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Gestapo
Geheime Staatspolizei

The Gestapo was administered by officers of the SS.

Plainclothes Gestapo agents during the White Buses operations in 1945.
Agency overview
Formed26 April 1933
Preceding AgencyPrussian Secret Police
Founded 1851.
Dissolved8 May 1945
Jurisdiction Nazi Germany
Occupied Europe
HeadquartersPrinz-Albrecht-Strase, Berlin
52°30′26″N 13°22′57″E? / ?52.50722°N 13.38250°E? / 52.50722; 13.38250
Employees32,000 c.1944[1]
Ministers responsibleHermann Goring 1933?1934, Minister President of Prussia
Wilhelm Frick 1936?1943 (nominal authority), Interior Minister
Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler, Chef der Deutschen Polizei, 1936?1945; Interior Minister, 1943?1945
Agency executivesRudolf Diels 1933?1934, Commander, Prussian Secret Police Office
SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich, Director, Gestapo, 1934?1936; Director, SiPo, 1936?1939; Director, RSHA 1939?1942
SS-Gruppenfuhrer Heinrich Muller, Chief of Operations, Gestapo, 1936?1939; Director, Gestapo (RSHA Amt IV), 1939?1945
Parent Agency Allgemeine SS
RSHA
Sicherheitspolizei

The Gestapo (German pronunciation: [?e?sta?po, ????ta?po] ( listen); abbreviation of Geheime Staatspolizei, "Secret State Police") was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe. Hermann Goring first formed the unit in 1933. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of SS national leader, Heinrich Himmler who in 1936 was appointed Chief of German Police (Chef der Deutschen Polizei) by Hitler.[2] In 1936, Himmler made it a suboffice of the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo) ("Security Police"). Then from 27 September 1939 forward, it was administered by the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) ("Reich Main Security Office") and was considered a sister organization of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) (Security Service).[3] According to historian Rupert Butler, From its creation in 1933 until its death in May 1945, anyone living in Nazi controlled territory lived in fear of a visit from the Gestapo....[4]
Contents

1 History

1.1 Student opposition

1.2 Nuremberg Trials

1.3 Aftermath


2 Organization

2.1 Department A (Political opponents)

2.2 Department B (Sects and Churches)

2.3 Department C (Administration and Party Affairs)

2.4 Department D (Occupied Territories)

2.5 Department E (Counterintelligence)

2.6 Local offices

2.7 Auxiliary duties

2.8 Ranks

2.9 Pay Grades

2.10 Membership of the Gestapo

2.11 Uniforms


3 Cooperation with the NKVD

4 Counterintelligence

4.1 Polish intelligence resistance


5 Principal agents and officers

6 See also

7 Notes

8 References

8.1 Journal articles


9 External links


History Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Goring at the meeting to formally hand over control of the Gestapo (Berlin, 1934).Rudolf Diels, first Commander of the Gestapo; 1933?1934

As part of the deal in which Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, Hermann Goring?future commander of the Luftwaffe and an influential Nazi Party official?was named Interior Minister of Prussia. This gave him command of the largest police force in Germany. Soon afterward, Goring detached the political and intelligence sections from the police and filled their ranks with Nazis. On 26 April 1933, Goring merged the two units as the Gestapo.