[84] The Gestapo cracked down ruthlessly on dissidents in Germany, just as they did everywhere else. Gellately argued that it was because of the widespread willingness of Germans to inform on each other to the Gestapo that Germany between 1933 and 1945 was a prime example of panopticism. Schutzstaffel Agency overview Type Paramilitary Jurisdiction Nazi Germany German-occupied Europe Headquarters Prinz-Albrecht-Strae . Gestapo. TL;DR: The Gestapo was the secret police that hunted down enemies of the Reich, while the SS were the brain-child of Himmler, a specially trained division of the military which participated in everything from invasions to crimes against humanity. At that time, the SS consisted of approximately 300 members. After the Supreme Leader (Hitler), came senior groups, lower groups, regiments, battalions, and troops, to name a few parts of the structure of the SA. [118] Many of the local offices were understaffed and overworked, struggling with the paper load caused by so many denunciations. The Gestapo was somewhat of a division of the SS, making SS the parent organization. by Schmauser 13 Aug 2002, 13:44, Post Discussions on all aspects of the SS and Polizei. The Gestapo had its own system of arrests, judiciary, and execution. [63], Despite male homosexuality being considered a greater danger to "national survival", lesbianism was likewise viewed as unacceptabledeemed gender nonconformityand a number of individual reports on lesbians can be found in Gestapo files. [74] One of the methods employed by the Gestapo to contend with these resistance factions was 'protective detention' which facilitated the process in expediting dissenters to concentration camps and against which there was no legal defence. [104] In 1939, only 3,000 out of the total of 20,000 Gestapo men held SS ranks, and in most cases, these were honorary. Gestapo - Wikipedia [111] This admixture certainly shaped the Gestapo's public image which they sought to maintain despite their increasing workload; an image which helped them identify and eliminate enemies of the Nazi state. What was the difference between the SS, SA, SD, Abwehr, Gestapo, and Hitler's rise to power and his rule in Nazi Germany has been attributed to the aid and support of several people, with three organizations playing a vital role - the SS, the SA, and the Gestapo. The political section could order prisoners to be murdered, tortured, or released. [32] Although the Sicherheitspolizei was officially disbanded, the term SiPo was figuratively used to describe any RSHA personnel throughout the remainder of the war. Although Maier and the other group members were severely tortured, the Gestapo did not uncover the essential involvement of the resistance group in Operation Crossbow and Operation Hydra. The Gestapo was somewhat of a division of the SS, making SS the parent organization. At the beginning of the war, the Gestapo employed about 40,000 men. [34] Mller remained the Gestapo Chief. Additionally, many of its members were handed over to the armed forces. [113] In Germany proper, many towns and cities had fewer than 50 official Gestapo personnel. These were Waffen S. The SS Schutz Staffel were originally Hitler's bodygaurd. As late as 6 June 1944, Heinrich Mllerconcerned about the leakage of information to the Alliesset up a special unit called Sonderkommando Jerzy that was meant to root out the Polish intelligence network in western and southwestern Europe. [32] The Gestapo became Amt IV (Department IV) of RSHA and Mller became the Gestapo Chief, with Heydrich as his immediate superior. They nearly drowned suspects in ice-cold water, gave them electric shocks, hung them by their wrists, or beat them savagely. This page was last edited on 26 April 2023, at 18:29. [104][e] Some locals aided the Gestapo, whether as professional police auxiliaries or in other duties. [10] Diels was best known as the primary interrogator of Marinus van der Lubbe after the Reichstag fire. Canaris was appointed to head the Abwehr Military Intelligence in 1935. 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. [159], Leitstellung (district office) staff did wear the grey SS service uniform, but with police-pattern shoulderboards, and SS rank insignia on the left collar patch. within the Reich as the Gestapo, in the occu-pied countries it was known as the Sipo-SD. This represented a radical departure from German tradition, which held that law enforcement was (mostly) a Land (state) and local matter. After initial successes, the organization was expanded during the Franco-Prussian . While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. KRIPO this was the criminal investigation part of the Ordnungspolizei the same as all countries investigation branch.It was state funded. [106] In Wrzburg, which is one of the few places in Germany where most of the Gestapo records survived, every member of the Gestapo was a career policeman or had a police background. Before establishing the SA as a paramilitary wing, it was known as a sports division in the party to avoid suspicion. [132] Brutality on the part of interrogatorsoften prompted by denunciations and followed with roundupsenabled the Gestapo to uncover numerous resistance networks; it also made them seem like they knew everything and could do anything they wanted. To join the SS, prospective members had to prove that none of them had any sort of Jewish roots in the ancestry traced back to over one hundred years. The Nazi Party: The Abwehr [123] For example, of the 84 cases in Wrzburg of Rassenschande ("race defilement"sexual relations with non-Aryans), 45 (54%) were started in response to denunciations by ordinary people, two (2%) by information provided by other branches of the government, 20 (24%) via information gained during interrogations of people relating to other matters, four (5%) from information from (Nazi) NSDAP organisations, two (2%) during "political evaluations" and 11 (13%) have no source listed while none were started by Gestapo's own "observations" of the people of Wrzburg. The Gestapo aided and supported the mobile killing units, and even provided its men for the same. The SD and Gestapo did have integration through SS members holding dual positions in each branch. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. The Gestapo was established in 1933 by Hermann Gring, with the aim of consolidating Nazi . But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. [25] The idea was to fully identify and integrate the party agency (SD) with the state agency (SiPo). Hitler's Two Armies - HistoryNet The Abwehr summary report of 28 April 1939 ("Lagebericht I - Sabotagettigkeit Sowjetrussland," 12 pp. The gestapo were Nazi Germany's brutal secret-police. [63], Between June 1942 and March 1943, student protests were calling for an end to the Nazi regime. [149] Whereas in France, the number of members in the Carlingue (French Gestapo) who worked on behalf of the Nazis was upwards of 30,000 to 32,000; they conducted operations nearly indistinguishable from their German equivalents. The organization predates the emergence of Germany itself, and was founded to gather intelligence information for the Prussian government during a war with neighboring Austria. After another two or three years in that grade, the female detective could advance to Kriminalobersekretrin. However, with the Abwehr and GFP being flooded with work, the situation changed and the SS shrewdly used the opportunity to gain a foothold in Belgium. [53], However, the Nazi regime sought to suppress any source of ideology other than its own, and set out to muzzle or crush the churches in the so-called Kirchenkampf. [29] The Gestapo was specifically exempted from responsibility to administrative courts, where citizens normally could sue the state to conform to laws. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Answer (1 of 3): There were three secret services/police in the Third Reich. [90] Less than two weeks later in early May 1933, the Gestapo moved into their Berlin headquarters at Prinz-Albrecht-Strae 8. [18] Rhm's position was menacing as more than 4.5 million men fell under his command once the militias and veterans organisations were absorbed by the SA,[19] a fact which fuelled Rhm's aspirations; his dream of fusing the SA and Reichswehr together was undermining Hitler's relationships with the leadership of Germany's armed forces. [68] During the first five months of 1943, the Gestapo arrested thousands suspected of resistance activities and carried out numerous executions. [20] Several Nazi chieftains, among them Gring, Joseph Goebbels, Rudolf Hess, and Himmler, began a concerted campaign to convince Hitler to take action against Rhm. For several leaders the punishment was death. We've created informative articles that you can come back to again and again when you have questions or want to learn more! [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. Confidential office hostile foreigners, Occupied territories France, Belgium, Holland, Norway, Denmark (D4), Department E (Security and counterintelligence), Viktor Harnischfeger (Dsseldorf Gestapo Criminal Commissar). Groups like the White Rose and others, such as the Edelweiss Pirates, and the Swing Youth, were placed under close Gestapo observation. [129] Most of the political investigations took place between 1933 and 1935 with the all-time high of 57 cases in 1935. In April 1934, Himmler was named head of Germany's secret state police, the "Geheime Staatspolizei," more commonly known as the "Gestapo." The Gestapo, which had been established the previous. No reason was ever given for their arrest or executionjust the fact that they seemed suspicious was enough. Some historians feel he was killed in the final days of the war, while others believe he escaped to South America and lived the rest of his life unidentified. Hitler wanted an organization not similar but somewhat linked to the SA that would personally guard Hitler and other important Nazi officials. By 1932, the SA employed about 400,000 people and by the time Hitler had come to power in 1933, it consisted of over 10,00,000 people. the United States . ), 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 . [61] Homosexuals were correspondingly considered a threat to the Volksgemeinschaft (National Community).
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