Gestapo

The Geheime Staatspolizei , <a href="/facts/Syllabic_abbreviation/VxBQfhII">abbreviated</a> Gestapo (German: [ɡəˈstaːpo] ⓘ), was the official <a href="/facts/Secret_police/1ea5u7R8">secret police</a> of <a href="/facts/Nazi_Germany/8kRbqRpo">Nazi Germany</a> and in <a href="/facts/German-occupied_Europe/QbETgWUY">German-occupied Europe</a>.
The force was created by <a href="/facts/Hermann_G%C3%B6ring/IvYCDBuy">Hermann Göring</a> in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of <a href="/facts/Free_State_of_Prussia/MgwcIYoq">Prussia</a> into one organisation. On 20 April 1934, oversight of the Gestapo passed to the head of the <a href="/facts/Schutzstaffel/nMNcQEHa">Schutzstaffel</a> (SS), <a href="/facts/Heinrich_Himmler/8xMKCuh2">Heinrich Himmler</a>, who was also appointed Chief of German Police by Hitler in 1936. Instead of being exclusively a Prussian state agency, the Gestapo became a national one as a sub-office of the <a href="/facts/Sicherheitspolizei/BPgbD2tF">Sicherheitspolizei</a> (SiPo; Security Police). From 27 September 1939, it was administered by the <a href="/facts/Reich_Security_Main_Office/jaN562LH">Reich Security Main Office</a> (RSHA). It became known as Amt (Dept) 4 of the RSHA and was considered a sister organisation to the <a href="/facts/Sicherheitsdienst/3fRyhRLu">Sicherheitsdienst</a> (SD; Security Service).
The Gestapo committed widespread atrocities during its existence. The power of the Gestapo was used to focus upon political opponents, ideological dissenters (clergy and religious organisations), career criminals, the <a href="/facts/Sinti/5jp9rxzp">Sinti</a> and <a href="/facts/Romani_people/HAj6w0kU">Roma</a> population, handicapped persons, homosexuals, and, above all, the Jews. Those arrested by the Gestapo were often held without judicial process, and <a href="/facts/Political_prisoner/QwWMH57J">political prisoners</a> throughout Germany—and from 1941, throughout the occupied territories under the <a href="/facts/Night_and_Fog_Decree/FcV0WRLK">Night and Fog Decree</a> (<a href="/facts/German_language/oWaQIDA8">German</a>: Nacht und Nebel)—simply <a href="/facts/Forced_disappearance/9hKI94ns">disappeared</a> while in Gestapo custody. Contrary to popular perception, the Gestapo was actually a relatively small organization with limited surveillance capability; still it proved extremely effective due to the willingness of ordinary Germans to report on fellow citizens. During <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a>, the Gestapo played a key role in <a href="/facts/The_Holocaust/vGQsAb2y">the Holocaust</a>. After the war ended, the Gestapo was declared a criminal organisation by the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at the <a href="/facts/Nuremberg_trials/Xk8q1YzG">Nuremberg trials</a>, and several top Gestapo members were sentenced to death.

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Gestapo