[104] Additional staff were added in March 1938 consequent the annexation of Austria and again in October 1938 with the acquisition of the Sudetenland. 6789 Quail Hill Pkwy, Suite 211 Irvine CA 92603. 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 Gestapo supplied the information which implicated the SA and ultimately enabled Himmler and Heydrich to emancipate themselves entirely from the organisation. The Gestapo had terrible methods of interrogating people who they deemed to be anti-Nazi or suspicious in any way. [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. He had to count on his senior officials support for his rule, and he gave the go-ahead for the plan to put Rhm out of the picture once and for all. Hosted by Andrey. 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. The force was created by Hermann Gring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organisation. [65] If homosexuals showed any signs of sympathy to the Nazis' identified racial enemies, they were considered an even greater danger. Frick did not have the political power to take on Gring by himself so he allied with Himmler. Student opposition leaders were executed in late February, and a major opposition organisation, the Oster Circle, was destroyed in April 1943. Nevertheless, in practice there was jurisdictional overlap and operational conflict between the SD and Gestapo. Arrests, torture, and executions were common. [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. [54] The extreme anti-semitism and neo-pagan heresies of the Nazis caused some Christians to outright resist,[55] and Pope Pius XI to issue the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge denouncing Nazism and warning Catholics against joining or supporting the Party. [124], An examination of 213 denunciations in Dsseldorf showed that 37% were motivated by personal conflicts, no motive could be established in 39%, and 24% were motivated by support for the Nazi regime. [58], In Dachau: The Official History 19331945, Paul Berben wrote that clergy were watched closely, and frequently denounced, arrested and sent to Nazi concentration camps: "One priest was imprisoned in Dachau for having stated that there were good folk in England too; another suffered the same fate for warning a girl who wanted to marry an S.S. man after abjuring the Catholic faith; yet another because he conducted a service for a deceased communist". An organization that would become one of the most-feared ones in Nazi Germany was created so as to strengthen Nazi rule by weeding out anyone who could be perceived as a threat to the Party. Whereas the Gestapo agents, were mostly of police background. The SD was mainly an information-gathering agency, while the Gestapoand to a degree the Criminal Police (Kriminalpolizei or Kripo)was the executive agency of the political police system. [129] The "conventional criminality" category concerned economic crimes such as money laundering, smuggling and homosexuality. 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. Himmler was given command over Grings Gestapo in April 1934. These officials were helped and supported by a mysterious organization called the ODESSA, which helped provide them identification, passports, and visas to South American countries. The power of the Gestapo included the use of what was called, Schutzhaft"protective custody", a euphemism for the power to imprison people without judicial proceedings. More than that, the Anglo-American common language and capital interests kept Stalin at a distance since he felt the other Allied powers were hoping the fascists and Communists would destroy one another. 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. Denunciation was the exception, not the rule, as far as the behaviour of the vast majority of Germans was concerned. [25][26], The SiPo was placed under the direct command of Reinhard Heydrich who was already chief of the Nazi Party's intelligence service, the Sicherheitsdienst (SD). by Starinov 12 Aug 2002, 21:51, Post The local offices of the Gestapo, known as Gestapo Leitstellen and Stellen, answered to a local commander known as the Inspekteur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD ("Inspector of the Security Police and Security Service") who, in turn, was under the dual command of Referat N of the Gestapo and also his local SS and Police Leader. In 1938, he made efforts to hinder Hitler from attacking . [143] Correspondingly, Gestapo offices were established in a territory once occupied. As the war progressed, however, the number of people working for the Gestapo increased to approximately 150,000 men. The force was created by Hermann Gring in 1933 by combining the various security police agencies of Prussia into one organisation. [60], Violence and arrest were not confined to that opposing political parties, membership in trade unions, or those with dissenting religious opinions, but also homosexuality. It was viewed negatively by Hitler. [83], Some Germans were convinced that it was their duty to apply all possible expedients to end the war as quickly as possible. Hitler wanted an organization not similar but somewhat linked to the SA that would personally guard Hitler and other important Nazi officials. Gestapo. [46] Because the Gestapo seemed omniscient and omnipotent, the atmosphere of fear they created led to an overestimation of their reach and strength; a faulty assessment which hampered the operational effectiveness of underground resistance organisations. When asked for identification, an operative was required only to present his warrant disc and not a picture identification. To understand the political system at the time in Germany, it can be helpful to learn about the differences between the functioning of the three organizations by identifying every individual organization properly. [94], The Gestapo became known as RSHA Amt IV ("Department or Office IV") with Heinrich Mller as its chief. [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. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. [84] The Gestapo cracked down ruthlessly on dissidents in Germany, just as they did everywhere else. Anyone suspected of even having made an anti-Nazi joke would be subjected to such treatment, or worse. The stricter laws did not apply to lesbians as their behaviour was never officially criminalised, even though their behaviours were labelled "deviant". [142] Whenever a region came fully under German military occupational jurisdiction, the Gestapo administered all executive actions under the military commander's authority, albeit operating relatively independent of it. [109], Whether trained as police originally or not, Gestapo agents themselves were shaped by their socio-political environment. [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. 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". There were reports that Mller ended up in the foreign secret service at Washington D.C., some allege he was in Moscow working for the Soviets, still others claimed he escaped to South Americabut none of the myths have ever been proven; all of which adds to the "mysterious power of the Gestapo". In this Historyplex write-up, we have distinguished the three organizations based on their formation, objectives, and responsibilities, to name a few factors. [7][8] He originally wanted to name it the Secret Police Office (Geheimes Polizeiamt), but the German initials, "GPA", were too similar to those of the Soviet State Political Directorate (Gosudarstvennoye Politicheskoye Upravlenie, or GPU). The SD and Gestapo did have integration through SS members holding dual positions in each branch. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Sabotage efforts were undertaken by members of the Abwehr (military intelligence) leadership, as they recruited people known to oppose the Nazi regime. Abwehr. Thereafter, there was a show trial overseen by Roland Freisler, followed by their execution. With its dramatic rise to power, the SA began to slowly assume themselves to be somewhat of a replacement to the German Army. [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. Gestapo (Mller), SD (Heydrich) and Abwehr (Canaris). Read on for the difference between the three ruthless organizations. [110] Browder also describes a sandwich effect, where from above; Gestapo agents were subjected to ideologically oriented racism and criminal biological theories; and from below, the Gestapo was transformed by SS personnel who did not have the proper police training, which showed in their propensity for unrestrained violence. [79] Despite the fear of the Gestapo after mass arrests and executions in the spring, the opposition still plotted and planned. At the beginning of the war, the Gestapo employed about 40,000 men. 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". [102], In 1933, there was no purge of the German police forces. The Gestapo was responsible for keeping a close watch on Hitlers personal safety, as well as ensuring the safety of the most important Nazi officials. the United States . Soon only Prussia was left. [59] Over 2,700 Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox clergy were imprisoned at Dachau alone. [131] Failing that, torture and planting evidence were common methods of resolving a case, especially if the case concerned someone Jewish. [5] Contrary to popular perception, the Gestapo was actually a relatively small organization with limited surveillance capacity; despite this the Gestapo proved extremely effective due to the willingness of ordinary Germans to snitch on fellow citizens. The long-time head of the Gestapo, Heinrich Mller, was never found. Gestapo, abbreviation of Geheime Staatspolizei (German: Secret State Police), the political police of Nazi Germany. Corrections? [116], According to Canadian historian Robert Gellately's analysis of the local offices established, the Gestapo wasfor the most partmade up of bureaucrats and clerical workers who depended upon denunciations by citizens for their information. 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. Together with the SS, the Gestapo managed the treatment of inferior races, such as Jews and Roma (Gypsies). [77] Later, 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 their back. After Germany conquered Poland (in the autumn of 1939), Gestapo officials believed that they had neutralised Polish intelligence activities. The SD and Gestapo did have integration through SS members holding dual positions in each branch. We've created informative articles that you can come back to again and again when you have questions or want to learn more! For several leaders the punishment was death. [113] In Dsseldorf, the local Gestapo office of only 281 men were responsible for the entire Lower Rhine region, which comprised 4 million people. Owing to its relatively small sizeapproximately 32,000 personnel at the end of 1944the Gestapo relied extensively on the use of denunciations from among the local German populace in order to conduct its investigations. 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. We hope the above sections have made the identification of all three organizations clearer. The SD was mainly an information-gathering agency, while the Gestapoand to a degree the Criminal Police (Kriminalpolizei or Kripo)was the executive agency of the political police system. In 1931, the SA was handed over to Ernst Rhm, who headed it till his murder in 1934. [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. [13] Also on that date, Hitler appointed Himmler chief of all German police outside Prussia. Secret State Police), abbreviated Gestapo (German: [tapo]; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. As we continue to explore the differences between abfraction and abrasion, it can be helpful to see these terms used in context. In 1939, the SA was largely used as a training center for the Army when the war started. [4] "Selective terror" by the Gestapo, as mentioned by Johnson, is also supported by historian Richard Evans who states that, "Violence and intimidation rarely touched the lives of most ordinary Germans. [121] 80% of all Gestapo investigations were started in response to information provided by denunciations by ordinary Germans; while 10% were started in response to information provided by other branches of the German government and another 10% started in response to information that the Gestapo itself unearthed. Burian's group had also set up a secret courier service to Otto von Habsburg in Belgium. While they may seem very similar, they actually differed in the roles they played. [138], As an instrument of Nazi power, terror, and repression, the Gestapo operated throughout occupied Europe. Varying degrees of pacification and police enforcement measures were necessary in each place, dependent on how cooperative or resistant the locals were to Nazi mandates and racial policies. After another two or three years in that grade, the female detective could advance to Kriminalobersekretrin. In the occupied territories, the formal relationship between local units of the Gestapo, criminal police, and SD was slightly closer. While they may seem very similar, they actually differed in the roles they played. However, these internal departments remained and the Gestapo continued to be a department under the RSHA umbrella. "[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 leader of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, along with a few other senior Nazi officials carefully plotted and planned the murder of the leader of the SA. The Abwehr was a German intelligence organization from 1921 to 1944. The word Gestapo is an abbreviation of the German term Geheime Staatspolizei, which translates to Secret State Police. [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. In an attempt to assassinate Hitler, Stauffenberg planted a bomb underneath a conference table inside the Wolf's Lair field headquarters. It had the authority of preventive arrest, and its actions were not subject to judicial appeal.