Gestapo, SS and SA

The Secret State Police (Gestapo) was the political police force of the Nazi regime. It was established shortly after the National Socialist seizure of power and was dissolved by the Allies with the end of World War II in 1945. Its main objective was to combat political opponents and people who, in the eyes of the Nazi leadership, posed a potential threat to the state. In addition to members of the opposition, this also included people who criticised the Nazi regime or belonged to a particular group (e.g. Jews or Sinti and Roma). To ward off this supposed danger, the Gestapo had far-reaching powers.
The Gestapo was known for its brutal behaviour: Torture, arbitrary searches, surveillance and interrogation were among their common methods. After the war began in autumn 1941, the Gestapo was also largely responsible for organising the deportation of Jews from all over Europe to concentration and extermination camps and ghettos.

© Bundesarchiv – Bild 183-R97512 / CC BY-SA 4.0

The SS (Schutzstaffel) was a Nazi organisation that was used as an instrument of repression by the NSDAP. Founded in 1929 as a bodyguard for Adolf Hitler and other National Socialist functionaries, the SS developed under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler into the state's most powerful instrument of power and terror. From 1934, it was responsible for the administration of concentration camps and, from 1941, death camps. The SS thus played a key role in the planning and execution of Nazi crimes. The SS saw itself as an exclusive elite organisation that was unconditionally subordinate to Adolf Hitler. Membership was voluntary.

The Sturmabteilung (SA) was founded in 1921 as a paramilitary division of the NSDAP. With its terror against members of the opposition and the influencing of elections, it played a decisive role in the rise of Adolf Hitler and the NSDAP. In 1934, Adolf Hitler had Ernst Röhm, the leader of the SA, assassinated, as a result of which the organisation lost most of its power to the Schutzstaffel (SS). However, the SA was not formally disbanded until World War II had ended in 1945.

© Bundesarchiv – Bild 146-1982-004-13A / CC-BY-SA 3.0