Here you will find descriptions of a range of terms, events, themes and institutions featured on the website.
Gauleiter
The Gauleiter was a leading member of the NSDAP responsible for overseeing a specific administrative region, known as a Gau. Initially, their primary role was to coordinate party activities and organisations within their Gau. After the National Socialists seized power in 1933, Gauleiter expanded their authority and increasingly assumed state functions.
The SD (Security Service of the Reichsführer SS) was established in 1931 by Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler as the intelligence service of the SS (Schutzstaffel). Its task was to gather information on political opponents and oppositional movements within and outside the National Socialist circles. From 1934, the SD became the intelligence service of the NSDAP. It was subordinated to Reinhard Heydrich, who merged the SD with the security police (Gestapo and Kripo) into the newly formed Reich Security Main Office in 1939.
The Gauleiter was a leading member of the NSDAP responsible for overseeing a specific administrative region, known as a Gau. Initially, their primary role was to coordinate party activities and organisations within their Gau. After the National Socialists seized power in 1933, Gauleiter expanded their authority and increasingly assumed state functions.
Gestapo
The Nazis established the »Secret State Police« (Geheime Staatspolizei, abbr. Gestapo) to combat political opponents. It was also instrumental in the persecution of minorities. Gestapo officials did not require a court warrant to search apartments or to detain people, send them to concentration camps or murder them. They tortured people under interrogation to force confessions out of them. In the occupied territories members of the Gestapo participated in mass shootings and other crimes.
The Nazis established the »Secret State Police« (Geheime Staatspolizei, abbr. Gestapo) to combat political opponents. It was also instrumental in the persecution of minorities. Gestapo officials did not require a court warrant to search apartments or to detain people, send them to concentration camps or murder them. They tortured people under interrogation to force confessions out of them. In the occupied territories members of the Gestapo participated in mass shootings and other crimes.