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How did the Gestapo contribute to the Holocaust?
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Holocaust
Smoke, oil on linen by Holocaust survivor Samuel Bak, 1997.
The Gestapo, as the political police of Nazi Germany, played a central, criminal role in the Holocaust by facilitating the systematic persecution and mass murder of millions. Operating without civil restraints or judicial oversight, the organization was responsible for the following actions:
- Roundups and Deportations: In partnership with the Sicherheitsdienst, the Gestapo conducted the roundup of Jews across Europe. Specifically, Bureau IV B4, led by Adolf Eichmann, organized the mass deportation of millions of Jews to extermination camps in Poland.12
- Mobile Killing Units: Gestapo members served within the Einsatzgruppen, mobile death squads that followed the German army into Poland and Russia to execute Jews and other groups deemed undesirable.1
- Systematic Oppression: Together with the SS, the Gestapo managed the treatment of those labeled as inferior races, including Jews and Roma. They utilized the power of preventive arrest to send thousands to concentration camps, where prisoners were frequently murdered or tortured.12