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The Gestapo (The Myth and Reality
of Hitler’s Secret Police) by Frank McDonough is a compelling
and a “fresh interpretation” of Hitler’s
notorious and effective police force in Germany during the
years up to and including WWII. Building on earlier works
by German and other historians, McDonough makes the case that,
far from being a large police force in Germany reaching into
every corner of German life, the Gestapo was a relatively
small police force that relied extensively on the cooperation
and active participation of the German public. Frank McDonough
cites the important relationship of the Gestapo and the German
people as an example of “history from below”,
arguing that Hitler’s power flowed less from the top
and therefore was less absolute, than from the willing and
active support of the German people. This assessment generally
goes against conventional views of the top down absolute power
theories that have prevailed since Hitler’s death. The
author supports his case with references to earlier academic
research using surviving Gestapo archives that document the
relationship of the Gestapo and the German people.
Although a professional police organization at its core, the
Gestapo was nevertheless one of the instruments of terror
used to brutally suppress all organized opposition (communists,
Christian, etc.). Although within carefully defined bounds,
some criticism of the Nazi regime was tolerated.
The author refers to surviving Gestapo case files to bring
to life the victims of Gestapo arrests, their “denouncers”
(there were many) and the outcome of the arrests and interrogations.
What makes this book so instructive and disturbing at the
same time, is that the Gestapo relied so extensively on the
population to inform on its own citizens (a little over 26%
of all investigative cases) and little on paid informants
to investigate and make arrests. The book concludes with a
discussion the post-WWII trials and investigations of the
Gestapo where very few officials were ever held accountable
for their war time actions.
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