Smoke in mirrors: Reconsidering the Gestapo

Type :

Term papers

Pages :

5 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

05/28/2009

Category :

Arts & media

Sub category :

Journalism

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Summary :

Introduction
Origins of the Gestapo
Hitler's appointment as Chancellor
The Prussian Gestapo
The Stapostellen office in Wurzburg
Professor Gellately's research
Gestapo as an omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent apparatus of the Nazi dictatorship
Conclusion
Bibliography

Abstract

perfection of the totalitarian police state. So perfect and awesome in their ability to conduct surveillance on German mass society, many historians have described the gestapo as an omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent apparatus of the Nazi regime. Under the guise of this perfect totalitarian surveillance network, the lack of any significant organized resistance to the Nazi dictatorship is easily justified. However popular this image of the gestapo has become, evidence suggests that this image is may be nothing more than a myth. The image of the gestapo as an "all-powerful, all-seeing instrument of terror," is not one based in reality, but one perpetuated by historians whose claims lack any significant evidential support. By analyzing the history, organization and day-to-day activities of the gestapo, there is evidence to suggest that the success of Nazi Germany's infamous secret police was largely due to the agency's mythical status and not the result of actual efficiency and potency.

Before any meaningful analysis of this myth can be undertaken, the origins of the gestapo must be established in order to understand the role and organization of the agency.