Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression
[Page 248]
This section on the Geheime Staatspolizei (GESTAPO) includes
evidence on the criminality of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) of
the Schutzstaffeln (SS). In the Indictment the SD is
included by special references as a part of the SS, since it
originated as a part of the SS and always retained its
character as a party organization, as distinguished from the
GESTAPO, which was a State
[Page 249]
organization. As will be shown in this section, however, the
GESTAPO and the SD were brought into close working
relationship, the SD serving primarily as the information-gathering agency and the GESTAPO as the executive agency of
the police system established by the Nazis for the purpose
of combatting the political and ideological enemies of the
Nazi regime. This close working relationship between the
GESTAPO and the SD was accomplished by the appointment of
Himmler, the Reichsfuehrer of the SS, to the position of
Chief of the German Police. What is proved in this section
with respect to the criminality of the SD applies directly
to the case against the SS. The relationship between the SS
and the GESTAPO is considered in section 5 on the SS.
A. Development of the Gestapo and the SD.
(1) Development of the GESTAPO. The Geheime Staatspolizei,
or GESTAPO, was first established in Prussia on 26 April
1933 by Goering, with the mission of carrying out the duties
of political police with or in place of the ordinary police
authorities. The GESTAPO chief was given the rank of a
higher police authority and was subordinated only to the
Minister of the Interior, to whom was delegated the
responsibility of determining its functional and territorial
jurisdiction (2104-PS). Pursuant to this law, and on the
same date, the Minister of the Interior issued a decree on
the reorganization of the police which established a State
Police Bureau in each government district of Prussia
subordinate to the Secret State Police Bureau in Berlin.
(2371-PS)
On 30 November 1933 Goering issued a decree for the Prussian
State Ministry and for the Reichs Chancellor which
acknowledged the valuable services which the GESTAPO was
able to render to the State and which placed the GESTAPO
under his direct supervision as Chief. The GESTAPO was
thereby established as an independent branch of the
Administration of the Interior, responsible directly to
Goering as Prussian Prime Minister. This decree gave the
GESTAPO jurisdiction over the political police matters of
the general and interior administration and provided that
the district, county, and local police authorities were
subject to the directives of the GESTAPO (2105-PS). By a
decree of 8 March 1934 the regional State Police offices
were separated from their organizational connection with the
district government and established as independent
authorities of the GESTAPO. (2113-PS)
Parallel to the development of the GESTAPO in Prussia, the
Reichsfuehrer SS, Heinrich Himmler, created in Bavaria the
[Page 250]
Bavarian Political Police and also directed the formation of
political police forces in the other federal states outside
of Prussia. The unification of the political police of the
various states took place in the spring of 1934 when Hermann
Goering appointed Himmler the Deputy Chief of the Prussian
GESTAPO in place of the former Deputy Chief, Diels. Himmler
thereby obtained unified control over the political police
forces throughout the Reich. (1680-PS)
On 10 February 1936 the basic law for the GESTAPO was
promulgated by Goering as Prussian Prime Minister. This law
provided that the Secret State Police had the duty to
investigate and to combat in the entire territory of the
State all tendencies inimical to the State, and declared
that orders in matters of the Secret State Police were not
subject to the review of the administrative courts (2107-
PS). On the same date, 10 February 1936 , a decree for the
execution of said law was issued by Goering as Prussian
Prime Minister and by Frick as Minister of the Interior.
This decree provided that the GESTAPO had authority to enact
measures valid in the entire area' of the State and measures
affecting that area, that it was the centralized agency for
collecting political intelligence in the field of political
police, and that it administered the concentration camps.
The GESTAPO was given authority to make police
investigations in cases of criminal attacks upon Party as
well as upon State. (2108-PS)
On 28 August 1936 a circular of the Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of
the German Police provided that as of 1 October 1936 the
political police forces of the German provinces were to be
called the "Geheime Staatspolizei" (Secret State Police).
The regional offices were still to be described as State
Police (2372-PS). On 20 September 1936 a circular of the Minister of
the Interior commissioned the GESTAPO Bureau in Berlin with
the supervision of the duties of the political police
commanders in all the States of Germany. (L-297)
The law relating to financial measures in connection with
the police of 19 March 1937 provided that officials of the
GESTAPO were to be considered direct officials of the Reich
and their salaries, in addition to the operational expenses
of the whole State Police, were to be borne from 1 April
1937 on by the Reich. (2243-PS)
Through the above laws and decrees the GESTAPO was
established as a uniform political police system operating
throughout the Reich and serving Party, State, and the Nazi
leadership.
(2) Development of the SD. In 1932 the Reichsfuehrer of the
SS, Heinrich Himmler, created the Sicherheitsdienst, or SD,
as an
[Page 251]
intelligence service of the SS under the then SS-Standartenfuehrer Reinhard Heydrich. (1680-PS)
On 9 June 1934, the NSDAP issued an ordinance which merged
all information facilities then existing within the Party
organization into the SD, and the SD was established as the
sole Party information service.
In the course of its development, the SD came into
increasingly closer cooperation with the GESTAPO and also
with the Reich Kriminalpolizei, the Criminal Police, or
KRIPO. The GESTAPO and the KRIPO considered together were
called the Sicherheitspolizei, the Security Police, or SIPO.
The SD was also called upon to furnish information to
various State authorities. On 11 November 1938 a decree of
the Reich Minister of the Interior declared that the SD was
to be the intelligence organization for the State as well as
for the Party, that it had the particular duty of supporting
the Secret State Police, and that it thereby became active
on a national mission. These duties necessitated a close
cooperation between the SD and the authorities for the
General and Interior Administration. (1680-PS; 1638-PS)
Through the above laws and decrees the SD was established as
a uniform political information service operating throughout
the Reich and serving Party, State, and the Nazi leadership.
(3) Consolidation of the GESTAPO and the SD. The first step
in the consolidation of the political police system of the
State (the GESTAPO) and the information service of the Nazi
Party (the SD) took place in the spring of 1934 when Goering
appointed Himmler Deputy Chief of the GESTAPO. Heydrich was
the head of the SD under Himmler, and when Himmler took over
the actual direction of the GESTAPO, these two agencies were
in effect united. under one command. (1956-PS;
On 17 June 1936, "for the uniformity of police duties in the
Reich," the position of Chief of the German Police was
established in the Reich Ministry of the Interior, to which
was assigned the direction and protection of all police
affairs within the jurisdiction of the Reich. By this law
Himmler was appointed Chief of the German Police under
Frick, the Reich Minister of the Interior, and was given the
right to participate in the sessions of the Reich Cabinet as
Chief of the German Police. (2073-PS)
On 26 June 1936 Himmler issued a decree providing for the
appointment of a chief of the uniformed police and of a
chief of the Security Police. This decree divided the German
police system into two principal branches:
(a) Ordnungspolizei (ORPO or Regular Police).
[Page 252]
(b) Sicherheitspolizei (SIPO or Security Police).
The Ordnungspolizei was composed of the Schutzpolizei
(Safety Police), the Gendarmerie (Rural Police), and the
Gemeindepolizei (Local Police). The Sicherheitspolizei was
composed of the Reich Kriminalpolizei (KRIPO) and the
Geheime Staatspolizei (GESTAPO). Daluege was named head of
the Ordnungspolizei and Heydrich was named head of the
Sicherheitspolizei. Since Heydrich was also head of the SD,
he took the new title of Chief of the Security Police and
SD. (1551-PS)
On 27 September 1939 by order of Himmler, in his capacity as
Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police, the central
offices of the GESTAPO and the SD, together with the
Criminal Police, were centralized in the office of the Chief
of the Security Police and SD under the name of the
Reichssicherheitshauptamt, Reich Security Main Office, or
RSHA. Under this order the personnel and administrative
sections of each agency were coordinated in Amt I and Amt II
of the RSHA; the operational sections of the SD became Amt
III (except for foreign intelligence which was placed in Amt
VI); the operational sections of the GESTAPO became Amt IV
and the operational sections of the KRIPO became Amt V.
Ohlendorf was named the Chief of Amt III, the SD within
Germany; Mueller was named the Chief of Amt IV, the GESTAPO;
and Nebe was named the Chief of Amt V, the KRIPO. (L-361)
On 27 September 1939 Heydrich, as Chief of the Security
Police and SD, issued a directive pursuant to the foregoing
order of Himmler, in which he ordered the designation and
heading "Reichssicherheitshauptamt" to be used exclusively
in internal relations of the Reich Ministry of the Interior,
and the heading "The Chief of the Security Police and SD" in
transactions with outside persons and offices. The directive
provided that the GESTAPO would continue to use the
designation and heading "Geheime Staatspolizeiamt" according
to particular instructions.
In 1944 most of the sections of the Abwehr (military
intelligence) were incorporated into the various sections of
the RSHA and into a new section connected with Amt VI,
called the Militaersches Amt.
Heydrich was Chief of the Security Police and SD (RSHA)
until his death on 6/4/1942, after which Himmler directed
the organization until the appointment of the defendant
Ernst Kaltenbrunner as Chief of the Security Police and SD.
Kaltenbrunner took office on 30 January 1943 and remained
Chief of the Security Police and SD (RSHA) until the end of
the war. (2644-PS)
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Volume II
Criminality of Groups and Organizations
The Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) & Sicherheitsdienst
(Part 1 of 9)