Overview

Hermann Göring's creation of 1933, the Gestapo, Geheime Staatspolizei, the secret state police charged with identifying individuals considered undesirable, was a redoubtable weapon in the hands of the Nazi power: a veritable device for terror. On 20 April 1934, oversight of the Gestapo passed to the head of the Schutzstaffel (SS), Heinrich Himmler, who was also appointed Chief of German Police by Hitler in 1936.