| Hermann Goering, the Minster of the Interior
when the Nazis came to power in 1933, organized the Gestapo. He took
units from the espionage and political units of the Prussian police and
filled
the positions with Nazis. While Goering was organizing the Gestapo, Heinrich
Himmler was in charge of the SS. By 1936, Goering had moved into leadership
of the Luftwaffe and the Four Year Economic Plan; Himmler took command
of the Gestapo along with his leadership of the SS—now all German
police units were integrated under Himmler.
In late 1936, the Gestapo was merged with the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo;
Criminal Police) and the newly formed unit was called the Sicherheitspolizei
(Sipo: Secret Police).
During the war years, Sipo was joined with the SD (Sicherheitsdienst
: Security Service), and Sipo became known as the Reichssicherheitshauptamt
(RHSA; Reich Security Central Office), headed by Reinhard Heydrich. Also,
during the war the Gestapo worked closely with the Special Squads, known
as Einsatzgruppen, which took charge of rounding up and killing Jews
and other undesirables in conquered territories.
It is significant to note that the many changes of the names and functions
of the Gestapo led to a blurring of functions. Often, there units of
the Gestapo overlapped with units of other agencies.
Throughout the era of the Third Reich, the Gestapo acted above the
law. There were no restrictions on its authority. Therefore, its members
knew that there would be no consequences for their actions.
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