The Keepers of Nazi Germany

Paper Summary:

The paper shows how the Gestapo, the secret police of Germany during Hitler's reign, was one of the strongest tools used to control the German people. The paper explains that the Gestapo controlled the media, used a network of spies in order to repress subversives, forced family members to spy on each other and threatened those who would not cooperate, often using physical violence and blackmail. The paper relates further that because the Gestapo was not subject to judicial review and they had the liberty of incarcerating citizens without trial, their powers were limitless.

From the Paper:

"The Gestapo, or the Geheime Staatspolizei, first appeared in Berlin during the Weimar Republic. These political police originally served the Prussian government. When the Gestapo was taken over by the Germans, it was already a well-established organizational and bureaucratic mechanism, but from 1934 to 1939 the Gestapo expanded exponentially. When Hitler became the German chancellor in 1933, he named Hermann Goring the interior minister of Prussia, making Goring the head of the Prussian Political police. In the early days, Goring was in control of the Gestapo."

Sample of Sources Used:

• American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. (2005 June 5). The Gestapo. In Jewish virtual library. Retrieved from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Gestapo.html
• Butler, R. (2004). The Gestapo. South Yorkshire: Pen and Sword Books Ltd.
• Gellately, R. (1990). The Gestapo and the German society. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Gutman, I. (Ed.). (1990). Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company.
• Rotten. Gestapo. Retrieved June 5, 2005 from http://www.rotten.com/library/history/nazi/gestapo/

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