Night and Fog Decree -- simply disappeared under Gestapo custody. A political prisoner is someone held in Prison or otherwise detained perhaps under House arrest, for his or her involvement in political activity Year 1941 ( MCMXLI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (the link will display 1941 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A forced disappearance occurs when an organization forces a person to vanish from Public view either by Murder or by simple Sequestration.

During World War II, the Gestapo was expanded to around 46,000 members. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including

Keeping Hitler in power

By February and March 1942, student protests were calling for an end to the Nazi regime. These included the non-violent resistance of Hans and Sophie Scholl, two leaders of the White Rose student group. Hans Scholl ( 22 September 1918 - 22 February 1943) was a core and founding member of the White Rose resistance movement Sophia Magdalena Scholl ( 9 May 1921 - 22 February 1943) was a member of the White Rose Non-violent resistance Also see Die weiße Rose (opera and Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage The White Rose (die Weiße Rose was a non-violent However, resistance groups and those who were in moral or political opposition to the Nazis were stalled by the fear of reprisals from the Gestapo. In fact, reprisals did come in response to the protests. Fearful of an internal overthrow, the forces of Himmler and the Gestapo were unleashed on the opposition. The first five months of 1943 witnessed thousands of arrests and executions as the Gestapo exercised their powers over the German public. Student opposition leaders were executed in late February, and a major opposition organization, the Oster Circle, was destroyed in April 1943. Hans Oster ( August 9, 1887 &ndash April 9, 1945) was deputy head of the Abwehr, under Wilhelm Canaris, and a dedicated

The German opposition was in an unenviable position by the late spring and early summer of 1943. On one hand, it was next to impossible for them to overthrow Hitler and the party; on the other, the Allied demand for an unconditional surrender meant no opportunity for a compromise peace, which left the people no option (in their eyes) other than continuing the military struggle.

Nevertheless, some Germans did speak out and show signs of protest during the summer of 1943. Despite fear of the Gestapo after the mass arrests and executions of the spring, the opposition still plotted and planned. Some Germans were convinced that it was their duty to apply all possible expedients to end the war as quickly as possible; that is, to further the German defeat by all available means. The Gestapo cracked down ruthlessly on the dissidents in Germany, just as they did everywhere else.

The fall of Benito Mussolini gave the opposition plotters more hope to be able to achieve similar results in Germany and seemed to provide a propitious moment to assassinate Hitler and overthrow the Nazi regime. Several Hitler assassination plots were planned, albeit mostly in abstract terms. The only serious attempt was carried out under the codename Operation Valkyrie, in which several officers attempted to assassinate Hitler in a coup d'état. On July 20, 1944, Colonel Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg brought a bomb-laden suitcase into a briefing room where Hitler was holding a meeting. Events 1304 - Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle - King Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold Year 1944 ( MCMXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg ( 15 November 1907 &ndash 21 July 1944) was a German army officer The bomb went off and several were killed. Hitler, along with several others, was wounded, but his life was saved when the suitcase was unwittingly moved away by a meeting presenter. Hitler was shielded from the blast by the conference table, leaving him with minor injuries. Subsequently about 5,000 people were arrested and approximately 200, including von Stauffenberg, were executed in connection with the attempt, some on the very same day.

During June, July and August, the Gestapo continued to move swiftly against the opposition, rendering any organized opposition impossible. Arrests and executions were common. Terror against the people had become a way of life. A second major reason was that the opposition's peace feelers to the Western Allies did not meet with success.

This was in part due to the aftermath of the Venlo incident of 1939, when Gestapo agents posing as anti-Nazis in the Netherlands kidnapped two British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) officers lured to a meeting to discuss peace terms. The Venlo Incident in 1939 was a Gestapo -engineered capture of two British SIS agents in the early months of World War II, on November 9, The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands The Secret Intelligence Service ( SIS) colloquially known as MI6 is the United Kingdom 's external Intelligence agency. That prompted Winston Churchill to ban any further contact with the German opposition. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC, PC (Can ( 30 November 1874 In addition, the British and Americans did not want to deal with anti-Nazis because they were fearful that the Soviet Union would believe they were attempting to make deals behind the Soviets' back. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991

Nuremberg Trials

Between November 14, 1945 and October 3, 1946, the allies established an International Military Tribunal (IMT) to try 24 major Nazi war criminals and six groups for crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Events 1533 - Conquistadors from Spain under the leadership of Francisco Pizarro arrive in Cajamarca, Inca Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar Events 42 BC - First Battle of Philippi: Triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian fight an indecisive battle with Caesar's Year 1946 ( MCMXLVI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Nuremberg Trials were a series of trials most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political military and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after

Leaders, organizers, instigators and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a common plan or conspiracy to commit the crimes specified were declared responsible for all acts performed by any persons in execution of such plan. The official positions of defendants as heads of state or holders of high government offices were not to free them from responsibility or mitigate their punishment; nor was the fact that a defendant acted pursuant to an order of a superior to excuse him from responsibility, although it might be considered by the IMT in mitigation of punishment.

At the trial of any individual member of any group or organization, the IMT was authorized to declare (in connection with any act of which the individual was convicted) that the group or organization to which he belonged was a criminal organization. When a group or organization was thus declared criminal, the competent national authority of any signatory had the right to bring individuals to trial for membership in that organization, with the criminal nature of the group or organization assumed proved.

These groups -- the Nazi party and government leadership, the German General Staff and High Command (OKW); the Sturmabteilung (SA); the Schutzstaffel (SS), including the Sicherheitsdienst (SD); and the Gestapo -- had an aggregate membership exceeding 2 million, making a large number of their members liable to trial if the organizations were convicted. Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German For other uses of OKW see OKW (disambiguation. The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ( OKW) ( English: "High Command The, abbreviated SA, ( German for "Assault detachment" or "Assault section" usually translated as " stormtroop(ers The ( German for "Protective Squadron" abbreviated SS - or ( Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the The Sicherheitsdienst (SD Security Service was primarily the Intelligence service of the SS and the NSDAP.

The trials began in November 1945, and on October 1, 1946 the IMT rendered its judgment on 21 top officials of the Third Reich: 18 were sentenced to death or to extensive prison terms, and 3 acquitted. Events 331 BC - Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela. The IMT also convicted three of the groups: the Nazi leadership corps, the SS (including the SD) and the Gestapo. Gestapo members Hermann Göring and Arthur Seyss-Inquart were individually convicted. Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member Arthur Seyss-Inquart (in German Seyß-Inquart, born Arthur Zajtich (22 July 1892 - 16 October 1946 was a prominent lawyer and later Nazi official in pre-

Three groups were acquitted of collective war crimes charges, but this did not relieve individual members of those groups from conviction and punishment under the denazification program. Denazification (Entnazifizierung was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society culture press economy judiciary and politics of any Members of the three convicted groups were subject to apprehension and trial as war criminals by the national, military, and occupation courts of the four allied powers. And, even though individual members of the convicted groups might be acquitted of war crimes, they still remained subject to trial under the denazification program.

Aftermath

The Gestapo ceased to exist after the Nuremberg Trials. The Nuremberg Trials were a series of trials most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political military and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after

In 1997 Cologne transformed the former regional Gestapo headquarters in that city -- the EL-DE Haus -- into a museum to document the organization's past actions. EL-DE Haus, officially the National Socialist Documentation Center, located in Cologne, is the former headquarters of the Gestapo and now a museum documenting

In various countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Gestapo is used as a derogatory name for all police forces, but particularly the communist-era riot police, such as ZOMO. Central Europe is the Region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and Eastern Europe is a general term that refers to the Geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the European continent. Riot control refers to the measures used by police military or other forces to control, disperse and arrest civilians that are involved in a Riot, demonstration Zmotoryzowane Odwody Milicji Obywatelskiej ( ZOMO) ( Motorized Reserves of the Citizens' Militia) were Paramilitary Riot police formations Elsewhere, the term is commonly used to describe any group involved in over-zealous enforcement of specific tastes or views (e. g. "the style Gestapo", "the political-correctness Gestapo").

Organization

From its conception the Gestapo was a well-established bureaucratic mechanism, having been created from the Prussian Secret Police. The Prussian Secret Police ( Preußische Geheimpolizei) was the State police agency of the German state of Prussia in the 19th century and early In 1934 the Gestapo was transferred from the Prussian Interior Ministry to the authority of the Schutzstaffel (SS), and for the next five years underwent a massive expansion. The ( German for "Protective Squadron" abbreviated SS - or ( Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the

In 1939 the entire Gestapo was placed under the authority of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA), the main office of the SS. The RSHA, or Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Reich Security Head Office was a subordinate organization of the SS. Within the RSHA the Gestapo was known as Amt IV ("office IV"). The internal organization of the group is outlined below.

Referat N: Central Intelligence Office

The Central Command Office of the Gestapo, formed in 1941. Before 1939 the Gestapo command was under the authority of the office of the Sicherheitspolizei und Sicherheitsdienst (SD), to which the commanding general of the Gestapo answered. The Sicherheitspolizei (security police often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Nazi Germany to describe the state political and criminal investigation security The Sicherheitsdienst (SD Security Service was primarily the Intelligence service of the SS and the NSDAP. Between 1939 and 1941 the Gestapo was run directly through the overall command of the RSHA.

Department A (Enemies)

Department B (Sects and Churches)

Department C (Administration and Party Affairs)

The central administrative office of the Gestapo, responsible for card files of all personnel.

Department D (Occupied Territories)

Department E (Counterintelligence)

Local offices

The local offices of the Gestapo, known as Staatspolizeistellen and Staatspolizeileitstellen, answered to a local commander known as the Inspekteur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD ("inspector of the security police and security services") who, in turn, was under the dual command of Referat N of the Gestapo and also his local SS and Police Leader. SS and Police Leader (SS- und Polizeiführer was a title for senior Nazi officials that commanded large units of the SS during and prior to World War II The classic image of the Gestapo officer, dressed in trench coat and hat, can be attributed to Gestapo personnel assigned to local offices in German cities and larger towns. A trench coat or trenchcoat is a Raincoat made of Waterproof heavy-duty Cotton drill or Poplin, Wool Gabardine A hat is a headcovering It may be worn for protection against the elements for religious reasons for safety or as a Fashion accessory. This image seems to have been popularized by the assassination of the former Chancellor General Kurt von Schleicher in 1934. General von Schleicher and his wife were gunned down in their Berlin home by three men dressed in black trench coats and wearing black fedoras. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. The killers of General von Schleicher were widely believed to have been Gestapo men. At a press conference held later the same day Hermann Göring was asked by foreign correspondents to respond to a hot rumour that General von Schleicher had been murdered in his home. Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member Göring stated that the Gestapo had attempted to arrest Schleicher, but that he had been "shot while attempting to resist arrest".

Auxiliary duties

The Gestapo also maintained offices at all Nazi concentration camps, held an office on the staff of the SS and Police Leaders, and supplied personnel as needed to formations such as the Einsatzgruppen. See also List of Nazi-German concentration camps, Extermination camp Prior to and during World War II, Nazi Germany under Hitler maintained Einsatzgruppen ( German: "task forces" "intervention groups" were Paramilitary groups formed by Heinrich Himmler and Personnel assigned to these auxiliary duties were often removed from the Gestapo chain of command and fell under the authority of other branches of the SS.

Uniforms

See also: SS uniform

Insignia pins worn on SS commissioned and non-commissioned officers' hats: the SS version of the national eagle and the Totenkopf
Insignia pins worn on SS commissioned and non-commissioned officers' hats: the SS version of the national eagle and the Totenkopf

The black SS Uniform was abolished in 1939. SS uniform refers to the various uniforms worn by the units and departments of the Schutzstaffel (SS between 1925 and 1945 Totenkopf (Plural Totenköpfe) is the German word for "skull" (literally "dead man's head" and is used to describe a military After the Gestapo came under the authority of the RSHA all SD and Gestapo branches were issued field-gray uniforms. The wartime gray uniform was worn in office and while on service duties and in occupied countries because agents in civilian clothes had been shot by members of the Wehrmacht thinking that they were partisans. When Gestapo agents were in service outside their offices they wore civilian clothes. Thus with the exception of very high-ranking members of the Gestapo -- people like Heinrich Müller -- Gestapo people generally wore civilian clothing in keeping with the secret, plain-clothes nature of their work. Heinrich Müller can refer to Heinrich Müller (Gestapo Heinrich Müller (physiologist There were in fact very strict protocols protecting the identity of Gestapo field personnel. In most cases, when asked for identification, an operative was only required to present his warrant disc. This identified the operative as Gestapo without revealing personal identity and agents, except when ordered to do so by an authorized official, were not required to show picture identification, something all non-Gestapo people were expected to do.

Daily operations

Contrary to the popular belief, the Gestapo was not an omnipotent agency that had agents in every nook and cranny of German society. "V-men", as undercover Gestapo agents were known, were used to infiltrate Social Democratic and Communist opposition groups, but this was the exception, not the rule[2]. The Communist Party of Germany ( German Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands &ndash KPD) was a major political party in Germany between 1918 The District Office in Nuremberg, which had the responbility for all of northern Bavaria employed a total of 80-100 informers in the years 1943-1945[3]. Bavaria ( German:, with an area of 70553 Km² (27241 square miles and almost 12 The Gestapo office in Saarbrücken had at its service 50 informers in 1939[4]. Saarbrücken (ˈzaːɐ̯ˈbrʏkn in German; Sarrebruck is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany.

As historian Robert Gellately's analysis of the local offices established, the Gestapo was for the most part made up of bureaucrats and clerical workers who depended upon denunciations by ordinary Germans for their information[5]. Robert Gellately is a Newfoundland born Canadian academic who is one of the leading historians of modern Europe particularly during World War II and the Cold War era Indeed, the Gestapo was overwhelmed with denunciations and spent most of its time sorting out the credible from the less credible denunciations[6]. Far from being an all-powerful agency that knew everything about what was happening in German society, the local offices were under-staffed, over-worked officers who struggled with the paper load caused by so many denunciations[7]. The ratio of Gestapo officers to the population of the areas they were responsible for was extremely low; for example, for Lower Franconia, with a population of about one million in the 1930s, there was only one Gestapo office with 28 staff, half of whom were clerical workers[8]. Lower Franconia (Unterfranken is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria (seven regions Germany (22 regions in five Before the World War II, in the cities of Stettin and Frankfurt am Main, total Gestapo personnel were 41 for both cities[9]. The city of Hanover had only 42 Gestapo personnel, Bielefeld 18, Braunschweig 26, Bremen 44, and Dortmund 76[10]. Hanover (i ( haˈnoːfɐ on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony ( Niedersachsen Bielefeld (ˈbiːləfɛlt is a district-free town in the Regierungsbezirk Detmold in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Braunschweig, known as Brunswiek in Low German, is a city of 245810 people (as of 31 December 2007 located in Lower Saxony, Germany. Bremen (ˈbʁeːmən is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany (official name Stadtgemeinde Bremen / City Municipality of Bremen Dortmund (ˈdɔʁtmʊnt is a City in Germany, located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. In Düsseldorf, the local Gestapo office, which had the responsiblity for the entire Lower Rhine region, which comprised 4 million people had 281 employees[11]. Düsseldorf (ˈdʏsəldɔɐf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. After 1939, when many Gestapo personnel were called up for war-related work, the level of overwork and understaffing at the local offices was much increased[12]. Furthermore, for information about what was happening in German society, the Gestapostellen were most part dependent upon these denunciations[13]. 80% of all Gestapo investigations were started in response to information provided by denunciations by "ordinary" Germans; while 10% were started in response in to information provided by other branches of the German government and another 10% started in response to information that the Gestapo itself unearthed[14].

Thus, it was ordinary Germans by their willingness to denounce one another who supplied the Gestapo with the information that determined who the Gestapo arrested[15]. The popular picture of the Gestapo with its spies everywhere terrorizing German society has been firmly rejected by most historians as a myth invented after the war as a cover for German society's widespread complicty in allowing the Gestapo to work [16]. Work done by social historians such as Detlev Peukert, Robert Gellately, Reinhard Mann, Inge Marssolek, René Otto, Klaus-Michael Mallamann and Paul Gerhard, which by focusing on the local offices were doing have shown the Gestapo's almost total dependence for denunciations from ordinary Germans, and very much discredited the older "Big Brother" picture with the Gestapo having its eyes and ears everywhere[17]. Social history is an area of historical study considered by some to be a Social science that attempts to view historical evidence from the point of view of developing Detlev Peukert (1950-May 17 1990 was a Left-wing German Historian, noted for his studies of the relationship between what he called the "spirit of science" Robert Gellately is a Newfoundland born Canadian academic who is one of the leading historians of modern Europe particularly during World War II and the Cold War era

Counterintelligence

The Polish government in exile in London during World War II received sensitive military information about Nazi Germany from agents and informants throughout Europe. The Government of the Polish Republic in Exile was the government of Poland after the country had been occupied by Germany and the Soviet Union during September–October London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including After Germany conquered Poland in the fall of 1939, Gestapo officials believed that they had neutralized Polish intelligence activities.

Cooperation with the NKVD

In March 1941 representatives of the Soviet secret police (NKVD) and Gestapo met for one week in Zakopane, to coordinate the pacification of resistance in Poland (see: Gestapo-NKVD Conferences). The NKVD ( НКВД, ru Народный Комиссариат Внутренних Дел ''Narodnyy Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del'') or People's Commissariat Zakopane is a town in southern Poland with some 28000 inhabitants (2004 situated in Lesser Poland Province since 1999 (in 1975–98 it was part of Nowy Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland The Gestapo-NKVD conferences were a series of meetings organized in late 1939 and early 1940 whose purpose was the mutual cooperation between Nazi Germany and Soviet Union. The Soviet Union delivered hundreds of German and Austrian communists to the Gestapo, as unwanted foreigners, together with relevant documents. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 However an advanced Polish intelligence network developed throughout Europe to provide information to the Allies.

Some of the Polish information about the movement of German police and SS units to the East during the German invasion of the Soviet Union in the fall of 1941 was similar to information British intelligence secretly got through intercepting and decoding German police and SS messages sent by radio telegraphy. Operation Barbarossa ( Unternehmen Barbarossa) was the Codename for Nazi Germany 's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 The term Wireless Telegraphy is a historic term used today as applied to early Radio Telegraph communications techniques and practices

In 1942, the Gestapo discovered a cache of Polish intelligence documents in Prague and were surprised to see that Polish agents and informants had been gathering detailed military information and smuggling it out to London, via Budapest and Istanbul. Prague (ˈprɑːg Praha (ˈpraɦa see also other names) is the Capital and Largest city of the Czech Republic. Budapest ( also /ˈbʊ-/) is the capital city of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary it serves as the country's principal Political, Istanbul (historically Byzantium and later Constantinople; see the other Names of Istanbul) is the largest city of Turkey The Poles identified and tracked German military trains to the Eastern front and identified four Ordnungspolizei ("order police") battalions sent to conquered areas of the Soviet Union in October 1941 and engaged in war crimes and mass murder. The Ordnungspolizei (Orpo was the name for the uniformed Regular German Police force in existence during the period of Nazi Germany, notably

Polish agents also gathered detailed information about the morale of German soldiers in the East. After uncovering a sample of the information the Poles had reported, Gestapo officials concluded that Polish intelligence activity represented a very serious danger to Germany. As late as June 6, 1944, Heinrich Müller, concerned about the leakage of information to the Allies, set up a special unit called Sonderkommando Jerzy that was meant to root out the Polish intelligence network in western and southwestern Europe. Events 1508 - Maximilian I Holy Roman Emperor, is defeated in Friulia by Venetian forces; he is forced to sign a three-year Year 1944 ( MCMXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

See also

Notable individuals

Agents and officers

German Gestapo agents arrested after the fall of Liège, Belgium, are herded together in a cell in the citadel of Liège
German Gestapo agents arrested after the fall of Liège, Belgium, are herded together in a cell in the citadel of Liège

People executed by Gestapo

In popular culture

Sometimes the word Gestapo is used colloquially for other organizations which are felt to be tyrannical. The Great Escape is a popular 1963 War film about the 250 Allied prisoners of war escaping from a German POW camp Enhanced interrogation techniques, rough interrogation, the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation methods, and alternative set of procedures are The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those SS - Oberscharführer Franz Bürkl was a Gestapo officer in the Nazi-occupied Poland. Rudolf Diels ( December 16, 1900 - November 18, 1957) was a German politician Gerhard Friedrich Ernst Flesch ( 8 October 1909 - 28 February 1948) was a German Nazi executed for War crimes Hans Bernd Gisevius ( July 14, 1904 &ndash February 23, 1974) was a German Diplomat and intelligence officer during Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member Siegfried Wolfgang Fehmer ( 10 January 1911 in München - 16 March 1948) was a German Gestapo officer during Ernst Kaltenbrunner (4 October 1903 &ndash 16 October 1946 was a senior Nazi official during World War II. Herbert Kappler (b 23 September 1907, Stuttgart &ndash d 9 February 1978, Soltau) an Obersturmbannführer Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945 was a Nazi German politician and head of the Schutzstaffel (SS. Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( 7 March 1904 &ndash 4 June 1942) was an SS - Obergruppenführer, chief Heinrich Müller can refer to Heinrich Müller (Gestapo Heinrich Müller (physiologist Walter (correctly Walther) Friedrich Schellenberg ( January 16[[ 910]] &ndash March 31[[ 952]] was a German Nazi who Dr Karl Eberhard Schöngarth ( April 22, 1903 &ndash May 16, 1946) was a German Nazi associated with The Holocaust Karl Josef Silberbauer ( June 21 1911 &ndash 1972 was a Nazi SD officer holding the rank of SS - Oberscharführer Max Ernst Gustav Friedrich Wielen was the Kripo police chief at Breslau. Harry Baur (born 12 April 1880 as Henri-Marie Baur in Montrouge Seine ( Hauts-de-Seine) Île-de-France &ndash died 8 April This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Marc Léopold Benjamin Bloch ( July 6, 1886 – June 16, 1944) was a French Historian of medieval France in the This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Berty Albrecht was a French Resistance Fighter born Berthe Wild at Marseille, 15 February, 1893. The French Resistance is the collective name used for the French Resistance movements which fought against the Nazi German Guy Môquet ( 26 April 1924 — 22 October 1941) was a young French Communist militant The French Resistance is the collective name used for the French Resistance movements which fought against the Nazi German Dietrich Bonhoeffer ˈdiːtrɪç ˈboːnhøfɐ ( February 4, 1906 &ndash April 9, 1945) was a German Lutheran Squadron Leader Roger Joyce Bushell RAF ( August 30, 1910 - March 29, 1944) was a South African born Auxiliary Air Stalag Luft III ( Sta mm' lag' er Luft, or Permanent Camp for Airmen #3 was a German Air Force Prisoner-of-war camp during Wilhelm Franz Canaris ( January 1, 1887 &ndash April 9, 1945) was a German Admiral and head of the Abwehr The Abwehr was a German intelligence organization from 1921 to 1944 Constant Chevillon (born October 26 1880 in Annoire ( Jura) died March 23 1944 in Lyon was Grand Master of the Freemasonry Rite of Memphis-Misraïm Charles Delestraint ( March 12, 1879 - April 19, 1945) was a French general and member of the French Resistance during The French Resistance is the collective name used for the French Resistance movements which fought against the Nazi German Jean Moulin ( June 20, 1899 – July 8, 1943) was a high-profile member of the French Resistance during World War II The French Resistance is the collective name used for the French Resistance movements which fought against the Nazi German Stanisław Saks (1897 — 1942 was a Polish Mathematician and university tutor known primarily for his membership in the Scottish Café circle an extensive Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Juliusz Paweł Schauder (1899-1943 was a Polish mathematician of Jewish origin known for his work in Functional analysis, Partial differential Bartholomäus (Barthel Schink ( November 27 1927 - November 10 1944) was a member of the Edelweiss The Edelweiss Pirates ( Edelweißpiraten) were a loose group of Youth culture in Nazi Germany. Ernst Thälmann ( April 16, 1886 &ndash August 18, 1944) was the leader of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD during much of the Gyula Alpári (1882 – 1942 was a Hungarian Communist politician a journalist by profession An example is in the book version of the Tron movie, where a character says "This kind of romp is going to annoy the local Gestapo". Tron is a 1982 Disney Science fiction film starring Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn (and his counterpart inside the electronic world

The 1946 Czechoslovakian animated cartoon Pérák a SS (The Spring-Man and the SS), featured the character Pérák, the Spring Man of Prague, a quasi-superhero based on a popular figure of Czech urban legend, taunting and evading members of the Gestapo during a surrealistic, slapstick chase over the rooftops of Prague. See http//enwikipediaorg/wiki/WikipediaFootnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the tags and the template below A superhero (sometimes rendered super-hero or super hero) is a Fictional character "of unprecedented physical prowess dedicated to acts of derring-do An urban legend or urban myth is a form of modern Folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them Prague (ˈprɑːg Praha (ˈpraɦa see also other names) is the Capital and Largest city of the Czech Republic.

A scene in the 1974 Ray Boulting film Soft Beds, Hard Battles parodied the British popular views of both the Gestapo and of tax collectors. John and Roy Boulting were English film-makers, who became known for their popular series of satirical comedies in the 1950s and 1960s Schultz, the assistant Gestapo agent, was making small talk to Peter Sellers's mean, heavily accented and over-the-top Herr Schroeder of the Gestapo, one of six roles Sellers played in the film. Richard Henry Sellers, CBE, commonly known as Peter Sellers ( 8 September 1925 &ndash 24 July 1980) was a British

Schultz: What do you look forward to?

Herr Schroeder: After the war? I look forward to going back to my old job in civilian street.

Schultz: What did you do?

Herr Schroeder: I was an income tax inspector.

Schultz: Very different from the Gestapo.

Herr Schroeder (with menace and foreboding): Not ze vay I do it!''

The Gestapo was parodied in the hit BBC sitcom 'Allo 'Allo! as stiff-as-board limping characters obsessed with protecting Adolf Hitler from assassination by the German military or resistance. 'Allo 'Allo! was a long-running British sitcom broadcast on BBC1 from 1982 to 1992 comprising eighty-five episodes Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately Usually wearing black leather coats and hats, they were often seen cross-dressing. Leather is a material created through the Tanning of hides and Skins of Animals primarily Cattlehide The Tanning process Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothing commonly associated with another gender within a particular Society. Herr Flick and Herr von Smallhausen were the local agents in the village of Nouvion, obsessed entirely with the German war effort. They were constantly under siege by the French Resistance. The French Resistance is the collective name used for the French Resistance movements which fought against the Nazi German

In The Matrix, when Agent Smith interrogates Neo, Neo says "You can't scare me with this Gestapo crap! I know my rights! I want my phone call". The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction - martial arts - Action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski and Agent Smith (later merely " Smith " is a Fictional character featured in the ''Matrix'' film series and multimedia franchise played by actor

In Medal of Honor: Frontline, an informant appearing in "The Golden Lion" mission has a truck that takes the player for a ride. Medal of Honor Frontline is the 4th installment of Electronic Arts ' popular Medal of Honor series The game requires the player to get out of the truck at certain checkpoints, where he says "Don't let the Germans see my truck! You know how the Gestapo can be".

In The Chaser's War on Everything a skit featured phone bill collectors because a TV current affairs programme had accused them of using "Gestapo tactics". The Chaser's War on Everything is an AFI Award winning Australian Television comedy series broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation The skit satirised the weak analogy and featured a Gestapo officer calling a man and demanding that all phone bills be paid; if these demands were not met, he "would not call back tomorrow, but the day after".

In "Mirror, Mirror", an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, the evil, parallel-universe Mr. " Mirror Mirror " is an episode of Star Trek The Original Series. Star Trek is a Science fiction Television series created by Gene Roddenberry that aired from September 8, 1966 through Sulu is head of security, which Scotty likens to "the ancient Gestapo", aboard the I.S.S. Enterprise. For the Star Trek character see Hikaru Sulu. For the sultanate see Sultanate of Sulu. Montgomery Scott, or "Scotty", is a character in the original Star Trek series and the films which followed The Enterprise or USS Enterprise (often referred to as the " Starship Enterprise " are the names of several fictional

In "Mail Call," an episode of M*A*S*H*, Frank Burns notes that war always causes a rise in stock prices, prompting Hawkeye Pierce to respond, "Then whatever happened to my 10,000 shares of Gestapo?"

In The Great Escape the Gestapo is repeatedly depicted as a cruel police force that captures many escapees. Major Franklin Delano Marion "Frank" Burns is a fictional character in the M*A*S*H film and television series. Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce is a Fictional character and lead protagonist in the M*A*S*H novels, film, and The Great Escape is a popular 1963 War film about the 250 Allied prisoners of war escaping from a German POW camp Many of the film's main characters are executed by the Gestapo upon their recapture. Escape-leader Bartlett, in particular, is threatened—with "Bartlett, if you escape again, and you are caught, you will be shot".

One of the main villains in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark is Arnold Toht, a fictional Gestapo agent. Raiders of the Lost Ark (also known as Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark) is a 1981 Adventure film directed by Steven This is a list of characters in the ''Indiana Jones'' series.

Endnotes

  1. ^ a b Shirer, William (1960). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by Journalist William L Shirer was the first definitive history of Nazi Germany in English. New York City: Simon & Schuster. Simon & Schuster Inc, a division of CBS Corporation, is a Publisher founded in New York in 1924 by Richard L ISBN 0-671-72868-7.  
  2. ^ Mallmann, Klaus-Michael & Paul, Gerhard "Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent? Gestapo, Society and Resistance" pages 166-196 from Nazism and German Society, 1933-1945 edited by David F. Crew, London ; New York : Routledge, 1994 page 181
  3. ^ Mallmann, Klaus-Michael & Paul, Gerhard "Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent? Gestapo, Society and Resistance" pages 166-196 from Nazism and German Society, 1933-1945 edited by David F. Crew, London ; New York : Routledge, 1994 page 181
  4. ^ Mallmann, Klaus-Michael & Paul, Gerhard "Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent? Gestapo, Society and Resistance" pages 166-196 from Nazism and German Society, 1933-1945 edited by David F. Crew, London ; New York : Routledge, 1994 page 181
  5. ^ Rees, Laurence The Nazis : A Warning From History, New York : New Press, 1997 pages 64-65.
  6. ^ Rees, Laurence The Nazis : A Warning From History, New York : New Press, 1997 pages 65.
  7. ^ Mallmann, Klaus-Michael & Paul, Gerhard "Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent? Gestapo, Society and Resistance" pages 166-196 from Nazism and German Society, 1933-1945 edited by David F. Crew, London ; New York : Routledge, 1994 page 175.
  8. ^ Rees, Laurence The Nazis : A Warning From History, New York : New Press, 1997 pages 64-65.
  9. ^ Mallmann, Klaus-Michael & Paul, Gerhard "Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent? Gestapo, Society and Resistance" pages 166-196 from Nazism and German Society, 1933-1945 edited by David F. Crew, London ; New York : Routledge, 1994 page 174
  10. ^ Mallmann, Klaus-Michael & Paul, Gerhard "Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent? Gestapo, Society and Resistance" pages 166-196 from Nazism and German Society, 1933-1945 edited by David F. Crew, London ; New York : Routledge, 1994 page 174
  11. ^ Mallmann, Klaus-Michael & Paul, Gerhard "Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent? Gestapo, Society and Resistance" pages 166-196 from Nazism and German Society, 1933-1945 edited by David F. Crew, London ; New York : Routledge, 1994 page 174
  12. ^ Mallmann, Klaus-Michael & Paul, Gerhard "Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent? Gestapo, Society and Resistance" pages 166-196 from Nazism and German Society, 1933-1945 edited by David F. Crew, London ; New York : Routledge, 1994 page 175
  13. ^ Rees, Laurence The Nazis : A Warning From History, New York : New Press, 1997 page 64.
  14. ^ Rees, Laurence The Nazis : A Warning From History, New York : New Press, 1997 page 65.
  15. ^ Rees, Laurence The Nazis : A Warning From History, New York : New Press, 1997 page 64.
  16. ^ Rees, Laurence The Nazis : A Warning From History, New York : New Press, 1997 page 64; Mallmann, Klaus-Michael & Paul, Gerhard "Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent? Gestapo, Society and Resistance" pages 166-196 from Nazism and German Society, 1933-1945 edited by David F. Crew, London ; New York : Routledge, 1994 pages 168-169.
  17. ^ Mallmann, Klaus-Michael & Paul, Gerhard "Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent? Gestapo, Society and Resistance" pages 166-196 from Nazism and German Society, 1933-1945 edited by David F. Crew, London ; New York : Routledge, 1994 pages 172-173

References

External links

Dictionary

Gestapo

-proper noun

  1. The secret police of the Nazi party in the Second World War
© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
 Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic