The Gestapo: A History of Horror

by Jacques Delarue, Mervyn Savill (Translator)

Overview

From 1933 to 1945, the Gestapo was Nazi Germany's chief instrument of counter-espionage, political suppression, and terror. Jacques Delarue, a saboteur arrested by the Nazis in occupied France, chronicles how the land of Beethoven elevated sadism to a fine art. The Gestapo: A History of Horror draws upon Delarue's interviews with ex-Gestapo agents to deliver a multi-layered history of the force whose work included killing student resisters, establishing Aryan eugenic unions, and implementing the Final Solution. This is a probing look at the Gestapo and the fanatics and megalomaniacs who made it such a successful and heinous organization—Barbie, Eichmann, Himmler, Heydrich, Müller. The Gestapo's notorious reign led to the murder of millions. The Gestapo is an important documentation of what they did and how they did it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781602392465
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	05/17/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	895,424
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Jacques Delarue was a member of the French Resistance, and he enjoyed a long career with the Sûreté Nationale. He authored books on the Resistance, Charles de Gaulle, and the Algerian War.

Table of Contents

Table of Abbreviations used     viii
Preface     ix
Introduction     1
The Birth of the Gestapo 1933-34
The Nazis Become Masters of Germany     13
Hitler's cabinet
The Brown Terror
Goering takes over and purges the Prussian police
Despotism and a series of decrees
The terrible month of February 1933
The burning of the Reichstag
The "emergency measures"
Rounding up the Opposition
The apathy of the trade unions
The electoral campaign and the March 5 elections
The new Reichstag
Full powers
Gleichschaltung
The comedy of Labor Day
The dissolution of the unions
Dr. Ley's Labor Front
The dissolution of the parties
The sole Party
Goering has Recourse to the Police     23
Hermann Goering
Goering the S.A. man
Goering and Roehm
Rivalry
Goering wounded in Munich
Flight and exile
Morphinomania, obesity, and psychological evolution
Return to Munich in 1927
Goering, a deputy and then President of the Reichstag
Goering and Papen
Rivalry and chicaneries
Diels the policeman
Diels against the Nazis
The wind changes
Diels buys himself back into favor
Goering seduced by the political police
The opening of the first concentration camp
Goering's directives to the police
The Gestapo is Created     35
Amnesty for the Nazi criminals
The decree of April 26, 1933, creates the Gestapo in Prussia
The beginning of the Gestapo under Diel's direction
The S.A. cries for blood
Internal rivalries between S.A., S.S., and Gestapo
Dielsis overthrown only to return in triumph
The Gestapo becomes Goering's personal property
The trial of van der Lubbe
Rail and Reineking
The Gestapo Perfects Its Methods 1934-1936
Himmler Takes over the Gestapo     57
The police forces of the German Laender are placed under the jurisdiction of the Reich
The Nazi administrative imbroglio
Diels quits the Gestapo for good
Himmler succeeds him
Himmler's career
His deputy, Heydrich
A biography of Himmler
The nature of the S.S. "Order"
The S.S. before Himmler
What he made of it
A portrait of Himmler the man
Himmler's "Black Order"     72
The birth and development of Nazi racist principles
The racist philosophy
Racialism and the S.S.
The curious S.S. honor
The S.S. and the law
Himmler and racialism
The Lebensborn
Special rights for the S.S.
The Hitler Jugend, a recruiting reservoir for the S.S. and the Gestapo
The S.S. organization
The Gestapo is Everywhere     82
Himmler organizes the Gestapo on the S.S. model
Heydrich chief of the Gestapo head office
The State, the Gestapo, and the Party
The Fuehrerprinzip
The Gestapo's sources of information
The responsible figures and the leaders of the Party
The Blockleiter, the principal informer of the Gestapo
The organizations of the Party and spying at home
Political espionage abroad: the Ausland Organization, the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle, and the Fifth Column
The surveillance of refugees
Nazi propaganda abroad, another source of information
The Hermann Goering Research Institute and wire-tapping
The Strange Personality of Heydrich     93
Heydrich, biography and portrait
Heydrich organizes the Gestapo services technically
The prerogatives of the Gestapo
The Gestapo escapes from all control
It enlarges its domain
The "patriotic duty of silence"
Nazism an empty policy
The Gestapo Versus Roehm     102
Himmler and Goering versus Roehm
Roehm in 1931
Physical and moral portrait
The S.A. between 1931 and 1933
Unemployment and recruitment
The "Socialist principles" of the Nazis and the help of the big industrialists
Roehm and the "second revolutionary wave"
Roehm dares to defy Hitler
The S.S. of 1933 opposes the S.A.
The Gestapo spreads its nets
The Army abandons Roehm
Hitler buys the loyalty of the Army by sacrificing Roehm and the S.A.
"The Night of the Long Knives"     109
Roehm revives the Socialist orders of the day
Papen, the conservative spokesman
Veiled warnings
The murder of Dr. Jung
Himmler and Goering prepare the attack against Roehm and the S.A.
The June 30 "purge"
The death of Roehm
The terrible purge of the S.A.
Repression in Berlin
The Nazis legalize the murders of June 30
Lutze succeeds Roehm
Hindenburg congratulates Hitler
Blomberg and the Army approve and thank Hitler
The death of Hindenburg
Hitler is appointed President
Blomberg and the Army ratify the appointment and take the oath
The New Organization of the Police     126
The swindle of June 30
The Gestapo's discreet triumph
Himmler and Heydrich make themselves feared and hated
the S.S. becomes an independent organization
Heydrich organizes the S.D.
Official members and well-disposed agents
Dr. Best and Dr. Mehlhorn organize the network of "honorary agents"
The card index of the S.D.
Best and Mehlhorn are dismissed
Heydrich's personal views
the "Kitty Salon"
Eichmann enters the S.D.
Schellenburg, Nebe, and Mueller
The Gestapo services specialize
The first structure of the edifice
The Gestapo and the S.D. in the Sarre
The Sarre plebiscite
The reestablishment of military service
The Gestapo elaborates the rules of the Secret Service
The fundamental law of February 10, 1936, gives judicial status to the Gestapo and defines its task
Himmler appointed Supreme Head of all the German Police Forces on June 17, 1936
Concentration of the powers
The Nazi's conception of the police
The Gestapo Prepares for the Invasion 1936-39
The Gestapo Tackles the Army     143
The remilitarization of the Rhineland
General rearmament and preparations for war
Himmler and Heydrich prepare the Nazification of the soldiers
Herr Mueller, performer of the dirty work
A Gestapo machination: the Blomberg-Fritsch affair
Hitler suppresses the Ministry of War and appoints himself supreme leader of the Army
The creation of the O.K.W.
The purge in the Army and the diplomatic corps
The appointment of Keitel
The military inquiry into the Fritsch affair
The court-martial
The military definitively conquered by the Party
The triumph of Himmler and the Gestapo
The Gestapo Installs Itself in Europe     158
The resignation of General Beck
The political situation in Austria
Secret agents in Austria
Nazi terrorism and the abortive putsch of July 25, 1934
The murder of Chancellor Dollfuss
The infiltration of the Nazi organizations
Shuschnigg continues the Dollfuss policy
Shuschnigg's last attempt
Dismissal of Shuschnigg
The Anschluss
Himmler, Schellenberg, and Heydrich in Vienna
The Gestapo moves in
The bloody purge
Preparations for the conquest of Czechoslovakia
The situation in Czechoslovakia
The Nazi organizations in Sudetenland
Conrad Henlein, the Sudeten Germany party, and the Fifth Column
Summer 1938
The Czechoslovakian S.S.
Gestapo and S.D.
Frontier incidents
The Munich Agreement and the occupation of Sudetenland
The liquidation of Czechoslovakia
Himmler, Heydrich, and Schellenberg in Prague
The role of police organizations in Nazi strategy
Himmler Shapes His Organization     171
The aggression against Poland
The Gleiwitz incident
Naujocks and "Operation Himmler"
The role of the Abwehr in organizing the machination
Herr Mueller, the provider of corpses
The invasion of Poland
Himmler's special train
The Einsatzgrupper
The generals and the purge in Poland
National Socialism and militarism
The evolution of the Gestapo organization after the 1936 decree
Creation of the R.S.H.A. on September 27, 1939
The Gestapo Bureau IV
The evolution of the R.S.H.A. from 1939 to 1945
The Gestapo at War 1940
In Poland     187
The Polish people reduced to slavery
The status of the Polish workers in Germany
The spoilation of the land
The A.B. action
The war starts in the West
The Venlo coup
The appearance of Knochen
Schellenberg and the intelligence service
The attempt of November 9, 1939
The Rape of Venlo
Elser and his accomplices
The Gestapo in France     200
The French campaign
The Occupation of Paris
The arrival of Dr. Knochen's clandestine commando on June 14, 1940
Knochen hoodwinks the soldiers
Helmuth Knochen and the men of the Sonderkommando
Knochen, a biography and portrait
Installation in Paris
The first assaults by the soldiers
The first branches of the Gestapo in the provinces
Conflicts with the diplomats, the Army, and the Rosenberg service
Dr. Thomas and the collaborationist parties
The Nazis subventions
The anti-Semites and collaboration
The Abwehr in France
Knochen and the Paris salons
Thomas and the Cagoulard killers
Thomas is liquidated by the soldiers
Knochen remains sole master in Paris
The Gestapo and the Army     212
The military High Command and the armistice
Dannecker and his first anti-Semitic measures
Von Stulpnagel's "code of hostages"
Knochen organizes his services
Oberg replaces Thomas
Karl Oberg, biography and portrait
Heydrich installs Oberg in Paris
Heydrich's directions
Secretary General Bousquet rejects the German demands in France
Dannecker and Eichmann attend to the French Jews
The subsections of the Gestapo in Paris
The French auxiliaries
Boemelburg
The S.D. in France
The Funkspielkommando
The buying offices, centers of espionage
The Otto organization
Brandl and Poeschl
The Hell of the Gestapo 1940-44
The Gestapo at Work in France     233
The police raids in France
The Gestapo interrogations
The transports to Germany
Arrival at the concentration camps
The W.V.H.A.
The camps a source of profit
The political section, the camp Gestapo
The presentation of prisoners to visitors to the camp
The German military tribunal in Paris
The reserve of hostages in Fort Romainville
Classification of the prisoners
The "bunker inmates"
Captain Pom-Pom
How the hostages to be shot were chosen
The Martyrdom of the Eastern Territories     246
Himmler in charge of maintaining order in the Eastern-occupied territories
The Einsatzgruppen
The Gestapo-German High Command agreements
The nature of an Einsatzgruppe
The action of the Einsatzgruppe
Operation "Cottbus"
The massacres of Rovno
The "S" trucks
The Gestapo in Czechoslovakia
The Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia
Heydrich becomes deputy Protector
Heydrich in Prague
The policy of the "sugar and the whip"
The attempt of May 22, 1942
The death of Heydrich
The repression
Lidice
The successor to Heydrich
Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Biography and portrait
Kaltenbrunner the purveyor to the camps
The R.S.H.A. on Kaltenbrunner's arrival
The communal lunches of the section leaders
Eichmann and Kaltenbrunner
The regulations for the extermination of Jews in the camps
Commissioner Wirth and the faked city of welcome
The Experiments of the Nazi Scientists     270
The Gestapo and the prisoners of war
The extermination of Russian prisoners
The orders of Mueller
The plan to assassinate General Weygand
Reprisals after the escape of General Giraud
The murder of General Mesny
The "Kugel" decree
The "K" prisoners at Mauthausen
The career of Mauthausen
The affair of the Sagan escapes
The Gestapo and foreign workers in Germany
Himmler and the medical experiments in the camps
The Ahnenerbe
Dr. Rascher
Experiments on the effects of a vacuum and cold
Medical resistance to the experimentation on human beings
The troubles of Dr. Rascher's family
The arrest and death of the Raschers
Experiments with viruses, diseases, and sterilization
The Gestapo selects the human guinea pigs
The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
Dr. Hirt's anatomical collections
The Gestapo Operates Throughout the Whole of France     288
The policy of Himmler and of Otto Abetz in Paris
Oberg and the creation of the L.V.F.
Oberg's hold on the collaborationist parties
Bousquet tries to have the Hostages Code abrogated
The Oberg-Bousquet agreements
The execution of hostages in August and September 1942
The extension of the powers of the Gestapo in France
Maulaz and the world of the Parisian salons
Knochen and discipline
The latent conflict between Mueller and Knochen
Oberg "covers" Knochen
"Intensified" interrogations
Operation "Donar"
The nature of a Funkspiel
Funkspiel with England
The invasion of the southern zone
The Gestapo opens six new services in the southern zone
The organization of the Gestapo in France at the beginning of 1943
The creation of the militia
The Waffen S.S. recruits in France
Oberg at Vichy
Operation "Fuchsbau"
Oberg impresses Darnand
The departure and arrest of Bousquet
The militia becomes an auxiliary police force
The number of arrests increase
The courts-martial
Collapse of the Gestapo 1944
Resistance in the Army     315
The Normandy landings and the collapse of the West front
The last "protective measures" ordered by Oberg
The awakening of a kernel of resistance in the Army
The Weisse Rose
The Abwehr conspirators
Gestapo versus Abwehr
The resignation of Canaris
The Gestapo absorbs the Abwehr
Colonel Hansen
Stauffenberg enters into the conspiracy
The abortive attempts
The attempt of July 20, 1944
July 20 in Paris
The setback and the repression
The abortive suicide of Stulpnagel
The hangings in Plotzensee prison
The last convoys of deportees
The departure of Oberg and the Nordling mission
The Nosek commando
Oberg and Knochen take up their quarters at Vittel
The Wolves Devour Each Other     332
The final disappearance of the Abwehr
Disgrace and the subsequent return of Knochen
Oberg at St. Die
Skorzeny's special schools
The collapse
The final maneuvers of Goering and Himmler
Their destitution
Himmler's attempts at negotiation
Schellenberg the intermediary
Hitler's will
Bormann's role
The mediation of the Doenitz Government
A certain Heinrich Hitzinger
The arrest and suicide of Himmler
The disappearance of Mueller
The end of Kaltenbrunner and Goering
The arrest of Oberg and Knochen
Their trial
Conclusion
Appendices     355
Bibliography     362
Index     365