Gestapo

The Geheime Staatspolizei , abbreviated Gestapo , was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.

The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various security police agencies of Prussia into one organisation. On 20 April 1934, oversight of the Gestapo passed to the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, 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 Sicherheitspolizei . From 27 September 1939, it was administered by the Reich Main Security Office . It became known as Amt 4 of the RSHA and was considered a sister organisation to the Sicherheitsdienst . During World War II, the Gestapo played a key role in the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jews of Europe. After the war in Europe ended, the Gestapo was declared a criminal organization by the International Military Tribunal at the Nuremberg trials.

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