130-570: Operation Hydra may refer to: Operation Hydra (1943) , a bombing of Peenemünde in World War II Operation Hydra (Yugoslavia) , a 1942 SOE operation in Yugoslavia Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Operation Hydra . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
260-498: A British publication about having created the organisation on his own initiative and how he was "chiefly responsible" for the elimination of the Marxist and Communist threat to Germany and Prussia . Describing the activities of the organisation, Göring boasted about the utter ruthlessness required for Germany's recovery, the establishment of concentration camps for that purpose, and even went on to claim that excesses were committed in
390-520: A Danish chemical engineer and from Leon-Henri Roth and Dr Schwagen, Luxembourgish enrolés de force (forced labourers), who had worked at Peenemünde and smuggled out letters describing rocket research, giving conflicting accounts of the size, warhead range and means of propulsion of the device. Despite the confusion, there was little doubt that the Germans were working on a rocket and in April 1943,
520-761: A Prussian state agency, the Gestapo became a national one as a sub-office of the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo; Security Police). From 27 September 1939, it was administered by the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). It became known as Amt (Dept) 4 of the RSHA and was considered a sister organisation to the Sicherheitsdienst (SD; Security Service). The Gestapo committed widespread atrocities during its existence. The power of
650-521: A campaign later known as " Crossbow ". The British lost 40 bombers and 215 aircrew, and several hundred enslaved workers in the nearby Trassenheide forced labour camp were killed. The Luftwaffe lost twelve night-fighters and about 170 German civilian personnel were killed, including two V-2 rocket scientists. Assessments of the raids effectiveness vary; the United States Strategic Bombing Survey (1945) called
780-670: A caricature of Hitler to a Catholic teacher suspected of being lukewarm about teaching National Socialism in his classroom. The "administrative control" category concerned those who were breaking the law concerning residency in the city. The "conventional criminality" category concerned economic crimes such as money laundering , smuggling and homosexuality. Normal methods of investigation included various forms of blackmail , threats and extortion to secure "confessions". Beyond that, sleep deprivation and various forms of harassment were used as investigative methods. Failing that, torture and planting evidence were common methods of resolving
910-414: A case, especially if the case concerned someone Jewish. Brutality on the part of interrogators—often prompted by denunciations and followed with roundups —enabled the Gestapo to uncover numerous resistance networks; it also made them seem like they knew everything and could do anything they wanted. While the total number of Gestapo officials was limited when contrasted against the represented populations,
1040-777: A concentration camp. Thereafter, there was a show trial overseen by Roland Freisler , followed by their execution. Some Germans were convinced that it was their duty to apply all possible expedients to end the war as quickly as possible. Sabotage efforts were undertaken by members of the Abwehr (military intelligence) leadership, as they recruited people known to oppose the Nazi regime. The Gestapo cracked down ruthlessly on dissidents in Germany, just as they did everywhere else. Opposition became more difficult. Arrests, torture, and executions were common. Terror against "state enemies" had become
1170-538: A concerted campaign to convince Hitler to take action against Röhm. Both the SD and Gestapo released information concerning an imminent putsch by the SA. Once persuaded, Hitler acted by setting Himmler's SS into action, who then proceeded to murder over 100 of Hitler's identified antagonists. The Gestapo supplied the information which implicated the SA and ultimately enabled Himmler and Heydrich to emancipate themselves entirely from
1300-470: A full moon and the bombers would have to fly at 8,000 ft (2,400 m) instead of the normal altitude of 19,000 ft (5,800 m). Peenemünde was around 600 mi (1,000 km) from the closest British airbase, spread over a wide area and protected by smoke screens. All of Bomber Command was to fly on the raid and practice raids on areas similar to Peenemünde were made; margins of error of up to 1,000 yd (910 m) were initially recorded — by
1430-566: A new generation of National Socialist adherents, who were hard-working, efficient, and prepared to carry the Nazi state forward through the persecution of their political opponents. By the spring of 1934, Himmler's SS controlled the SD and the Gestapo, but for him, there was still a problem, as technically the SS (and the Gestapo by proxy) was subordinated to the SA, which was under the command of Ernst Röhm . Himmler wanted to free himself entirely from Röhm, whom he viewed as an obstacle. Röhm's position
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#17327722419781560-475: A radical departure from German tradition, which held that law enforcement was (mostly) a Land (state) and local matter. In this, he ran into conflict with Schutzstaffel (SS) chief Heinrich Himmler who was police chief of the second most powerful German state, Bavaria . Frick did not have the political power to take on Göring by himself so he allied with Himmler. With Frick's support, Himmler (pushed on by his right-hand man, Reinhard Heydrich ) took over
1690-639: A similar education could be hired as female detectives. Female youth leaders, lawyers, business administrators with experience in social work, female leaders in the Reichsarbeitsdienst and personnel administrators in the Bund Deutscher Mädel were hired as detectives after a one-year course, if they had several years professional experience. Later, nurses, kindergarten teachers, and trained female commercial employees with an aptitude for police work were hired as female detectives after
1820-649: A threat to the Volksgemeinschaft (National Community). From the Nazis rise to national power in 1933, the number of court verdicts against homosexuals steadily increased and only declined once the Second World War started. In 1934, a special Gestapo office was set up in Berlin to deal with homosexuality. Despite male homosexuality being considered a greater danger to "national survival", lesbianism
1950-415: A time and distance method for bombing; a distinctive point on the surface was used as a datum for the release of the bombs at a set time – and therefore distance – from it. H2S radar worked best over contrasting areas of ground and open water and 5 Group was to fly an approach run from Cape Arkona on the island of Rügen , to Thiessow to check time and heading. From Thiessow to
2080-564: A total of 41 Gestapo men combined. In Düsseldorf , the local Gestapo office of only 281 men were responsible for the entire Lower Rhine region, which comprised 4 million people. In lower Franconia, which included Würzburg , there were only twenty-two Gestapo officers overseeing 840,000 or more inhabitants; this meant that the Nazi secret police "was reliant on Germans spying on each other". These "V-men", as undercover Gestapo agents were known, were used to infiltrate Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and Communist opposition groups, but this
2210-464: A two-year course as Kriminaloberassistentin and could promote to a Kriminalsekretärin . After another two or three years in that grade, the female detective could advance to Kriminalobersekretärin . Further promotions to Kriminalkommissarin and Kriminalrätin were also possible. In 1933, there was no purge of the German police forces. The vast majority of Gestapo officers came from
2340-638: A way of life to such a degree that the Gestapo's presence and methods were eventually normalised in the minds of people living in Nazi Germany. In January 1933, Hermann Göring, Hitler's minister without portfolio , was appointed the head of the Prussian Police and began filling the political and intelligence units of the Prussian Secret Police with Nazi Party members. A year after the organisation's inception, Göring wrote in
2470-470: A whole continued to increase." In volume II of The Strategic Air Offensive against Germany (1961) part of the official History of the Second World War , Webster and Frankland wrote that Dornberger thought that the bombing delayed the A4 (V2) project by four to six weeks, which had been followed by many later accounts but that this was anecdotal. The official historians wrote that the transfer of production to
2600-415: The 20 July plot , this assassination attempt failed and Hitler was only slightly injured. Reports indicate that the Gestapo was caught unaware of this plot as they did not have sufficient protections in place at the appropriate locations nor did they take any preventative steps. Stauffenberg and his group were shot on 21 July 1944; meanwhile, his fellow conspirators were rounded up by the Gestapo and sent to
2730-566: The German Labour Front (DAF), a Nazi organisation placed under the leadership of Robert Ley . For their part, this was the first time the Gestapo operated under its new name since its 26 April 1933 founding in Prussia. Many parts of Germany (where religious dissent existed upon the Nazi seizure of power) saw a rapid transformation; a change as noted by the Gestapo in conservative towns such as Würzburg, where people acquiesced to
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#17327722419782860-756: The Habsburgs , who unlike most across the Greater German Reich, remained determined to resist the Nazis. These groups became a special focus of the Gestapo because of their insurrectionist goals—the overthrow of the Nazi regime, the re-establishment of an independent Austria under Habsburg leadership—and Hitler's hatred of the Habsburg family. Hitler vehemently rejected the centuries' old Habsburg pluralist principles of "live and let live" with regard to ethnic groups, peoples, minorities, religions, cultures and languages. Habsburg loyalist Karl Burian 's (who
2990-622: The Netherlands , kidnapped two British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) officers after having lured them to a meeting to discuss peace terms. This prompted Winston Churchill to ban any further contact with the German opposition. Later, the British and Americans did not want to deal with anti-Nazis because they were fearful that the Soviet Union would believe they were attempting to make deals behind their back. The German opposition
3120-449: The Night and Fog Decree ( German : Nacht und Nebel )—simply disappeared while in Gestapo custody. Contrary to popular perception, the Gestapo was actually a relatively small organization with limited surveillance capability; still it proved extremely effective due to the willingness of ordinary Germans to report on fellow citizens. During World War II , the Gestapo played a key role in
3250-524: The Oslo report of November 1939, from Royal Air Force (RAF) photo-reconnaissance photographs taken from 22 April 1943 and eavesdropping on Lieutenant-General Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma , a prisoner-of-war in Britain, who expressed surprise that there had been no rocket bombardment of Britain. Other prisoners of war gave various and sometimes fanciful accounts. Information also came from Polish intelligence ,
3380-613: The Reichstag fire . In late 1933, the Reich Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick wanted to integrate all the police forces of the German states under his control. Göring outflanked him by removing the Prussian political and intelligence departments from the state interior ministry. Göring took over the Gestapo in 1934 and urged Hitler to extend the agency's authority throughout Germany. This represented
3510-506: The Sinti and Roma population, handicapped persons , homosexuals and above all, upon the Jews. "Selective terror" by the Gestapo, as mentioned by Johnson, is also supported by historian Richard Evans who states that, "Violence and intimidation rarely touched the lives of most ordinary Germans. Denunciation was the exception, not the rule, as far as the behaviour of the vast majority of Germans
3640-485: The V-2 in 1942, for example to Raderach [ de ] near Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance. The United States Strategic Bombing Survey , which was published by the U.S. War Department on 30 September 1945, found that RAF airstrike operations which took place "prior to the autumn of 1944," such as Operation Hydra, "did not substantially affect the course of German war production" and that "German war production as
3770-443: The V-2 scientists . At 00:10 British time, the first red spot fire was started and at 00:11, sixteen blind illuminator marker aircraft commenced marking runs with white parachute flares and long-burning red target indicators (TIs). Patches of stratocumulus cloud caused uncertain visibility in the full moon and Rügen did not show as distinctly on H2S radar as expected, resulting in the red "datum lights" spot fires to be placed on
3900-549: The Weimar Republic stayed on in their jobs. In Würzburg , which is one of the few places in Germany where most of the Gestapo records survived, every member of the Gestapo was a career policeman or had a police background. The Canadian historian Robert Gellately wrote that most Gestapo men were not Nazis, but at the same time were not opposed to the Nazi regime, which they were willing to serve, in whatever task they were called upon to perform. Over time, membership in
4030-412: The 4,000 people attacked were killed, because the soft ground muffled bomb explosions and air raid shelters in the estate had been well built. Dr Walter Thiel , the chief engineer of rocket motors and Dr Erich Walther, chief engineer of the rocket factory, were killed. The attack by 131 1 Group aircraft, 113 Lancasters, 6 Pathfinder Shifters and 12 Pathfinder Backers-Up began at 12:31 a.m. to destroy
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4160-502: The 40 bombers lost; Leutnant Peter Erhardt, a Staffelkapitän and Unteroffizier Walter Höker flew the first operational Schräge Musik sorties in two Bf 110s . Fifteen British and Canadian airmen who were killed on the raid were buried by the Germans in unmarked graves within the secure perimeter. Their recovery at the end of the war was prevented by the Soviet authorities, and the bodies remain there to this day. On 18 August, after
4290-593: The 84 cases in Würzburg of Rassenschande ("race defilement"—sexual relations with non- Aryans ), 45 (54%) were started in response to denunciations by ordinary people, two (2%) by information provided by other branches of the government, 20 (24%) via information gained during interrogations of people relating to other matters, four (5%) from information from (Nazi) NSDAP organisations, two (2%) during "political evaluations" and 11 (13%) have no source listed while none were started by Gestapo ' s own "observations" of
4420-623: The Allies. The Maier group informed very early about the mass murder of Jews. The resistance group, later discovered by the Gestapo because of a double agent of the Abwehr, was in contact with Allen Dulles , the head of the US Office of Strategic Services in Switzerland. Although Maier and the other group members were severely tortured, the Gestapo did not uncover the essential involvement of
4550-566: The Chiefs of Staff warned operational HQs of the possibility of rocket weapons. Duncan Sandys was appointed by Winston Churchill to lead an inquiry to study the information and report on counter-measures. At a meeting, Sandys introduced the aerial photographs of Peenemünde . Professor Frederick Lindemann , scientific advisor to Churchill, judged the information to be a hoax but R. V. Jones refuted Lindemann. The committee recommended stopping reconnaissance flights to Peenemünde, to avoid alerting
4680-432: The German government and another 10% started in response to information that the Gestapo itself unearthed. The information supplied by denunciations often led the Gestapo in determining who was arrested. The popular picture of the Gestapo with its spies everywhere terrorising German society has been rejected by many historians as a myth invented after the war as a cover for German society's widespread complicity in allowing
4810-598: The German initials, "GPA", were too similar to those of the Soviet State Political Directorate ( Gosudarstvennoye Politicheskoye Upravlenie , or GPU). The first commander of the Gestapo was Rudolf Diels , a protégé of Göring. Diels was appointed with the title of chief of Abteilung Ia (Department 1a) of the Prussian Secret Police . Diels was best known as the primary interrogator of Marinus van der Lubbe after
4940-419: The Germans. Churchill said that despite the problems with attempting an attack beyond the range of British navigation aids "we must attack it on the heaviest possible scale" At 10 Downing Street on 15 July, the Chiefs of Staff, Herbert Morrison , Lindemann and Churchill examined the bombing plan and ordered an attack as soon as the moon and weather permitted. For accuracy, the raid was to take place during
5070-519: The Gestapo Chief. His direct subordinate Adolf Eichmann headed the Gestapo's Office of Resettlement and then its Office of Jewish Affairs ( Referat IV B4 or Sub-Department IV, Section B4). During the Holocaust , Eichmann's department within the Gestapo coordinated the mass deportation of European Jews to the Nazis' extermination camps . The power of the Gestapo included the use of what
5200-460: The Gestapo applied even harsher methods to the foreign workers in the country, especially those from Poland, Jews, Catholics and homosexuals . As time went by, anonymous denunciations to the Gestapo caused trouble to various NSDAP officials, who often found themselves being investigated by the Gestapo. Of the political cases, 61 people were investigated for suspicion of belonging to the KPD, 44 for
5330-609: The Gestapo chain of command and fell under the authority of branches of the SS. It was the Gestapo chief, SS- Brigadierführer Heinrich Müller, who kept Hitler abreast of the killing operations in the Soviet Union and who issued orders to the four Einsatzgruppen that their continual work in the east was to be "presented to the Führer." According to regulations issued by the Reich Security Main Office in 1940, women who had been trained in social work or having
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5460-697: The Gestapo discovered a cache of Polish intelligence documents in Prague and were surprised to see that Polish agents and informants had been gathering detailed military information and smuggling it out to London, via Budapest and Istanbul . The Poles identified and tracked German military trains to the Eastern front and identified four Order Police battalions sent to occupied areas of the Soviet Union in October 1941 that engaged in war crimes and mass murder . Polish agents also gathered detailed information about
5590-442: The Gestapo included ideological training, particularly once Werner Best assumed a leading role for training in April 1936. Employing biological metaphors, Best emphasised a doctrine which encouraged members of the Gestapo to view themselves as 'doctors' to the 'national body' in the struggle against "pathogens" and "diseases"; among the implied sicknesses were "communists, Freemasons, and the churches—and above and behind all these stood
5720-464: The Gestapo to work. Work done by social historians such as Detlev Peukert , Robert Gellately, Reinhard Mann, Inge Marssolek, René Otto, Klaus-Michael Mallmann and Paul Gerhard, which by focusing on what the local offices were doing has shown the Gestapo ' s almost total dependence on denunciations from ordinary Germans, and very much discredited the older " Big Brother " picture with the Gestapo having its eyes and ears everywhere. For example, of
5850-404: The Gestapo was used to focus upon political opponents, ideological dissenters (clergy and religious organisations), career criminals, the Sinti and Roma population, handicapped persons, homosexuals, and, above all, the Jews. Those arrested by the Gestapo were often held without judicial process, and political prisoners throughout Germany—and from 1941, throughout the occupied territories under
5980-423: The Gestapo's public image which they sought to maintain despite their increasing workload; an image which helped them identify and eliminate enemies of the Nazi state. Contrary to popular belief, the Gestapo was not the all-pervasive, omnipotent agency in German society. In Germany proper, many towns and cities had fewer than 50 official Gestapo personnel. For example, in 1939 Stettin and Frankfurt am Main only had
6110-408: The Gestapo. According to Canadian historian Robert Gellately 's analysis of the local offices established, the Gestapo was—for the most part—made up of bureaucrats and clerical workers who depended upon denunciations by citizens for their information. Gellately argued that it was because of the widespread willingness of Germans to inform on each other to the Gestapo that Germany between 1933 and 1945
6240-558: The Harz mountains and testing to Poland must have caused some delay in remedying the numerous design failings of the device and that the killing of Thiel and Walther might have made things worse. The attack on Peenemünde and other sites might have delayed the V2 offensive by two months. Although research and development continued almost immediately and test launches resumed on 6 October , plans for some German V-2 facilities were changed after Hydra;
6370-752: The Holocaust . After the war ended, the Gestapo was declared a criminal organisation by the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at the Nuremberg trials , and several top Gestapo members were sentenced to death. After Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany , Hermann Göring —future commander of the Luftwaffe and the number-two man in the Nazi Party —was named Interior Minister of Prussia . This gave Göring command of
6500-570: The Jews". Heydrich thought along similar lines and advocated both defensive and offensive measures on the part of the Gestapo, so as to prevent any subversion or destruction of the National Socialist body. Whether trained as police originally or not, Gestapo agents themselves were shaped by their socio-political environment. Historian George C. Browder contends that there was a four-part process ( authorisation , bolstering, routinisation, and dehumanisation ) in effect, which legitimised
6630-523: The Kripo (National criminal police) to form sub-units of the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo; Security Police), the Gestapo was officially classified as a government agency. Himmler's subsequent appointment to Chef der Deutschen Polizei (Chief of German Police) and status as Reichsführer-SS made him independent of Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick's nominal control. The SiPo was placed under
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#17327722419786760-410: The Nazi government's administration, a decision he made on 7 April 1933. As a preface to this action, Hitler decreed May 1 as National Labor Day to celebrate German workers, a move the trade union leaders welcomed. With their trade union flags waving, Hitler gave a rousing speech to the 1.5 million people assembled on Berlin's Tempelhofer Feld that was nationally broadcast, during which he extolled
6890-513: The Nazi regime amounted to very little and had only minor chances of success, particularly since a broad percentage of the German people did not support such actions. Between 1934 and 1938, opponents of the Nazi regime and their fellow travellers began to emerge. Among the first to speak out were religious dissenters but following in their wake were educators, aristocratic businessmen, office workers, teachers, and others from nearly every walk of life. Most people quickly learned that open opposition
7020-589: The Nazis were stalled by the fear of reprisals from the Gestapo. Fearful of an internal overthrow, the forces of the Gestapo were unleashed on the opposition. Groups like the White Rose and others, such as the Edelweiss Pirates , and the Swing Youth , were placed under close Gestapo observation. Some participants were sent to concentration camps. Leading members of the most famous of these groups,
7150-676: The Ordnance Department to research rocket development. Dornberger led a group of researchers through the infancy of the new technology and secured funds at the expense of other fields of research. Other scientists studied the use of rockets for maritime rescue, weather data collection, postal services across the Alps and the Atlantic and a journey to the Moon. The US Office of Strategic Services (OSS) received important information about
7280-466: The Pathfinder markers, some of which had drifted east or south and the 5 Group crews made time-and-distance runs, using Rügen as the datum to discover the wind and then flying at a speed which covered the 4 mi (6.4 km) to the target in slightly more than 60 seconds. The crews had been ordered to bomb on markers unless it was obvious that they were in the wrong place or were given directions by
7410-588: The Römer Group, Robby Group, Solf Circle , Schwarze Reichswehr , the Party of the Radical Middle Class, Jungdeutscher Orden , Schwarze Front and Stahlhelm were either discovered or infiltrated by the Gestapo. This led to corresponding arrests, being sent to concentration camps and execution. One of the methods employed by the Gestapo to contend with these resistance factions
7540-459: The SPD and 69 for other political parties. Most of the political investigations took place between 1933 and 1935 with the all-time high of 57 cases in 1935. After that year, political investigations declined with only 18 investigations in 1938, 13 in 1939, two in 1941, seven in 1942, four in 1943 and one in 1944. The "other" category associated with non-conformity included everything from a man who drew
7670-598: The SS Security Service ( Sicherheitsdienst ; SD). Himmler and Heydrich both immediately began installing their own personnel in select positions, several of whom were directly from the Bavarian Political Police , such as Heinrich Müller , Franz Josef Huber , and Josef Meisinger . Many of the Gestapo employees in the newly established offices were young and highly educated in a wide variety of academic fields and moreover, represented
7800-408: The SS and removed it from Frick's control. Himmler was nominally subordinate to Frick as police chief, but as Reichsführer-SS , he answered only to Hitler. This move also gave Himmler operational control over Germany's entire detective force. The Gestapo became a national state agency. Himmler also gained authority over all of Germany's uniformed law enforcement agencies, which were amalgamated into
7930-527: The SiPo and SD were merged into the newly created Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA; Reich Security Main Office ). Both the Gestapo and Kripo became distinct departments within the RSHA. Although the Sicherheitspolizei was officially disbanded, the term SiPo was figuratively used to describe any RSHA personnel throughout the remainder of the war. In lieu of naming convention changes, the original construct of
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#17327722419788060-425: The SiPo, Gestapo, and Kripo cannot be fully comprehended as "discrete entities", since they ultimately formed "a conglomerate in which each was wedded to each other and the SS through its Security Service, the SD". The creation of the RSHA represented the formalisation, at the top level, of the relationship under which the SD served as the intelligence agency for the security police. A similar co-ordination existed in
8190-766: The V-2 rockets and Peenemünde from the Austrian resistance group around the priest Heinrich Maier . The group, later uncovered by the Gestapo , had extensive contacts with the military, researchers, scientists and leading representatives of the German economy and in 1943 came into contact with Allen Dulles , the head of the OSS in Switzerland. Information had reached the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) about German weapons development since
8320-523: The V2 works, in two buildings about 300 yd (270 m) long. The bombers carried a minimum of ninety 4,000 lb (1,814 kg) and just under seven hundred 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs. The pathfinders had to move the marking from the first wave targets to the new ones, which had never been tried before. Each of the six pathfinder squadrons provided one aircraft as a shifter, which were to fly at 12,000 ft (3,700 m) with their bomb-sights set for 5,000 ft (1,500 m), which would make
8450-546: The White Rose, were arrested by the police and turned over to the Gestapo. For several leaders the punishment was death. During the first five months of 1943, the Gestapo arrested thousands suspected of resistance activities and carried out numerous executions. Student opposition leaders were executed in late February, and a major opposition organisation, the Oster Circle , was destroyed in April 1943. Efforts to resist
8580-430: The ability to "project" omnipotence...they co-opted the assistance of the German population by using denunciations to their advantage; proving in the end a powerful, ruthless and effective organ of terror under the Nazi regime that was seemingly everywhere. Lastly, the Gestapo's effectiveness, while aided by denunciations and the watchful eye of ordinary Germans, was more the result of the co-ordination and co-operation amid
8710-551: The atmosphere of fear they created led to an overestimation of their reach and strength; a faulty assessment which hampered the operational effectiveness of underground resistance organisations. Shortly after the Nazis came to power, they decided to dissolve the 28 federations of the General German Trade Union Confederation, because Hitler—after noting their success in the works council elections—intended to consolidate all German workers under
8840-460: The attack fails...it will be repeated the next night and on ensuing nights regardless, within practicable limits, of casualties. To divert German night fighters from Operation Hydra, eight Pathfinder Force ( No. 8 Group RAF ) Mosquitoes of 139 (Jamaica) Squadron flew to Whitebait (the codename for Berlin) to simulate the opening of a Main Force raid. By imitating the typical pathfinder marking of
8970-467: The authority to investigate cases of treason , espionage, sabotage and criminal attacks on the Nazi Party and Germany. The basic Gestapo law passed by the government in 1936 gave the Gestapo carte blanche to operate without judicial review —in effect, putting it above the law. The Gestapo was specifically exempted from responsibility to administrative courts, where citizens normally could sue
9100-588: The autumn of 1939), Gestapo officials believed that they had neutralised Polish intelligence activities. However, certain Polish information about the movement of German police and SS units to the East during 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union was similar to information British intelligence secretly obtained through intercepting and decoding German police and SS messages sent by radio telegraphy . In 1942,
9230-465: The average Volksgenosse (Nazi term for the "member of the German people") was typically not under observation, so the statistical ratio between Gestapo officials and inhabitants is "largely worthless and of little significance" according to some recent scholars. As historian Eric Johnson remarked, "The Nazi terror was selective terror", with its focus upon political opponents, ideological dissenters (clergy and religious organisations), career criminals,
9360-460: The beginning, recounting how beatings took place here and there. On 26 April 1933, he reorganised the force's Amt III as the Gestapa (better-known by the " sobriquet " Gestapo), a secret state police intended to serve the Nazi cause. Less than two weeks later in early May 1933, the Gestapo moved into their Berlin headquarters at Prinz-Albrecht-Straße 8. As a result of its 1936 merger with
9490-691: The bishops' reports to the Vatican should be obtained and that the bishops' areas of activity must be found out. Deans were to be targeted as the "eyes and ears of the bishops" and a "vast network" established to monitor the activities of ordinary clergy: "The importance of this enemy is such that inspectors of security police and of the security service will make this group of people and the questions discussed by them their special concern". In Dachau: The Official History 1933–1945 , Paul Berben wrote that clergy were watched closely, and frequently denounced, arrested and sent to Nazi concentration camps : "One priest
9620-525: The bombing. According to Dornberger in Trent Park recorded confirmation 720 workers were killed in the operation. Bomber Command suffered the loss of 6.7 percent of the aircraft dispatched, most of these in the third wave. After the Luftwaffe realised that the attack on Berlin was a diversion, about 30 Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Wilde Sau (wild boar) night fighters flew to the Baltic coast and shot down 29 of
9750-532: The buildings were hit, including the HQ and the design block. German night-fighters shot down 28 bombers in about fifteen minutes, some by aircraft carrying the new upward-firing Schräge Musik . The bombers shot down five of the German fighters. The Luftwaffe dispatched 213 night fighters once the British bombers made landfall over Denmark, 158 conventional twin-engined aircraft and 55 single-engined Wilde Sau (Wild Boar) Bf 109 and Fw 190 fighters. Assessments of
9880-540: The central command office of the Gestapo was formed. However, these internal departments remained and the Gestapo continued to be a department under the RSHA umbrella. The local offices of the Gestapo, known as Gestapo Leitstellen and Stellen , answered to a local commander known as the Inspekteur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD ("Inspector of the Security Police and Security Service") who, in turn,
10010-427: The churches in the so-called Kirchenkampf . When Church leaders ( clergy ) voiced their misgiving about the euthanasia program and Nazi racial policies, Hitler intimated that he considered them "traitors to the people" and went so far as to call them "the destroyers of Germany". The extreme anti-semitism and neo-pagan heresies of the Nazis caused some Christians to outright resist, and Pope Pius XI to issue
10140-504: The direct command of Reinhard Heydrich who was already chief of the Nazi Party's intelligence service, the Sicherheitsdienst (SD). The idea was to fully identify and integrate the party agency (SD) with the state agency (SiPo). Most SiPo members joined the SS and held a rank in both organisations. Nevertheless, in practice there was jurisdictional overlap and operational conflict between the SD and Gestapo. In September 1939,
10270-529: The encyclical Mit brennender Sorge denouncing Nazism and warning Catholics against joining or supporting the Party. Some pastors, like the Protestant clergyman Dietrich Bonhoeffer , paid for their opposition with their lives. In an effort to counter the strength and influence of spiritual resistance, Nazi records reveal that the Gestapo's Referat B1 monitored the activities of bishops very closely—instructing that agents be set up in every diocese, that
10400-478: The exception of the Order Police—were consolidated into the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), headed by Heydrich. The Gestapo became Amt IV (Department IV) of RSHA and Müller became the Gestapo Chief, with Heydrich as his immediate superior. After Heydrich's 1942 assassination, Himmler assumed the leadership of the RSHA until January 1943, when Ernst Kaltenbrunner was appointed chief. Müller remained
10530-455: The experimental works, an area containing about 70 small buildings in which the scientific equipment and data were stored, along with the homes of Dornberger and his deputy Wernher von Braun . The wave arrived thirty minutes after the beginning of the attack; the crews found smoke from the bombing and the German smoke screen covered the target, clouds were forming and night-fighters decoyed to Berlin had arrived. The Canadian crews of 6 Group bombed
10660-481: The fear of the Gestapo after mass arrests and executions in the spring, the opposition still plotted and planned. One of the more famous schemes, Operation Valkyrie , involved a number of senior German officers and was carried out by Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg . In an attempt to assassinate Hitler, Stauffenberg planted a bomb underneath a conference table inside the Wolf's Lair field headquarters. Known as
10790-449: The first wave turned for home after encountering some flak , including a few heavy anti-aircraft guns on a ship 1 mi (1.6 km) offshore and guns on the western side of the peninsula. One third of the aircraft in the wave bombed Trassenheide and killed at least 500 enslaved workers before the accurate markers on the housing estate drew the bombing onto the target. About 75 per cent of the buildings were destroyed but only about 170 of
10920-690: The full moon to fly supply sorties to Europe, some to the Danish resistance movement , covered by the flight of the Main Force. Five Typhoons, two Hurricanes, a Mustang and a Whirlwind were to operate just across the English Channel. Throughout the attack, the master bomber (Group Captain J. H. Searby, CO of No. 83 Squadron RAF ) circled over the target to call in new pathfinder markers and to direct crews as to which markers to bomb. The 244 3 Group and 4 Group Stirlings and Halifaxes attacked
11050-407: The islet of Rüden any adjustments were to be made, followed by a timed run to Peenemünde on Usedom . The nature of the raid was not revealed to the aircrews; in their briefing, the target was referred to as developing radar that "promises to improve greatly the German night air defence organization". To scare aircrews into making a maximum effort, Order 176 emphasised the importance of the raid: "If
11180-576: The largest police force in Germany. Soon afterward, Göring detached the political and intelligence sections from the police and filled their ranks with Nazis. On 26 April 1933, Göring merged the two units as the Geheime Staatspolizei , which was abbreviated by a post office clerk for a franking stamp and became known as the "Gestapo". He originally wanted to name it the Secret Police Office ( Geheimes Polizeiamt ), but
11310-520: The last this was down to 300 yd (270 m). The primary objective was to kill as many personnel involved in the research and development of the V-weapons as possible, by bombing the workers' quarters. Secondary objectives were to render the research facility useless and "destroy as much of the V-weapons, related work, and documentation as possible". The aircraft from 5 Group had practised
11440-437: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operation_Hydra&oldid=933029399 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Operation Hydra (1943) [REDACTED] RAF Bomber Command Operation Hydra
11570-457: The local offices. Within Germany and areas which were incorporated within the Reich for the purpose of civil administration, local offices of the Gestapo, criminal police, and SD were formally separate. They were subject to co-ordination by inspectors of the security police and SD on the staffs of the local higher SS and police leaders, however, and one of the principal functions of the local SD units
11700-407: The majority of those arrested for homosexuality were males between eighteen and twenty-five years of age. Between June 1942 and March 1943, student protests were calling for an end to the Nazi regime. These included the non-violent resistance of Hans and Sophie Scholl , two leaders of the White Rose student group. However, resistance groups and those who were in moral or political opposition to
11830-457: The markers land a mile short of the aiming point. Just before the first wave finished bombing, the Pathfinder shifters would aim their red target indicators at the green indicators dropped by the first wave backers-up, ensuring that their red markers would land on the new aiming point, a mile short of the previous one. The green markers had been laid accurately but one Pathfinder shifter dropped .75 mi (1.21 km) short and three overshot by
11960-444: The master bomber. The bombers flew 20 or even 30 seconds past the timing point to the visible and inaccurate green markers from the six "shifters" and three backers-up, their bombs landing 2,000–3,000 yd (1.1–1.7 mi; 1.8–2.7 km) beyond the development works in the concentration camp. At 00:55, due to timing errors, 35 stragglers were still waiting to bomb. The wind tunnel and telemetry block were missed but one third of
12090-619: The morale of German soldiers in the East. After uncovering a sample of the information the Poles had reported, Gestapo officials concluded that Polish intelligence activity represented a very serious danger to Germany. As late as 6 June 1944, Heinrich Müller—concerned about the leakage of information to the Allies—set up a special unit called Sonderkommando Jerzy that was meant to root out the Polish intelligence network in western and southwestern Europe. In Austria, there were groups still loyal to
12220-401: The nation's revival and working class solidarity. On the following day, the newly formed Gestapo officers, who had been shadowing some 58 trade union leaders, arrested them wherever they could find them—many in their homes. Meanwhile, the SA and police occupied trade union headquarters, arrested functionaries, confiscated their property and assets; all by design so as to be replaced on 12 May by
12350-562: The new Ordnungspolizei (Orpo; Order Police), which became a national agency under SS general Kurt Daluege . Shortly thereafter, Himmler created the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo; Criminal Police), merging it with the Gestapo into the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo; Security Police), under Heydrich's command. Heinrich Müller was at that time the Gestapo operations chief. He answered to Heydrich, Heydrich answered only to Himmler, and Himmler answered only to Hitler. The Gestapo had
12480-531: The northern tip of Peenemünde Hook instead of burning as planned for ten minutes on the northern edge of Rügen. The 2 mi (3.2 km) error caused early yellow TIs to be dropped at the Trassenheide forced labour camp. Within three minutes, the master bomber noticed a yellow marker for the scientists' settlement "very well placed" and ordered more yellows as close as possible; four of six were accurate, as well as three backer-up green indicators. At 00:27,
12610-585: The occupied territories under the Night and Fog Decree ( German : Nacht und Nebel )—simply disappeared while in Gestapo custody. Up to 30 April 1944, at least 6,639 persons were arrested under Nacht und Nebel orders. However, the total number of people who disappeared as a result of this decree is not known. The Polish government-in-exile in London during World War II received sensitive military information about Nazi Germany from agents and informants throughout Europe. After Germany conquered Poland (in
12740-463: The organisation. For the Gestapo, the next two years following the Night of the Long Knives , a term describing the putsch against Röhm and the SA, were characterised by "behind-the-scenes political wrangling over policing". On 17 June 1936, Hitler decreed the unification of all police forces in Germany and named Himmler as Chief of German Police. This action effectively merged the police into
12870-504: The people of Würzburg. An examination of 213 denunciations in Düsseldorf showed that 37% were motivated by personal conflicts, no motive could be established in 39%, and 24% were motivated by support for the Nazi regime. The Gestapo always showed a special interest in denunciations concerning sexual matters, especially cases concerning Rassenschande with Jews or between Germans and foreigners, in particular Polish slave workers ;
13000-600: The police forces of the Weimar Republic; members of the SS, the SA, and the Nazi Party also joined the Gestapo but were less numerous. By March 1937, the Gestapo employed an estimated 6,500 people in fifty-four regional offices across the Reich. Additional staff were added in March 1938 consequent the annexation of Austria and again in October 1938 with the acquisition of the Sudetenland . In 1939, only 3,000 out of
13130-501: The political police in state after state. Soon only Prussia was left. Concerned that Diels was not ruthless enough to effectively counteract the power of the Sturmabteilung (SA), Göring handed over control of the Gestapo to Himmler on 20 April 1934. Also on that date, Hitler appointed Himmler chief of all German police outside Prussia. Heydrich, named chief of the Gestapo by Himmler on 22 April 1934, also continued as head of
13260-449: The psycho-social atmosphere conditioning members of the Gestapo to radicalised violence. Browder also describes a sandwich effect, where from above; Gestapo agents were subjected to ideologically oriented racism and criminal biological theories; and from below, the Gestapo was transformed by SS personnel who did not have the proper police training, which showed in their propensity for unrestrained violence. This admixture certainly shaped
13390-800: The raid "not effective", while in 2006 the historian Adam Tooze judged that it had been highly successful. To evade the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles (1919) the Reichswehr (the post-war German armed forces from 1919 to 1935) studied the possibility of using rockets to compensate for the limited amount of heavy artillery allowed by the treaty. The head of the ballistics and Munitions Section, Colonel Becker suggested that short-range anti-aircraft rockets be designed and accurate, longer-range missiles should be produced to carry gas or high explosives. In 1931, Captain Walter Dornberger joined
13520-403: The raid's effectiveness vary; In 1943, Joseph Goebbels wrote of a delay of six to eight weeks, while the United States Strategic Bombing Survey (1945) called the raid "not effective". Thiel and Walther were killed when they were buried in one of the [air-raid] trenches but the wind tunnel and telemetry block were untouched. Also, the Germans had already started to disperse the manufacturing of
13650-457: The regime either through accommodation, collaboration, or simple compliance. Increasing religious objections to Nazi policies led the Gestapo to carefully monitor church organisations. For the most part, members of the church did not offer political resistance but simply wanted to ensure that organizational doctrine remained intact. However, the Nazi regime sought to suppress any source of ideology other than its own, and set out to muzzle or crush
13780-574: The resistance group in Operation Crossbow and Operation Hydra . Early in the regime's existence, harsh measures were meted out to political opponents and those who resisted Nazi doctrine , such as members of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD); a role originally performed by the SA until the SD and Gestapo undermined their influence and took control of Reich security. Because the Gestapo seemed omniscient and omnipotent ,
13910-556: The roofs … and painted black and white lines to simulate charred beams." Operation Hydra also included the use of bombs with timers set for up to three days, so along with bombs that had not detonated (because of the sandy soil), explosions well after the attack occurred and hampered German salvage efforts. Gestapo The Geheime Staatspolizei ( German pronunciation: [ɡəˈhaɪmə ˈʃtaːtspoliˌtsaɪ] ; transl. "Secret State Police" ), abbreviated Gestapo ( German: [ɡəˈstaːpo] ),
14040-441: The same distance. The last shifter marked accurately and Searby warned the second wave to ignore the misplaced markers. The bombing hit a building used to store rockets, destroying the roof and the contents. During the attack, a high wind blew target markers eastwards, leading to some aircraft bombing the sea. The third wave was made up of 117 Lancasters of 5 Group and 52 Halifax and nine Lancaster bombers of 6 Group, which attacked
14170-429: The state to conform to laws. As early as 1935, a Prussian administrative court had ruled that the Gestapo's actions were not subject to judicial review. The SS officer Werner Best , one-time head of legal affairs in the Gestapo, summed up this policy by saying, "As long as the police carries out the will of the leadership, it is acting legally". On 27 September 1939, the security and police agencies of Nazi Germany—with
14300-404: The success of the diversion on Whitebait, the Luftwaffe chief of staff, General Hans Jeschonnek , shot and killed himself. After Operation Hydra, the Germans fabricated signs of bomb damage on Peenemünde by creating craters in the sand (particularly near the wind tunnel ), blowing-up lightly damaged and minor buildings and according to Peenemünde scientist Siegfried Winter, "We … climbed on to
14430-565: The target, it was expected that German night fighters would be lured to Berlin. At 22:56 British Double Summer Time (scheduled for 23:00), the first Mosquito was over Whitebait. Each Mosquito was to drop eight marker flares and a minimum bomb load. Fighter Command provided 28 Mosquito and ten Beaufighter intruders from 25 , 141 , 410 , 418 and 605 squadrons in two waves, to attack Luftwaffe airfields at Ardorf , Stade , Jagel , Westerland and Grove, to catch night fighters taking-off and landing. Eight Handley Page Halifaxes exploited
14560-498: The total of 20,000 Gestapo men held SS ranks, and in most cases, these were honorary. One man who served in the Prussian Gestapo in 1933 recalled that most of his co-workers "were by no means all Nazis. For the most part they were young professional civil service officers..." The Nazis valued police competence more than politics, so in general in 1933, almost all of the men who served in the various state police forces under
14690-615: The unfinished production plant for V-2s was moved to the Mittelwerk . In 2006, Adam Tooze called the bombing highly successful and that the transfer of the production of 12,000 A4 missiles to Thuringia was a Herculean task. In the 2006 edition of his book, Martin Middlebrook wrote that 23 of the 45 huts at the Trassenheide labour camp were destroyed and that at least 500 and possibly 600 slave workers were killed in
14820-551: Was 'protective detention' which facilitated the process in expediting dissenters to concentration camps and against which there was no legal defence . Early efforts to resist the Nazis with aid from abroad were hindered when the opposition's peace feelers to the Western Allies did not meet with success. This was partly because of the Venlo incident of 9 November 1939, in which SD and Gestapo agents, posing as anti-Nazis in
14950-447: Was a prime example of panopticism . The Gestapo—at times—was overwhelmed with denunciations and most of its time was spent sorting out the credible from the less credible denunciations. Many of the local offices were understaffed and overworked, struggling with the paper load caused by so many denunciations. Gellately has also suggested that the Gestapo was "a reactive organisation...constructed within German society and whose functioning
15080-523: Was an attack by RAF Bomber Command on a German scientific research centre at Peenemünde on the night of 17/18 August 1943. Group Captain John Searby , commanding officer of No. 83 Squadron RAF , commanded the operation, the first time that Bomber Command used a master bomber to direct the attack of the main force. Hydra was the first operation against the German V-weapon programme,
15210-401: Was called, Schutzhaft —"protective custody", a euphemism for the power to imprison people without judicial proceedings. An oddity of the system was that the prisoner had to sign his own Schutzhaftbefehl , an order declaring that the person had requested imprisonment—presumably out of fear of personal harm. In addition, political prisoners throughout Germany—and from 1941, throughout
15340-481: Was concerned." The involvement of ordinary Germans in denunciations also needs to be put into perspective so as not to exonerate the Gestapo. As Evans makes clear, "...it was not the ordinary German people who engaged in surveillance , it was the Gestapo; nothing happened until the Gestapo received a denunciation, and it was the Gestapo's active pursuit of deviance and dissent that was the only thing that gave denunciations meaning." The Gestapo's effectiveness remained in
15470-649: Was dangerous since Gestapo informants and agents were widespread. However, a significant number of them still worked against the National Socialist government. In May 1935, the Gestapo broke up and arrested members of the "Markwitz Circle", a group of former socialists in contact with Otto Strasser , who sought Hitler's downfall. From the mid-1930s into the early 1940s—various groups made up of communists, idealists, working-class people, and far-right conservative opposition organisations covertly fought against Hitler's government, and several of them fomented plots that included Hitler's assassination. Nearly all of them, including:
15600-773: Was imprisoned in Dachau for having stated that there were good folk in England too; another suffered the same fate for warning a girl who wanted to marry an S.S. man after abjuring the Catholic faith; yet another because he conducted a service for a deceased communist". Others were arrested simply on the basis of being "suspected of activities hostile to the State" or that there was reason to "suppose that his dealings might harm society". Over 2,700 Catholic , Protestant , and Orthodox clergy were imprisoned at Dachau alone. After Heydrich (who
15730-474: Was in an unenviable position by the late spring and early summer of 1943. On one hand, it was next to impossible for them to overthrow Hitler and the party; on the other, the Allied demand for an unconditional surrender meant no opportunity for a compromise peace, which left the military and conservative aristocrats who opposed the regime no option (in their eyes) other than continuing the military struggle. Despite
15860-602: Was later executed) plan to blow up the Gestapo headquarters in Vienna represented a unique attempt to act aggressively against the Gestapo. Burian's group had also set up a secret courier service to Otto von Habsburg in Belgium. Individuals in Austrian resistance groups led by Heinrich Maier also managed to pass along the plans and the location of production facilities for V-1 , V-2 rockets , Tiger tanks , and aircraft ( Messerschmitt Bf 109 , Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet , etc.) to
15990-419: Was likewise viewed as unacceptable—deemed gender nonconformity—and a number of individual reports on lesbians can be found in Gestapo files. Between 1933 and 1935, some 4,000 men were arrested; between 1936 and 1939, another 30,000 men were convicted. If homosexuals showed any signs of sympathy to the Nazis' identified racial enemies, they were considered an even greater danger. According to Gestapo case files,
16120-411: Was menacing as more than 4.5 million men fell under his command once the militias and veterans organisations were absorbed by the SA, a fact which fuelled Röhm's aspirations; his dream of fusing the SA and Reichswehr together was undermining Hitler's relationships with the leadership of Germany's armed forces. Several Nazi chieftains, among them Göring, Joseph Goebbels, Rudolf Hess, and Himmler, began
16250-492: Was more the exception than the rule. The Gestapo office in Saarbrücken had 50 full-term informers in 1939. The District Office in Nuremberg , which had the responsibility for all of northern Bavaria , employed a total of 80–100 full-term informers between 1943 and 1945. The majority of Gestapo informers were not full-term employees working undercover, but were rather ordinary citizens who chose to denounce other people to
16380-520: Was staunchly anti-Catholic and anti-Christian) was assassinated in Prague, his successor, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, relaxed some of the policies and then disbanded Department IVB (religious opponents) of the Gestapo. Violence and arrest were not confined to that opposing political parties, membership in trade unions, or those with dissenting religious opinions, but also homosexuality. It was viewed negatively by Hitler. Homosexuals were correspondingly considered
16510-665: Was structurally dependent on the continuing co-operation of German citizens". After 1939, when many Gestapo personnel were called up for war-related work such as service with the Einsatzgruppen , the level of overwork and understaffing at the local offices increased. For information about what was happening in German society, the Gestapo continued to be mostly dependent upon denunciations. 80% of all Gestapo investigations were started in response to information provided by denunciations by ordinary Germans; while 10% were started in response to information provided by other branches of
16640-564: Was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe . The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organisation. 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. Instead of being exclusively
16770-535: Was to serve as the intelligence agency for the local Gestapo units. In the occupied territories, the formal relationship between local units of the Gestapo, criminal police, and SD was slightly closer. The Gestapo became known as RSHA Amt IV ("Department or Office IV") with Heinrich Müller as its chief. In January 1943, Himmler appointed Ernst Kaltenbrunner RSHA chief; almost seven months after Heydrich had been assassinated . The specific internal departments of Amt IV were as follows: In 1941 Referat N ,
16900-482: Was under the dual command of Referat N of the Gestapo and also his local SS and Police Leader . In total, there were some fifty-four regional Gestapo offices across the German federal states. The Gestapo also maintained offices at all Nazi concentration camps, held an office on the staff of the SS and Police Leaders, and supplied personnel as needed to formations such as the Einsatzgruppen . Personnel assigned to these auxiliary duties were often removed from
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