Original subtitles

during the darkest days of the Third

Reich the most ominous sound was a knock

at the door after dark

everyone who lived under the Nazi yoke

lived in fear of the secret organization

that made the nighttime calls Hitler

called it his deadliest weapon without

it the Fuehrer's ambitions could never

have been realized as an instrument of

state terror it has hardly ever been

equalled yet until now it's full story

has not been told the organization was

called the Gestapo

the Gestapo was an organization shot

through with contradictions it appeared

to be omniscient yet its intelligence

success was limited its public figure

heads were among the most familiar

household names of the Nazi Party

leadership but the real architect of a

success maintained a low profile even

during the height of its terror few

would recognize the sinister genius that

guided the Gestapo and although its name

has exerted a creepy fascination for

more than half a century the inner

workings of the Gestapo have remained

shadowy

but there is evidence there is inside a

testimony from the very center of the

Gestapo machine double agents and

resistant spies add their voices to

those of the regime's victims many are

now dead but their words recorded in

Diaries and journals which are

dramatized here live on

I penetrated the Gestapo as an unpaid

part-time assistant to left-handed

France Pula Gestapo officer in charge of

espionage and arrests himself a British

agent and from then on I had to live

with the ever-present fear of being

found out and subjected to the frightful

tortures and death reserved for secret

agents caught by the Gestapo Gestapo the

word itself has a special resonance

around the world but how much blood

how much misery how much sorrow but

above all how much cruelty is bound up

with it

the Gestapo has left us another witness

its own meticulous bureaucracy in

repositories abandoned by the Third

Reich all over Germany thousands of

internal files detailed the lives of

those who fell into its agents hands

most of the victims did not survive but

some did and are still alive

Nilo door was arrested by the Gestapo in

1942 when he was 19 he was interrogated

and tortured to the point of death

all of this was recorded coolly and in

objective detail in his personal file

Gestapo feared see his stopper for see

roman number four seeds due to

subversive activity that's running at

duty very oh my god is this the first

time you've seen your picture it's the

first time I've seen the original it

makes me very sad to see all this

reminds me of that terrible time with me

only at Southie shakily for the name

Gestapo summons up the full horror of

the Nazi secret police although it was

only one of a network of equally

ruthless state security agencies its

image is that of a flawless eiseley

efficient machine by reputation its

network of officers covered every inch

of occupied Europe yet it was actually a

small organization in 1941 there were

only 8,000 offices to oversee more than

17 million people the archetypal Gestapo

officer is a saturnine figure in a black

leather trench coat but in fact most of

the Gestapo his employees were quite

ordinary faceless bureaucrats how then

did the Gestapo exert such complete

control over the actions of such a large

ever-increasing population and perhaps

more importantly over their fears and

worst imaginings the answer to this

question lies in the complex history of

Hitler's governance of the Third Reich

for the Gestapo did not come into being

fully fledged its growth was gradual its

progress

dictated by the ambitions and rivalries

of its early creators yet through all

the various developments it was driven

by a single and simple aim total social

control over the civilian population

Gustavo's roots lay in the instability

of the years following the First World

War

Germany humiliated by the Allies

stripped of its power and forced to pay

huge sums in reparations endured anarchy

and economic ruin a rudderless

government watched fascists and

communists fight on the streets as the

local prussian police force failed

dismally to maintain order

into this Maelstrom warped Adolf Hitler

promising order safety and self-respect

and a new dawn for Germany with relief

Germany accepted his offer the Nazi

Party made decisive victories in the

elections of January 1933 and Adolphe

Hitler became Chancellor of the Reich

well German people's response to the

political agitation and street violence

was one of extreme disquiet naturally

enough they were fed up with these

incessant brawls between the Nazis and

their opponents the Communists the

Social Democrats and I think it true to

say that the German people looked

towards a party or a government that

would bring order to the streets and

ironically enough of course the party

that said they could do this were the

Nazis

Hitler lost no time in fortifying his

position the people had voted for

security what they got was enforcement

Hitler's ambitions required absolute

power but this was not yet within his

grasp to achieve it he had to suppress

an active array of opposing political

forces his initial tools were basic but

effective the SA or stormtroopers

another thug of a leader Ernst röhm

the essay had been Hitler's most loyal

supporters during his rise to power in

their paramilitary uniforms the brown

shirts and with their trademark

arbitrary violence they relished the

unrest that have brought Hitler into

office hands burned Gustavus was a young

Russian lawyer at the time later he

would go on to plot from inside the Nazi

regime to assassinate Hitler without

really thinking it through the party

appointed the SA as an auxiliary police

force for 15 months

Hitler let them run things it was only

natural they should feel they were the

real victors before long they were

leaving the real policemen behind at

headquarters and they roamed the streets

alone in search of enemies of the state

the SA took possession of the streets of

Germany they adopted a zero-tolerance

policy the rules of which were crystal

clear the essays word had the force of

law any minor infringement like failing

to salute correctly was serious enough

to result in arrest

Hitler's message was simple in the new

Germany all opposition was futile the

policy was crude and shocking but it

worked and its uncompromising stance was

the foundation of the dictatorship to

come the Nazi Party had already taken

control of the newspapers Moran repeated

scarce stories about the Marxist threat

uncovering alleged plots and fermenting

fear of revolution among ordinary

citizens the SA took this as permission

to target any organization they chose

I rip this first Remy so mid-iron clicks

on that was an experience it was a

really significant experience for me

it's all of us children we're in the

Falcons youth house that's what we were

called the socialist Falcons in and we

were attacked on the game's afternoon by

the essay and the Hitler Youth Hitler we

were just children but we were chased

out and the grownup helpers were beaten

up wretchedly beaten up aliases and

reprove birthday in the evening of the

27th of February then a month of Hitler

coming to power the Reichstag the

national parliament and symbol of

democracy was set ablaze amid the

outrage Hitler conveniently blame the

Communists calling them a murderous

plague and claiming that God had

ordained that they'd be beaten down with

an iron fist many historians have

suggested that it was the SA in a plan

inspired by Hitler himself who were the

real instigators of the arson attack

whatever the truth this emotive event

was most opportune for Hitler it enabled

him to demand a state of emergency which

was declared the following day by the

ailing and spineless Reich's president

Paul von Hindenburg civil rights were

suspended and the German people lost

their final protection from tyranny it

had taken only weeks for Hitler to

achieve the crucial move would make the

gestapo possible in that under the state

of emergency

anyone could be arrested at any time and

held indefinitely

the SI played a pivotal role but it was

too blunt an instrument for what Hitler

had in mind for the future he needed

something much more refined and in the

coming months he would discover the way

to create it in 1933 Germany had voted

Hitler and the Nazi Party into power and

allowed all civil rights to be suspended

Hitler was working on his master plan

for the Third Reich but meanwhile the

auxilary police the Braun sure tadesse a

were in control of the streets they made

so many arrests that they ran out of

jails in which to put their prisoners at

this time arose the bunkers of terrible

private jails of the SA taking away

unfortunate victims became a customary

Rite of the SA the sort of violence that

went on in our cities is almost beyond

belief these so-called wild camps were

improvised prisons in Iranian burg for

example a disused brewery was

commandeered while the propaganda films

showed the place as a disciplined and

civilised re-education Center complete

with morning exercise the truth was

horribly different nine hundred people

were crammed in here at the mercy of the

SA who tortured and killed them with a

completely free hand

everyone had their turn of course the

red front the social-democrats

anyone who wasn't a fascist and the jews

the SI is anti-semitic campaign had

gained momentum steadily since Hitler's

takeover Joseph Goebbels his propaganda

minister legitimized it by announcing

measures against all Jewish businesses

in Germany the SA needed no further

encouragement their behavior became even

more outrageous and it was the Jews who

bore the brunt of their violence and

intimidation even Hitler supporters were

shocked and abroad there was widespread

moral outrage

[Music]

so Hitler rein the sa in they have

played their part the civilian peace

force returned to the streets of Berlin

the Fuhrer was working on a more

ambitious plan he had seen the

stormtroopers effectiveness in

demolishing opposition but he was also

aware of their decadent self-indulgence

their corrupt leadership and their lack

of discipline this was not the image of

fascism he wanted to project to the

world he knew exactly what he did want

something that could take the nervous

anxiety created by the SA and refine it

a secret political police force to serve

the Fuehrer party and Reich he called it

the geheime ax starts poli-sci the

secret state please but it would come to

be known by its abbreviation a word that

became synonymous with fear the Gestapo

Hitler already had security and

surveillance units in place as a matter

of standard policy but the Gestapo was

to be something different it was to be a

secret but a very well known secret the

new force established its headquarters

in Prince Albert struts in Berlin at

first it had jurisdiction only in the

large eastern German province of Prussia

and the biggest 200 offices all highly

educated careerists to lead them Hitler

chose Hermann Goering there was among

the most ambitious and vainglorious of

his inner circle

Goering guarded his executive power over

the police force in Prussia very closely

the Gestapo was his pampered child and

he knew only too well that it held the

key to his power the Fuehrer enjoyed

reading his spicy and highly dramatized

secret reports

Goering 'he's brief was direct to root

out opposition wherever it lay but the

Nazis chief enemies communists Social

Democrats trade unionists and clergy and

by then gone underground finding them

would require the skill of highly

trained men Goering made sure the new

force realized that theirs was a

different sort of police work and that

they were not employed to pursue common

criminals you know - well because you

know the shows that work on and are not

denied this even in enhancement didn't

announce me but Goering soon encountered

competition from Heinrich Himmler

and reinhard heydrich two rising stars

in the Nazi hierarchy who were casting

covetous eyes of the new organization

Himmler had been at Hitler's side since

the early days in Munich capital of

Bavaria where the Nazi movement had been

born and decayed previously there he led

the SS Hitler's personal security

service under his authority the SS had

expanded extending its reach over the

entire bavarian state police force

unsurprisingly Himmler was taking a

close interest in the development of the

Gestapo as was his fellow SS leader

Reinhard Heydrich a clever and ambitious

young Nazi officer Heydrich was the

hidden pivot around which the Nazi

regime revolved the development of a

whole nation was guided by his forceful

character Heydrich was in fact the

puppet master of the Third Reich him Ron

Heydrich had recruited a third person

for their team a trained professional

they trusted implicitly an experienced

dedicated policeman Heinrich Mueller was

destined to have a profound influence on

the future of the Gestapo

mother joined the Munich political

police is his first job and he made a

name for himself as a very effective

surveyor of the communists he in many

respects fitted the mold he was

ambitious he was a ruthless he was

committed he was obedient and although

he wasn't a Nazi before 1933 hydrogen

Himmler were very clear that this is a

sort of person whose experience they

needed Muller was unlike his immediate

bosses he was in vain and rejected the

trappings of power in favor of total

focused professionalism any form of

conversation with him was almost

impossible it consisted on his part

almost entirely of Cokely phrased

questions and was largely an

interrogation he once said to me one

really ought to drive all the

intellectuals into a coal mine then blow

it up even as the fledgling Gestapo who

was establishing itself in Berlin the SS

triumvirate in Munich embarked on a new

scheme that was breathtakingly despotic

building on the idea of the bunkers they

were setting up a camp near Munich in a

suburb called Dachau here the SS plan to

concentrate all those persons deemed

arbitrarily to be enemies of the Nazi

state by the summer of 1933 the scheme

had taken off in style 26,000 people of

left-wing views trades unionists and

intellectuals artists and priests had

been interned in camps across Germany

several thousand of them in Dachau

Hannah Perl was a member of a resistance

group several of her friends were

arrested for their political activities

in 1933 and taken to Dachau on al-quaeda

home that's us there the Communists

leonardo's Minh was in the workers home

I told him about the posters on the

billboards because that Hitler is now

Chancellor of the Reich he then packed a

few things and left his office

he didn't run away he simply left the

office and when they arrested him

that was in March 33 they took him to

Dachau where he was shot on the 17th of

May but I am belies this undone I'm

seeing after how when them sips hmm

my would they air in the house awesome

presented to the outside world through

the international press Dhaka was

described as a rest camp the truth soon

became obvious

for da how her teeth done

we heard that Dachau was not a

reeducation camp as they had always told

us you went in without any trial and

didn't know how long you'd stay or

whether you'd ever come out alive would

open David I have always called and we

heard that people were tortured there

and beaten and you could also die there

the inmates of the concentration camps

were officially held in what was called

protective custody protective custody in

the Third Reich been to knock on the

door three or four o'clock in the

morning by the Gestapo

but being bundled off without packing

any supplies or clothes without even

saying goodbye to one's loved ones and

being taken to a concentration camp were

immediately there would be a process

almost of dehumanization within Schwartz

of Gilad I was taken into protective

custody they protected society from us

as it were the other way round and they

didn't need any proof or anything they

could send you to a camp an

extermination camp without anything they

didn't need anything to do it not only

brought in the concentration camps the

SS had created the ultimate containment

and punishment for all the centers in

Berlin the Gestapo was setting up a

super efficient machine for detecting

them

for the power-hungry Himmler and

Heydrich the enticing prospect of

gaining control over both organizations

was proving irresistible the

relationship between Hitler's henchmen

and the newly created Nazi Germany was

that of a constant power struggle on

perpetually shifting ground

Hitler's technique for controlling his

deputies was to encourage rivalry

between them thus finding their

insecurities by shifting favorites the

result was a combustible mixture of

paranoia plot and counter plot gradually

Himmler mounted his challenge to take

over the Gestapo he'd already taken

control of local political police forces

throughout the country and the SD the

intelligence branch of the SS he formed

in 1932 which was now ruled by Heydrich

and dedicated to rooting out traitors in

the Nazi ranks had raised its profile

and increased its activities early in

1934 Himmler boarded a train to Berlin

with his underlings Heydrich a mullah

Hitler impressed both by Himmler's

concentration camps and his political

skills abandon Goering and switched his

favour to his dear Heinrich he decreed

that all Germany's police services

spearheaded by the Gestapo should be

unified under Himmler's personal control

[Music]

hitler transferred the gestapo

officially from Goering to Himmler in

Berlin Heydrich became head of the

Gestapo office with a highly efficient

Mueller as his deputy

Goering wasn't cast out completely

within months he was appointed head of

the newly constructed Nazi Air Force

from that moment on Germany's entire

political police force was controlled

from Berlin on paper the Gestapo

remained a local force but in reality

all German regional secret police forces

obeyed Gestapo authority

the structure of the security force is

never a straightforward remained fluid

and slippery the SS under Himmler

retained an overarching role responsible

for numerous departments including

administration finance foreign

intelligence the regular Criminal Police

and the SD Muller took over the running

of the Gestapo it was the perfect job

for him as his zeal was equaled only by

his obsession with efficiency Sony had

things running in the smooth way he

wanted the Gestapo brief was clear and

unambiguous it was to be the agency that

cleanse Germany of all political social

racial and cultural impurity if its

methods came into conflict with existing

statutes the Gustavo's decision would be

upheld each person who passed through

Gestapo hands was photographed

fingerprinted and given a file card with

personal details recorded along with the

supposed crime details of the

interrogation and the action taken as a

result these card indexes form the basis

of the Gestapo power have a look in this

box is this index and look right here

under L you must be in this box let's go

to the table and see if your file is

really in here in the vienna archives

50,000 original dossiers hold the

details of Communists trade unionists

and churchmen all potential members of

opposition groups in the area

among them was Hans Landa this probably

done you say yeah so here's your card

look here's your name single birthplace

a physical description 180 tool pale

thin and here you see these numbers

refer to other documents that the

Gestapo have on you here's your personal

Gestapo file where the actual documents

were and your charge sheet the files

resemble those of any large bureaucrats

organization the language is formal and

there are boxes for each item of

information the official appearance of

the documents attempts to legitimize the

despicable actions they so

conscientiously record but while 44 I

didn't give you before you were

completely open to them they could do

what they wanted with us no justice no

law or anything it was an institution

that paid no heed to anything existed

nor would the new security supremo's

appeared in public frequently with the

exception of Lula who persistently

stayed out of sight they gave the

impression of total self-confidence but

in reality the problems were not quite

over there still existed a serious

threat to their ambitions

despite removal from the streets the

brown shouted sa the stormtroopers had

not gone away and neither had their

leader

Ernst well he was a member of a the

old-school old fighter Nazi generation

if you like his contribution was crucial

to the seizure of power but once the

Nazis had seized power there was a

problem

what did one tear of the SA following

the wild rampages of 1933 the SA were

muzzled by Hitler but Rome was still

determined to strike out and complete

his own German Revolution

in Rome's eyes the Nazi Party owed its

entire success to his brown shirts and

they deserve to have control of a police

and military as their reward Red King

never state the situation was

complicated by the fact that Rome was

one of the very few men who were

unfamiliar personal terms with Hitler

he was the Fuhrer as chief of staff and

in public at least Hitler supported room

in his aspirations sagen London

REM was convinced he could transform his

undisciplined squadrons into Carter's

for the army of the future his idea was

simple and logical

the sooner he took advantage of the

first upsurge after the seizure of power

to hack through the jungle of laws and

the mazes of foreign policy

the sooner his revolutionary army would

become the German army of the future

Rome was becoming a problem

Hitler adopting his usual technique of

divide and rule set up his other hands

man to topple the Troublesome Ernst röhm

the barrel Rowdies of the SA were beyond

the pale they represented the most

extreme violent and fanatical elements

of the Nazi movement in those days

rooms activities in setting up a private

militia may have constituted a threat to

the state but this was only a pretext in

the ambitious Himmler and there's still

more ambitious Heydrich Hitler had

willing executioner's each of whom

seized the opportunity to build up his

own power on the 27th of June 1934 at a

covert meeting in Prince Albert Strasser

Heydrich announced that intelligence

confirms that the SA under Rome is

planning a coup this was a deliberate

lie

Hydra camula coordinated a so-called

counter operation from Gestapo HQ

Heydrich prepared a list signed off by

Hitler of those who were to be shot

within days the news reels were

trumpeting their success 90 internal

opponents including Ernst Roehm had been

liquidated in the purge which became

known as the night of the Long Knives

the police paraded in triumph before

Hitler who saluted them from the window

of his office the essay had been

obliterated with that threat removed

himmler security services had gained

unbounded power the gestapo was ready to

move forward

nothing and nobody could stop it

after the assassination of Ernst Roehm

Hitler Himmler Heydrich a mullah for a

complete control of Germany's security

the country's political police forces

under the orders of the Gestapo were

already well on their way to suppressing

all opposition Muller had made a study

of the notorious Soviet secret police

under his direction

the Gestapo began to establish its own

trademark methods these were all

designed to spread suspicion and anxiety

Johann Schmidt was part of what little

opposition remained he printed and

distributed anti-nazi leaflets and raise

funds for the Republican cause in Spain

if wakame devil not doing double

insurance wife worded I hardly got into

the flat when two armed men appeared

outside the door their car me for my

novel killing I was taken directly from

the flag to prison police they knew so

much about me because they had already

interrogated people that's when they

began to hit me in the face I was beaten

up in the first hour terrible thing when

you don't know when your hold from your

cell what's going to happen to you man

he had a thick sweater on when I was

arrested I kept it on day and night as

protection to meet for after one yet

hobby Darwin after because I knew that

whenever I was taken below I'd be beat

it went on for days day and night day

and night Darwin not

johan's furred passed through 14 prisons

before his eventual release in 1945 ten

years later five of those years were

spent in solitary confinement

interrupted only by Gestapo

interrogations yet firt is one of the

lucky ones fear of the Gestapo as

victims survived in the propaganda

however Gestapo officers were shown as

guardians of the people they had to

serve posters portrayed the Gestapo as

friend and helper protecting society

from the dark forces that threatened it

the even featured as benign characters

in comics and children's games it was

all part of mullahs carefully conceived

strategy designed to create a specific

image of a Gestapo in the public mind

that image was of an all-powerful body

able to destroy its enemies at will the

classic Gestapo knock on the door sudden

Swift and anonymous underline the

illusion of total control to reinforce

this fiction mullah encouraged the

belief that the Gestapo was everywhere

propaganda stories were also planted in

the newspapers to strike fear into

potential opponents the reports

described a constant stream of arrests

in effect they were lengthy

advertisements for Gestapo power my hot

burger spawn we talked about how the

Gestapo watched people and ensured that

no one said anything bad about the

regime not hiding in the vehicle but as

regime cobalt Morton the great strength

of the Gestapo was the publicity or more

more specifically the propaganda

surrounding it the myth surrounding it

that the Gestapo were here there and

everywhere

so that any German we're making a

comment that was going to be mildly even

adverse to the regime would look over

his shoulder and it was known as the

German look did or oblique in fact the

Gustavo's knowledge was less

comprehensive than its carefully crafted

image of omniscience implied but the

accumulation of information was

nevertheless much greater than could be

expected of such a small group of

officers how was this achieved the

answer lies in these files meticulously

maintained they record millions of

pieces of personal information most of

the information was given to the Gestapo

by informers it was the German people

who did much of the Gustavo's work

the officers were employed largely to

analyze and collate the data that was

brought in so he wasn't seen as much in

oh I said what's up with you a tailor

about fifty years old

my daughter has denounced me and my wife

she wanted to marry an SS man and the

parents didn't want her to so she went

to the Gestapo and the parents were

arrested on the eighth and one

givingness it wasn't only personal

issues that got reported there are a lot

of people that were quite happy to

inform on their neighbors if they were

making adverse comments about the Hitler

regime some people informed in the

sincere belief that journey

his future was more important than the

fate of individuals others did it out of

MV or revenge

still more informed to save themselves

or their families from the knock on the

door but it was known that Gestapo

suspicions led to the concentration

camps an officer's word was all that was

required and it soon became common

knowledge that the Gestapo equated mercy

with weakness and regarded weakness as

fatal to the regime when far half did

severe it was terrible to be arrested it

meant death we were always hearing but

so-and-so has disappeared its body had

the idea first tried officially you

weren't permitted to talk about it but

amongst ourselves we did and we knew

just what it meant was the vanity

fascist Bedoya today there was a

terrible feeling of being defenseless

and humiliated in humanity in humanity

how can such such an idiot get into the

position of torturing another human

being under dimensions of creating the

flaw an Abbott warm it was a threat it

was really the epitome of what the Nazi

regime was you could say you felt it

like the fist of the Nazis well I'm from

the south he fouls their asses over time

the gas stop his reputation became

rooted in the fabric of society and

opposition was almost completely erratic

by the late 1930s the Gestapo had purged

Germany of all visible resistance this

was the moment when its leaders felt

ready to fulfill the nation's true

destiny and shape the future of the

thousand-year I Heydrich put the Gestapo

's new task into words the police of the

National Socialist state will now above

all fulfill the task of rebuilding the

people's society from the ground up

according to the precepts of the

political leadership the Nazi ideal was

the Volks Gemeinschaft the people's

society this society was to be based on

equality unity and social harmony but it

was only for those who qualified

membership demanded absolute conformity

the Gestapo task was to draw up lists of

those whose actions made them unfit for

the Society of the master race crimes

that warranted inclusion on the lists

were many and varied the Gestapo was not

expected to round up those names on the

lists there were simply too many of them

and the task was delegated to local

police forces

one major group targeted by the lists

was the Jews soon the discrimination

against the entire race was made leading

on the 15th of September 1935 the

nuremberg laws were enacted and

published

[Music]

discrimination against the Jews

henceforth had an official basis the

racial laws they were very popular man

dr. Schmidt you would entire lesson that

we weren't allowed to mix with Jews I

even saw how someone was brought out a

woman who had had a Jewish boyfriend and

she had to wear a sign saying I'm a

great swine I go with Jews a new kind of

pseudoscience entered the curriculum I

was a so-called first degree half-breed

and Hitler hated them especially because

the Nuremberg Laws said I couldn't marry

one of those so-called Aryans but I

could marry another Hoffman because the

resulting offspring would be a cretin

and the child could then be murdered

straight away that's what we were told

and I just sat there and thought this

can't be happening she said something

like I remembered it my whole life he

said in this school year we're going to

look at racial studies and I can tell

you right now that Laverne Berg belongs

to an inferior race that's all that he

said and I went home bawling my eyes out

you've been done holed into housing I

mean the Nazi hierarchy were it not an

iota about the effect of their

legislation on children they were more

concerned with increasing their own

power base Himmler was now so popular

with Hitler that he was appointed head

of all the German police which meant

effectively that the police force became

an arm and the Gestapo pal

not the other way around the Gestapo

tentacles were creeping further around

the heart of German society

[Music]

so effective with the Gestapo officers

in carrying out their domestic duties

that by the end of the 30s they were

ready and poised to spread their

influence even further and Hitler had a

fresh role for them he intended to

expand the Third Reich and the newly

conquered territories would need to be

pacified he assigned the Gestapo the

task of dismantling resistance abroad

Heydrich prepared the plans the Gestapo

was assigned to accompany the Armed

Forces of the vernik on their first

moves abroad into the territory of

Germany's friendliest neighbors Muller

told his most trusted officers to draw

up secret lists of all the individuals

likely to cause trouble they will be

arrested and removed as soon as the

military movement began Austria in March

1938 was the first country to be annexed

while the crowds celebrated the Gestapo

was already at work all I know is on the

first night they arrested the former

authorities from between 1934 and 38 and

everyone on the Left communists Social

Democrats and liberals alike a few

months later the Nazi army marched

unopposed into the sedated land the

german-speaking area of Czechoslovakia

like Austria it was seen as home

territory despite being a part of a

sovereign nation and its annexation was

largely uneventful here - the gestapo

arrived with its lists at the ready the

nocturnal knocks at the door commenced

and people began to disappear then on to

Prague the Sudetenland having fallen it

was an easy matter to take the Czech

capital as well

Hitler had expanded the Reich virtually

unopposed

and while the Gestapo cleansed the new

territories of every hint of opposition

his popularity in Germany rose to an

all-time high

in Berlin there was little hope or

expectation that Hitler would halt his

aggression in Prague the herbals

propaganda machine began to hint at war

with Western Europe and at Gestapo HQ

the plans had already been laid Heydrich

Mullah and a small band of trusted

Gestapo officers were preparing

operation Tannenberg it was a ruthless

brutal scheme deliberately intended to

deceive both the German public and the

world at large

the Gestapo had been entrusted with

masterminding a plan that was to throw

Europe and ultimately the whole world

into war its power had grown immense by

the start of the war the Gestapo is at

the center of a huge Terra apparatus

which has all stretching into every part

of German society it had effectively

crushed the left it was well on the way

to enacting its revision of a German

people's community in which internal

aliens would be eradicated and it was

perfectly placed to police German

society

once war broke out it was a historic

moment Mulla and his Gestapo were poised

to add millions more names to their

lists of ruined lives and they were more

than ready for the challenges that lay

ahead

you