The Gestapo
Subtitle: a history of horror
By: Jacques Delarue ; translated from French by Mervyn Savill
Publisher: MJF Books
Published: 2008
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 372
ISBN-13: 9781606714164
Subjects: Germany. Geheime Staatspolizei; Germany; History
Work titles: Histoire de la Gestapo
Description: Perhaps the most terrifying embodiment of a government's disregard for the value of human life, the Gestapo, Nazi Germany's secret police force, was a veritable killing machine, the iron fist that Hitler and his henchmen used to strangle dissent and smash resistance to his rule.  In The Gestapo, Jacques Delarue unflinchingly probes the organization's history, and explains how such a horrific institution could come into being, who was behind it, what they did, and why.  Drawing upon interviews with ex-Gestapo agents and the organization's published and unpublished archives.  The Gestapo and its leaders, Himmler, Barbie, Eichmann, Heydrich, Müller, and others, devised and implemented some of the most exotic and abhorrent torture and extermination techniques the world has ever seen.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 362-364) and index.
Table of contents: title: Preface; title: Introduction; title: Part One: The birth of the Gestapo, 1933-34; title: The Nazis become masters of Germany; title: Goering has recourse to the police; title: The Gestapo is created; title: Part Two: The Gestapo perfects its methods, 1934-1936; title: Himmler takes over the Gestapo; title: Himmler's "Black Order"; title: The Gestapo is everywhere; title: The stranger personality of Heydrich; title: The Gestapo versus Roehm; title: "The Night of the Long Knives"; title: The new organization of the police; title: Part Three: The Gestapo prepares for the invasion, 1936-39; title: The Gestapo tackles the army; title: The Gestapo installs itself in Europe; title: Himmler shapes his organization; title: Part Four: The Gestapo at war, 1940; title: In Poland; title: The Gestapo in France; title: The Gestapo and the army; title: Part Five: The hell of the Gestapo, 1940-44; title: The Gestapo at work in France; title: The martyrdom of the eastern territories; title: The experiments of the Nazi scientists; title: The Gestapo operates throughout the whole of France; title: Part Six: Collapse of the Gestapo, 1944; title: Resistance in the army; title: The wolves devour each other; title: Appendices.