Why did the gestapo operate

He was convicted of war crimes after a well-publicized trial in He died in prison in France in Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads.

Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Robert McNamara. History Expert. Robert J. McNamara is a history expert and former magazine journalist. He was Amazon. Updated September 27, Using surveillance and interrogation under torture, the Gestapo terrorized entire populations. The Gestapo collected information on anyone suspected of opposing Nazi rule, and specialized in hunting down those targeted for death.

As a secret police force, the Gestapo did not operate death camps, but it was generally instrumental in identifying and apprehending those who would be sent to the camps. Featured Video. Goering wanted to have control over a unified police force of Germany.

Himmler had an identical aspiration. It was this department that grew into the Gestapo. In April , Hitler put Himmler in control of a unified police force. Its brief was simple: to hunt down anyone who was suspected of treachery to Hitler. This included anyone who told jokes about Hitler or even celebrated the birthday of Wilhelm II as this was seen as evidence of someone sympathetic to monarchism and not National Socialism.

The Gestapo had the power of arrest, interrogation and incarceration. Stories were allowed to circulate as to what happened in the cellars at Prinz Albrechtstrasse. There was a great deal of truth in these stories and they served to keep the public under the thumb of the authorities such was the fear these rumours engendered. Reserve Police Battalion Nazi Criminals. Erich von dem Bach. Joseph Berchtold. Admiral Wilheim Canaris. Karl Chmielewski. Ernst Cirzick. Theodore Dannecker.

Josef Sepp Dietrich. Admiral Karl Doenitz. Adolf Eichmann. Karl Emil Franz Fiebinger. Hans Fritzsche. Reinhard Gehlen. Joseph Goebbels.