Foundations of the Nazi Police State : The Formation of Sipo and SD

The abbreviation "Nazi," the acronym "Gestapo," and the initials "SS" have become resonant elements of our vocabulary. Less known is "SD," and hardly anyone recognizes the combination "Sipo and SD." Although Sipo and SD formed the heart of the National Socialist police state, the phrase carries none of the ominous impact that it should. Although no single organization carries full responsibility for the evils of the Third Reich, the SS-police system was the executor of terrorism and "population policy" in the same way the military carried out the Reich's imperialistic aggression. Within the police state, even the concentration camps could not rival the impact of Sipo and SD. It was the source not only of the "desk murderers" who administered terror and genocide by assigning victims to the camps, but also of the police executives for identification and arrest, and of the command and staff for a major instrument of execution, the Einsatzgruppen. Foundations of the Nazi Police State offers the narrative and analysis of the external struggle that created Sipo and SD. This book is the author's preface to his discussion of the internal evolution of these organizations in Hitler's Enforcers: The Gestapo and the SS Security Service in the Nazi Revolution.

the Nazi Police State, Controlled By The Ss, Was Essential To Hitler's Every Act. It Eliminated All Political Opposition And Kept The Rest Of The German Population Silent About Unpopular Programs. Without Absolute Security At Home, Hitler Could Not Have Risked The Adventures That Led To World War Ii. Certainly There Could Have Been No Holocaust. The Heart Of This Nazi Police State Was The Sipo And Sd.

publishers Weekly

in This Scholarly Examination Of The Struggle For Police Power In The Third Reich, Browder Shows That Germany's Ss-police System Was Created By Heinrich Himmler Largely With His Own Resources And On His Own Initiative Without Direct Support From Hitler Until 1936. The Author Focuses Attention On The Evolution Of The Security Police (sipo) And The Sd (the Security Service Of The National Socialist Movement) Up To 1936, When Himmler Was Appointed Chief Of German Police, Bringing Together The Party And State Agencies That Became Central To The Execution Of Terror And Mass Murder In The Final Nine Years Of The Reich. Browder, Who Teaches History At The State University Of New York, Sheds New Light On Himmler's Role As Planner, Organizer, Political Strategist, And His Position In The Complex Web Of Rivalries That Laid The Foundations Of The Nazi Police State. (apr.)

Analyzes the conglomerate Sipo (Sicherheitspolizei; fusion of the Kriminalpolizei and the Gestapo) and SD (Sicherheitsdienst), created by Himmler in 1936 and commanded by Heydrich, as an amalgam of Nazi Party and state agencies which constituted the heart of the National-Socialist police state based on terror and mass murder. Advocates the polycratic-functionalist theory as against intentionalism, arguing that in developments which were usually below Hitler's level of interest, functional pressures by institutions such as the Sipo-SD helped shape policy within the ideological framework. Traces the history of both the SS and SD, as well as that of the German police, in the power struggle for primacy. After the SS victory in 1936, the Sipo-SD became involved with the Jewish problem, with the Gestapo as the official vehicle for forced emigration, resettlement in ghettos, and shipment to extermination camps. It also controlled the euthanasia program and the Einsatzgruppen mass killings. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)