The Gestapo was the most feared instrument of political terror in the Third Reich, brutally hunting down and destroying anyone it regarded as an enemy of the Nazi regime: socialists, Communists, Jews, homosexuals, and anyone else deemed to be an 'anti-social element'. Its prisons soon became infamous - many of those who disappeared into them were never seen again - and it has been remembered ever since as the sinister epitome of Nazi terror and persecution. But how accurate is it to view the Gestapo as an all-pervasive, all-powerful, all-knowing instrument of terror? How much did it depend upon the cooperation and help of ordinary Germans? And did its networks extend further into the everyday life of German society than most Germans after 1945 ever wanted to admit? Answering all these questions and more, this book uses the very latest research to tell the true story behind this secretive and fearsome institution. Tracing the history of the organization from its origins in the Weimar Republic, through the crimes of the Nazi period, to the fate of former Gestapo officers after World War II, Carsten Dams and Michael Stolle investigate how the Gestapo really worked - and question many of the myths that have long surrounded it.

Im Handbuch der Polizeien Deutschlands werden erstmals alle 16 Polizeien der Bundeslander und die beiden Polizeien des Bundes systematisch dargestellt und analysiert. Enthalten sind jeweils die historische Entwicklung, Aufbau und Organisation, polizeirechtliche Aspekte, die polizeiliche Aus- und Fortbildung, Angaben zum Personal und eine Analyse der Polizeipolitik. Auf dieser Grundlage werden in einem vergleichenden Beitrag der Herausgeber dann Einschatzungen zur Polizeipolitik in Deutschland insgesamt getroffen."

The Gestapo was the most feared instrument of political terror in the Third Reich, brutally hunting down and destroying anyone it regarded as an enemy of the Nazi regime: socialists, Communists, Jews, homosexuals, and anyone else deemed to be an 'anti-social element'. Its prisons soon became infamous - many of those who disappeared into them were never seen again - and it has been remembered ever since as the sinister epitome of Nazi terror and persecution. But how accurate is it to view the Gestapo as an all-pervasive, all-powerful, all-knowing instrument of terror? How much did it depend upon the cooperation and help of ordinary Germans? And did its networks extend further into the everyday life of German society than most Germans after 1945 ever wanted to admit? Answering all these questions and more, this book uses the very latest research to tell the true story behind this secretive and fearsome institution. Tracing the history of the organization from its origins in the Weimar Republic, through the crimes of the Nazi period, to the fate of former Gestapo officers after World War II, Carsten Dams and Michael Stolle investigate how the Gestapo really worked - and question many of the myths that have long surrounded it.

Die preu ische politische Polizei war das gr te Staatsschutzorgan der Weimarer Republik. Eine ihrer Hauptaufgaben war die berwachung und Bek mpfung der NSDAP. Hierzu geh rten die berwachung und Aufl sung von Veranstaltungen, pressepolizeiliche Ma nahmen und nachrichtendienstliche T tigkeiten. In umfangreichen Denkschriften wurde ein Verbot der NSDAP vorbereitet, welches allerdings nicht umgesetzt wurde. Aber - auch wenn die Mittel der politischen Polizei gegen eine Massenbewegung wie die NSDAP begrenzt waren - festzuhalten bleibt dennoch, da die Nationalsozialisten von der preu ischen politischen Polizei energisch bek mpft wurden und mit den Mitteln des Staatsschutzes erreicht wurde, was erreicht werden konnte.