What is the difference between the SD and the Gestapo? Hitler initially refused to believe the claims against Rhm, even though his officials provided him with created evidence. The Poles identified and tracked German military trains to the Eastern front and identified four Order Police battalions sent to occupied areas of the Soviet Union in October 1941 that engaged in war crimes and mass murder. In that bureaucratic maze, the functions of the Gestapo often overlapped with those of other security departments, with which the Gestapo had both to cooperate and compete. There were strict protocols protecting the identity of Gestapo field personnel. by Starinov 12 Aug 2002, 21:51, Post This article was most recently revised and updated by, Gestapo - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). [99] Personnel assigned to these auxiliary duties were often removed from the Gestapo chain of command and fell under the authority of branches of the SS. Dietrich Bonhoeffer | Holocaust Encyclopedia In addition, political prisoners throughout Germanyand from 1941, throughout the occupied territories under the Night and Fog Decree (German: Nacht und Nebel)simply disappeared while in Gestapo custody. TL;DR: The Gestapo was the secret police that hunted down enemies of the Reich, while the SS were the brain-child of Himmler, a specially trained division of the military which participated in everything from invasions to crimes against humanity. [65] If homosexuals showed any signs of sympathy to the Nazis' identified racial enemies, they were considered an even greater danger. Gestapo (Mller), SD (Heydrich) and Abwehr (Canaris). After the Gestapo uncovered the "Operation Seven" funds that had been sent abroad for the emigrants, Bonhoeffer and his brother-in-law Hans von Dohnanyi were arrested in April 1943. [106] In Wrzburg, which is one of the few places in Germany where most of the Gestapo records survived, every member of the Gestapo was a career policeman or had a police background. When the war started, the Gestapo basically had to identify and arrest any suspicious person and send him/her to a concentration camp, or kill him/her on the spot. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. On June 17, 1936, Himmler, in addition to his position as head of the SS, took control of all German police forces, including the Ordnungspolizei (German: Order Police), with his appointment as Reichsfhrer SS and chief of the German police. Frick did not have the political power to take on Gring by himself so he allied with Himmler. [146] While in many countries the Nazis occupied in the East, the local domestic police forces supplemented German operations, noted Holocaust historian, Raul Hilberg, asserts that "those of Poland were least involved in anti-Jewish actions. Diels was appointed with the title of chief of Abteilung Ia (Department 1a) of the Prussian Secret Police. [6] This gave Gring command of the largest police force in Germany. Already in early June, [27] Heinrich Mller was at that time the Gestapo operations chief. The leader of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, along with a few other senior Nazi officials carefully plotted and planned the murder of the leader of the SA. by Schmauser 13 Aug 2002, 13:44, Post [121][122] Work done by social historians such as Detlev Peukert, Robert Gellately, Reinhard Mann, Inge Marssolek, Ren Otto, Klaus-Michael Mallmann and Paul Gerhard, which by focusing on what the local offices were doing has shown the Gestapo's almost total dependence on denunciations from ordinary Germans, and very much discredited the older "Big Brother" picture with the Gestapo having its eyes and ears everywhere. [39], In 1942, the Gestapo discovered a cache of Polish intelligence documents in Prague and were surprised to see that Polish agents and informants had been gathering detailed military information and smuggling it out to London, via Budapest and Istanbul. [53], However, the Nazi regime sought to suppress any source of ideology other than its own, and set out to muzzle or crush the churches in the so-called Kirchenkampf. [16], By the spring of 1934, Himmler's SS controlled the SD and the Gestapo, but for him, there was still a problem, as technically the SS (and the Gestapo by proxy) was subordinated to the SA, which was under the command of Ernst Rhm. On one hand, it was next to impossible for them to overthrow Hitler and the party; on the other, the Allied demand for an unconditional surrender meant no opportunity for a compromise peace, which left the military and conservative aristocrats who opposed the regime no option (in their eyes) other than continuing the military struggle. [151][152] Nineteen of the 22 were convicted, and twelveMartin Bormann (in absentia), Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Hermann Gring, Alfred Jodl, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Wilhelm Keitel, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Alfred Rosenberg, Fritz Sauckel, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Julius Streicherwere given the death penalty. After his escape, he rejoined the army as a Hauptmann, with seniority dating from May 1st of 1934. . What was the difference between the SD and the Gestapo? The Abwehr ( German for resistance or defence, but the word usually means counterintelligence in a military context; pronounced [apve]) was the German military-intelligence service for the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht from 1920 to 1945. [32] The Gestapo became Amt IV (Department IV) of RSHA and Mller became the Gestapo Chief, with Heydrich as his immediate superior. (2013). The Gestapo had terrible methods of interrogating people who they deemed to be anti-Nazi or suspicious in any way. However, it was an important part of the brutal attacks against Jews in Germany. The stricter laws did not apply to lesbians as their behaviour was never officially criminalised, even though their behaviours were labelled "deviant". As early as 1935, a Prussian administrative court had ruled that the Gestapo's actions were not subject to judicial review. The Geheime Staatspolizei (German pronunciation: [ham tatspolitsa] (listen); transl. Heydrich, named chief of the Gestapo by Himmler on 22 April 1934, also continued as head of the SS Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst; SD). These three organizations always rivaled each other and their competences often overlapped. With their trade union flags waving, Hitler gave a rousing speech to the 1.5 million people assembled on Berlin's Tempelhofer Feld that was nationally broadcast, during which he extolled the nation's revival and working class solidarity. The members of the SA were largely former soldiers, ruffians, and men of violent natures, whose job was to originally protect the Nazi rallies, fight people from the leftist parties, and physically assault political opponents. After Heydrich (who was staunchly anti-Catholic and anti-Christian) was assassinated in Prague, his successor, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, relaxed some of the policies and then disbanded Department IVB (religious opponents) of the Gestapo. [21] Both the SD and Gestapo released information concerning an imminent putsch by the SA. During World War II the Gestapo suppressed partisan activities in the occupied territories and carried out reprisals against civilians. However, this fact was cashed upon to invite empathy from the public as well as to add shock value. [40], Polish agents also gathered detailed information about the morale of German soldiers in the East. While they may seem very similar, they actually differed in the roles they played. Oberstleutnant Werner Schrader (July 20 & Abwehr) - Axis History Complaints from the Waffen-SS led to a change of rank insignia shoulder boards from those of the Waffen-SS to those of the Ordnungspolizei. Varying degrees of pacification and police enforcement measures were necessary in each place, dependent on how cooperative or resistant the locals were to Nazi mandates and racial policies. No reason was ever given for their arrest or executionjust the fact that they seemed suspicious was enough. The power of the Gestapo included the use of what was called, Schutzhaft"protective custody", a euphemism for the power to imprison people without judicial proceedings. [145] Many of the auxiliary police personnel operating on behalf of German Order Police, the SD, and Gestapo were members of the Schutzmannschaft, which included staffing by Ukrainians, Belorussians, Russians, Estonians, Lithuanians, and Latvians. [116], According to Canadian historian Robert Gellately's analysis of the local offices established, the Gestapo wasfor the most partmade up of bureaucrats and clerical workers who depended upon denunciations by citizens for their information. In 1939, the SA was largely used as a training center for the Army when the war started. These officials were helped and supported by a mysterious organization called the ODESSA, which helped provide them identification, passports, and visas to South American countries. What Is The Difference Between The SD And The Gestapo? by JLEES 16 Aug 2002, 02:40, Post [157], After the war, U.S. Counterintelligence Corps employed the former Lyon Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie for his anti-communist efforts and also helped him escape to Bolivia. After the Supreme Leader (Hitler), came senior groups, lower groups, regiments, battalions, and troops, to name a few parts of the structure of the SA. [33] After Heydrich's 1942 assassination, Himmler assumed the leadership of the RSHA until January 1943, when Ernst Kaltenbrunner was appointed chief. It was mainly used in riots, demonstrations, and the ransacking and destroying of Jewish homes and synagogues. At that time, the Gestapo was condemned as a criminal organisation, along with the SS. Reports indicate that the Gestapo was caught unaware of this plot as they did not have sufficient protections in place at the appropriate locations nor did they take any preventative steps. Many of the men employed by the Gestapo were former criminals and extremists who were ideal for committing the atrocities the Nazi regime had planned. The difference between SS and the Gestapo The Gestapo is an organization of the police that existed only around 1934-1939 while the SS exited longer for about sixteen years between 1929 and 1945, before being abolished. When a group or organisation was thus declared criminal, the competent national authority of any signatory had the right to bring persons to trial for membership in that organisation, with the criminal nature of the group or organisation assumed proved. The official positions of defendants as heads of state or holders of high government offices were not to free them from responsibility or mitigate their punishment; nor was the fact that a defendant acted pursuant to an order of a superior to excuse him from responsibility, although it might be considered by the IMT in mitigation of punishment. Post the Night of Long Knives, the SA had downsized in its power and value. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. by Phil Nix 01 Feb 2004, 12:16. Abwehr. Arrests, torture, and executions were common. [34] The specific internal departments of Amt IV were as follows:[95], In 1941 Referat N, the central command office of the Gestapo was formed. [94] However, Gestapo leader Heinrich Mller was never tried, as he disappeared at the end of the war. The SS was also known as the parent organization of the Secret State Police, the Gestapo, and was responsible for organizing mobile killing units that went on a murder rampage in the occupied territories. [132] Brutality on the part of interrogatorsoften prompted by denunciations and followed with roundupsenabled the Gestapo to uncover numerous resistance networks; it also made them seem like they knew everything and could do anything they wanted. Uniforms worn by Gestapo men assigned to the Einsatzgruppen in occupied territories, were at first indistinguishable from the Waffen-SS field uniform. [105] One man who served in the Prussian Gestapo in 1933 recalled that most of his co-workers "were by no means Nazis. When Rhm refused to commit suicide, he was shot by two SS officers. Life in the Third Reich & Weimar Republic, Kriegsmarine surface ships and Kriegsmarine in general, Luftwaffe air units and Luftwaffe in general, German Strategy & General German Military Discussion, NSDAP, other party organizations & Government, The Dieter Zinke Axis Biographical Research Section, The Ron Klages Panzer & other vehicles Section, Panzer & other vehicles - Photo threads, Axis Documents, Feldpost numbers, Postcards & Other Paper Items, The United Kingdom & its Empire and Commonwealth 1919-45, The Allies and the Neutral States in general, German Colonies and Overseas Expeditions, The end of the Ottoman Empire 1908-1923, Translation help: Breaking the Sound Barrier, Differences between SD & GESTAPO: practical point of vue, Re: Differences between SD & GESTAPO: practical point of. The Gestapo was somewhat of a division of the SS, making SS the parent organization. In the occupied territories, the formal relationship between local units of the Gestapo, criminal police, and SD was slightly closer. Hitler's rise to power and his rule in Nazi Germany has been attributed to the aid and support of several people, with three organizations playing a vital role - the SS, the SA, and the Gestapo. Gestapo | Definition, History, Facts, & Tactics | Britannica [69] Efforts to resist the Nazi regime amounted to very little and had only minor chances of success, particularly since a broad percentage of the German people did not support such actions. [20] Several Nazi chieftains, among them Gring, Joseph Goebbels, Rudolf Hess, and Himmler, began a concerted campaign to convince Hitler to take action against Rhm. Denunciation was the exception, not the rule, as far as the behaviour of the vast majority of Germans was concerned. [83], Some Germans were convinced that it was their duty to apply all possible expedients to end the war as quickly as possible. [125] The Gestapo always showed a special interest in denunciations concerning sexual matters, especially cases concerning Rassenschande with Jews or between Germans and foreigners, in particular Polish slave workers; the Gestapo applied even harsher methods to the foreign workers in the country, especially those from Poland,[126] Jews, Catholics and homosexuals. [77] Later, the British and Americans did not want to deal with anti-Nazis because they were fearful that the Soviet Union would believe they were attempting to make deals behind their back.