During the Nazi regime in Germany, all police forces were centralized under the command of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. The political police (Gestapo), the criminal police (Kripo), and the security service (SD) were all brought together under the RSHA umbrella in 1939, commanded by SS-General Reinhard Heydrich. Using RSHA in Berlin as the center, the web of Heydrich’s control extended into every corner of Nazi-occupied Europe. British and American intelligence agencies tried to get to grips with RSHA departments at the end of the war, knowing who was who and what they did, relying on what captured RSHA personnel told them along with intercepted documentation. To provide Allied intelligence officers in the field with accurate knowledge, the Counter Intelligence War Room (CIWR) was established to provide this information and list further Gestapo, Kripo, SD, and Abwehr officials to be arrested and interrogated. The informative CIWR reports used here give a precise examination of the RSHA by department, some detailing how Nazi jealousies and rivalries were more helpful to the Allied war effort than the Nazi cause - a portrayal of how Nazi Intelligence agencies went wrong.
Acknowledgements; List of Ranks; List of Abbreviations; Introduction;; 1 Liquidation Reports Nos 1 and 2: Amter I and II of the RSHA; 2 Situation Report No 3—Amt III of the RSHA; 3 Situation Report No 4: Amt IV of the RSHA; 4 Organisation of the German Police (up to 1938); 5 Liquidation Report No 6: Amt VI of the RSHA—Gruppe VI A; 6 Liquidation Report No 7: Amt VI of the RSHA—Gruppe VI B; 7 Situation Report No 8: Amt VI of the RSHA—Gruppe VI C; 8 Situation Report No 9: Amt VI of the RSHA—Gruppe VI D; 9 Situation Report No 10: Amt VI of the RSHA—Gruppe VI E; 10 Situation Report No 11: Amt VI of the RSHA—Gruppe VI F; 11 Liquidation Report No 12: Amt VI of the RSHA—Gruppe VI G; 12 RSHA Gruppe VI S; 13 Situation Report No 21: Amt VI of the RSHA—Gruppe VI Wi; (Wirtschaft); 14 RSHA VI Z; 15 Liquidation Report No 23: Amt VII of the RSHA; 16 RSHA Amt N; 17 Training Schools of the Sicherheitspolizei and the Sicherheitsdienst; 18 Liquidation Report No 26: RSHA Militarisches Amt; 19 Situation Report No 27: RSHA Mil Amt A; 20 Situation Report No 28: RSHA Mil Amt B; 21 Situation Report No 29: RSHA Mil Amt C; 22 Liquidation Report No 30: RSHA Mil Amt D; 23 Liquidation Report No 31: RSHA Mil Amt E; 24 Liquidation Report No 32: RSHA Mil Amt F; 25 Liquidation Report No 34: RSHA Mil Amt i; Suggested Reading about RSHA.
Stephen Tyas is a former businessman now freelance researcher and historian. He has written numerous articles about Nazi security service operations in Eastern Europe and the Holocaust. He regularly participates in workshops and symposiums to discuss his research. His first book, ‘Himmler’s Diary 1945’, written jointly with the German historian Peter Witte, was extensively researched over 6 years.
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