Summary of Jacques Delarue's The Gestapo

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 On January 30, 1933, the fate of the world was decided in Marshal Hindenburg’s study. Hitler had just become Reich Chancellor. Von Papen became Vice-Chancellor and Commissioner for Prussia. The terror immediately descended upon Germany. It manifested itself in riots and street fighting.

#2 On February 1, Hindenburg received the decree for the dissolution of the Reichstag, which he then gave to Hitler. The elections were set for March 5. The Nazis now operated within the framework of legality. But since victory was not certain, they needed to eliminate their opponents.

#3 The Nazis were worried about the opposition still resisting them. They needed to crush the Communist party legally, so that they could eliminate its leaders and discredit the Party before the elections.

#4 The German government began arrests of Communist party members and Democrats on March 1, the same day the fire was announced. The Nazis feared a general strike from the Left, which could be the only effective weapon against them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822514430

IRB Media

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Insights on Jacques Delarue's The Gestapo

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

On January 30, 1933, the fate of the world was decided in Marshal Hindenburg’s study. Hitler had just become Reich Chancellor. Von Papen became Vice-Chancellor and Commissioner for Prussia. The terror immediately descended upon Germany. It manifested itself in riots and street fighting.

#2

On February 1, Hindenburg received the decree for the dissolution of the Reichstag, which he then gave to Hitler. The elections were set for March 5. The Nazis now operated within the framework of legality. But since victory was not certain, they needed to eliminate their opponents.

#3

The Nazis were worried about the opposition still resisting them. They needed to crush the Communist party legally, so that they could eliminate its leaders and discredit the Party before the elections.

#4

The German government began arrests of Communist party members and Democrats on March 1, the same day the fire was announced. The Nazis feared a general strike from the Left, which could be the only effective weapon against them.

#5

On March 5, Germany went to the polls. The Nazis gained 17 million votes as a result of their dynamism, the countless pressures they applied, and the Reichstag fire. They didn’t have a majority, so they had to invite the Communist deputies not to sit.

#6

On the 23rd, Hitler read a speech demanding full powers for four years. The house voted, and the plan was approved by 441 votes to 94. The Nazis now had full power. They knew they had to strike a harsh blow against the opposition, so they began the process of Gleichschaltung, or uniformization, by eliminating all political organizations.

#7

On May 1, a million workers assembled on Tempelhofer Feld, the former military maneuver ground. Hitler made a high-sounding speech, invoking God and exhorting the masses to work. The following day at ten o’clock in the morning S. A. detachments and police occupied the union headquarters, the newspapers, and the cooperatives.

#8

On July 7, a decree eliminated all Social Democrat members of the Reichstag and the governmental organizations of the Lander. Many of their leaders had fled abroad, and the Nazis announced that all who did not appreciate the beauties of National Socialism would be sent to concentration camps.

#9

The word Gestapo became a symbol of misery and horror. But what kind of man was able to create this monstrous institution of terror. What monster forged this pivot of the Nazi machine, which was to cause twenty-five million deaths and reduce Europe to ruins and ashes.

#10

Goering was a widower with five children from his first marriage, who took a young Tyrolese girl back to Haiti with him and then sent her home to Bavaria to bring little Hermann into the world. He was demobilized with the rank of captain.

#11

In 1922, the Allies demanded the surrender of German war criminals. Goering was outraged because his name appeared on the lists drawn up by the French. He joined the N. S. D. A. P. and committed himself to Hitler.

#12

Roehm transformed the S. A. into an army, and Hitler and his Party interested him, but there was a great gulf between the two men. For Hitler, the politician, the political organization of the Party came first, while for Roehm, on