by Walter Schellenberg 14 Aug 2002, 03:29, Post Bauz, Ingrid; Sigrid Brggemann; Roland Maier, eds. [73] From the mid-1930s into the early 1940svarious groups made up of communists, idealists, working-class people, and far-right conservative opposition organisations covertly fought against Hitler's government, and several of them fomented plots that included Hitler's assassination. [96][97], In total, there were some fifty-four regional Gestapo offices across the German federal states. 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. Many others were beaten and tortured to death. As I understand it the SD was focused on intellectual crimes, Jewish Question and foreign espionage, while the Gestapo concentrated on domestic political crimes and arresting Jews. The Gestapo was somewhat of a division of the SS, making SS the parent organization. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. This page was last edited on 26 April 2023, at 18:29. The Nazi Party felt the need for a secret police organization, and hence, the Geheime Staatspolizei was born in 1933. The killing units wiped out entire villages as a result. [67] 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. After his escape, he rejoined the army as a Hauptmann, with seniority dating from May 1st of 1934. . The gestapo were Nazi Germany's brutal secret-police. [44][45][a], Early in the regime's existence, harsh measures were meted out to political opponents and those who resisted Nazi doctrine, such as members of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD); a role originally performed by the SA until the SD and Gestapo undermined their influence and took control of Reich security. [107], The Canadian historian Robert Gellately wrote that most Gestapo men were not Nazis, but at the same time were not opposed to the Nazi regime, which they were willing to serve, in whatever task they were called upon to perform. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Already in early June, Dietrich Bonhoeffer | Holocaust Encyclopedia [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.