The Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) is the key governing body in Nazi Germany, which was engaged in political intelligence. It was founded in 1939 after the merger of the security service with the General Directorate of the Security Police. He was directly subordinate to the chief of the German police and Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler. It was one of the 12 main departments of the SS, which had about three thousand employees. Based in Berlin at Prinz-Albrechtstrasse.
History of Creation
The Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) was founded on September 27, 1939. In fact, the prehistory of this was the establishment by Adolf Hitler of the post of chief of police of the Reich and the imperial head of the SS. This happened in the middle of 1936. On theHimmler was appointed to this position, and the German police from that moment became directly subordinate to the SS.
On the basis of the Imperial Ministry of the Interior, the Main Directorate of the Security Police and the Directorate of the Order Police were created. In 1939, after the merger of the security police with the security service, the General Directorate of Imperial Security appeared.
The abbreviation by which this structure became known comes from the German word Reichssicherheitshauptamt. The decoding of the RSHA was known to everyone at that time. The sad fame of him spread far beyond the borders of Germany. The General Directorate of Imperial Security has become one of the personifications of the fascist regime.
Structure
This body was finally formed by the autumn of 1940. At first it included six departments, in the spring of 1941 a seventh appeared. Each of them was divided into departments, the next structural unit was the so-called abstracts.
Further in this article, the detailed structure of the RSHA will be given. The first department de alt with organizational and personnel issues, as well as advanced training and education of employees. Until 1943, it was led by Bruno Streckenbach, then he was replaced by Erwin Schulz, the last heads were Hans Kammler and Erich Erlinger.
The second department in the structure of the RSHA of the Third Reich de alt with legal, administrative and financial issues. At various times, its leaders were Hans Nockemann, Rudolf Siegert, Kurt Pritzel, Josef Spatsil.
Internal SD
A special place in the structure of the RSHA was occupied by the Third Directorate. In fact, the SD was founded in 1931, becoming an important part of the National Socialist state apparatus in the Third Reich. From 1939 it became part of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA).
Officially recognized that the SD is directly responsible for numerous crimes, was used to intimidate the population and fight political opponents. The external units that existed in its composition were engaged in covert operations and espionage. The SD was officially recognized as a criminal organization at the Nuremberg Trials.
It was originally created to ensure the safety of the Nazi leadership and Adolf Hitler personally. At first, it was a structure that was an auxiliary police, which was directly subordinate to the Nazi Party. Then Himmler declared that the main task of the SD should be to expose the opponents of National Socialist ideas. Her activities were focused on political investigation, analytical work.
Part of the departments of the RSHA of the 3rd Reich, which were part of the Third Directorate, was led by Otto Ohlendorf (they were responsible for analyzing the situation inside the country and internal intelligence), the rest - W alter Schellenberg (he oversaw foreign intelligence).
Formulating the differences in the work of the SD and the SS, Himmler noted that the SD is preparing expertise, research, exposing the plans of opposition movements and parties, their contacts and connections. The Gestapo relies on these developments and receivedmaterials to carry out specific arrests, investigative measures, send the perpetrators to concentration camps.
Gestapo
The Fourth Directorate played an important role in the Main Directorate of Imperial Security (RSHA). It was the secret state police of the Third Reich, better known as the Gestapo. Directly, the departments of the RSHA, which were part of the Fourth Directorate, were engaged in the fight against sabotage, counterintelligence, opposition to enemy propaganda and sabotage, and the destruction of Jews.
The main goal of the Gestapo was the persecution of dissatisfied and dissidents, those who opposed the power of Adolf Hitler. This department within the RSHA of Germany had the widest possible powers, which became the key and defining tool for carrying out punitive operations both within the country and in the occupied territories. In particular, the Gestapo was instructed to investigate the activities of forces hostile to the regime. At the same time, work as a member of the Gestapo was removed from the supervision of the courts, in which the actions of state authorities could theoretically be appealed. At the same time, members of this department had the right to be sent to a concentration camp or prison without trial.
The structure of the specified department of the RSHA of Germany included departments that were directly involved in the fight against the opponents of the Nazi regime. For example, department IV A1 specialized in countering Marxists, communists, war criminals, secret organizations, enemy and illegal propaganda. Section IV A2was engaged in exposing political falsifications, combating counterintelligence and sabotage, and the work of Department IV A3 was concentrated on confronting oppositionists, reactionaries, liberals, monarchists, traitors to the motherland and emigrants.
The international military tribunal, which assessed what the RSHA was in Nazi Germany, in particular the Gestapo, concluded that it was an organization that was used by the government for criminal purposes. The main charges were related to murders and atrocities in concentration camps, the extermination and persecution of Jews, exceeding the permissible power in the occupied territories, the implementation of the slave labor program, the murders and the mistreatment of prisoners of war.
All officials of this department of the RSHA, as well as other departments that developed cases on behalf of the Gestapo, fell into the category of war criminals. For example, this included border police officers. The International Court of Justice concluded that all members of the Gestapo, without exception, knew about the crimes being committed, and therefore were declared war criminals.
Reich Criminal Police
The Criminal Police of the Third Reich investigated offenses and crimes, including those against morality, fraud and other illegal activities.
The Criminal Police was the country's main police force. In fact, it was created in Berlin in 1799, after several decades it was divided into protective and criminal.
In 1936, as a result of a large-scale reorganization of the policecriminal police and the Gestapo were merged into the security police, called ZIPO.
In the structure of the RSHA, the criminal police existed from 1939 to 1945. The first department de alt with the prevention of violations and criminal policy. It included sectors responsible for the women's criminal police, international cooperation, legal issues and investigation, as well as crime prevention.
The second department specialized in investigating fraud, especially dangerous crimes, crimes against morality. The third department brought together specialists in search and identification, in the fourth - in documentation, fingerprinting, biological and chemical analysis.
The first head of the criminal police in the RSHA was Arthur Nebe, Lieutenant General, SS Gruppenfuehrer. During the war years, he led the Einsatzgruppe, which destroyed Jews, communists and gypsies on the territory of Belarus. In total, 46,000 people were killed under his direct command.
In July 1944, he became one of the participants in a conspiracy aimed at overthrowing Hitler. After failing, he managed to escape. In January 1945, he was betrayed by his mistress Adelheid Gobbin, who collaborated with the Berlin police. He was sentenced to death by hanging.
From June 1944 to May 1945 the criminal police was headed by Friedrich Panzinger. Instead of Nebe, who participated in the July conspiracy, he headed the Fifth Directorate of the RSHA until the fall of the Third Reich. After the surrender of the German government, he successfully hid for some time. ATNovember 1946 was arrested by the Soviet occupation forces. Sentenced to 25 years in prison. In 1955 he was extradited to the German authorities, he worked in the foreign intelligence service.
External SD
The sixth department specialized in intelligence operations in Eastern and Western Europe, in the USA, the USSR, Great Britain, and also in the countries of South America.
In the activities of the SD, much attention of the military tribunal was riveted to the role of Schellenberg in the RSHA. This is the head of foreign intelligence, who was born in Saarbrücken in 1910. He entered the University of Bonn, where he first studied at the Faculty of Medicine, but then, at the insistence of his father, concentrated on studying law. It was one of the teachers of the law faculty who persuaded him to join the SS and the NSDAP, explaining that it would be easier for him to build a successful career this way. Schellenberg's work on the development of German legislation interested Heydrich, who offered him a job in his department.
All the major intelligence operations carried out by the Third Reich are associated with the name of this officer. In 1939, he carried out an operation that later became known as the Venlo Incident. As a result, the methods of work of the British intelligence services, their interaction with the Dutch intelligence services and the German opposition were revealed. Schellenberg then took an active part in the elimination of the Soviet intelligence network, known as the "Red Troika", operating in Switzerland.
At the endWorld War II, when the defeat of the Nazis became inevitable, came into contact with Western intelligence agencies. In May 1945, he arrived in Copenhagen with the aim of starting peace negotiations, then left for Stockholm with official authority to conclude peace. However, Schellenberg's mediation failed, as the British command was categorically against his participation in the negotiations.
When it became known about the surrender of Germany, Schellenberg lived for some time in a villa in Sweden. As early as June, the Allies obtained his extradition as a war criminal. At the Nuremberg trials, all charges were dropped from him, except for membership in criminal organizations. As a result, Schellenberg was sentenced in 1949 to six years in prison. However, he spent only about a year and a half in prison, after which he was released for he alth reasons. He died in Turin at the age of 42. He had a number of serious illnesses, shortly before his death he was preparing for liver surgery.
Reference Documentation Service
Finally, the Seventh Directorate was responsible for working with documentation. In particular, there were departments for processing and studying press materials, communication services and an information bureau.
Department B was engaged in the processing, preparation and decoding of data on Jews, Masons, church and political organizations, Marxists. Conducted scientific research on international and domestic problems.
Reinhard Heydrich
The first head of the RSHA was General of Police, SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich. He was born in Saxony in 1904. Was one ofinitiators of the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish Question", coordinated the fight against the internal enemies of the Third Reich.
Joined the NSDAR in 1931, together with the militants of the assault squads, he took a direct part in the battles with the communists and socialists. Having met Himmler, he outlined his own vision for the creation of an intelligence service. The Reichsführer SS liked these proposals, he instructed Heydrich to create a security service, which became the future SD. At first, this organization was mainly engaged in collecting compromising materials on people who occupied a significant position in society, as well as discrediting political opponents.
In September 1939, he became the first head of the Imperial Security Main Directorate. Two years later he was appointed Acting Reich Protector of Moravia and Bohemia. He immediately began to pursue a tough and uncompromising policy towards the local population. First of all, he ordered the closure of all synagogues in the territory of his protectorate, on his orders the Theresienstadt concentration camp was created, intended for Czech Jews, who were gathered there before being sent to death camps. At the same time, he tried to take measures to establish contacts with the local population. To do this, he raised food standards and wages for workers, reorganized social security systems.
He was assassinated during Operation Anthropoid on May 27, 1942. He was operated on, but a few days later he died of anemic shock.
Heinrich Himmler
After Heydrich's death, Heinrich Himmler was acting head of the Imperial Security Main Office from June 1942 to January 1943.
This is one of the most famous and influential figures of the Third Reich. At the same time, he was the Reichsführer SS, Reichsleiter, chief of the German police, imperial commissioner for the consolidation of the German people.
He was born in Munich in 1900. During the First World War, he was part of a reserve battalion, did not take direct part in the battles. In 1923 he joined the party, two years later he joined the SS. In 1929 he was appointed Reichsführer of the organization by Hitler. He spent sixteen years in this position, completely reorganizing the SS. It was under him that a battalion of three hundred fighters turned into one of the most influential military organizations in Europe, which included about one million people.
It is interesting that throughout his life he showed interest in the occult, included esoteric practices in the everyday life of SS members, substantiated the racial policy of the Nazis, he himself was an adherent of neo-paganism.
It was Himmler who created the Einsatzgruppen, which were engaged in the massacres of civilians on the territory of the USSR and the occupied countries of Eastern Europe. Responsible for the work of concentration camps. On his orders, about six million Jews, up to half a million Gypsies and about one million other prisoners were killed.
His life ended ingloriously. Realizing the inevitability of defeat, he began negotiations with the countries of Western Europe, which were part ofanti-Hitler coalition. Upon learning of this, Hitler removed him from all his posts, issuing an arrest warrant. Himmler accepted an unsuccessful escape attempt, was detained by the British. In custody, he committed suicide in May 1945.
Ernst K altenbrunner
Until the fall of the Third Reich, the police general, SS-Obergruppenführer Ernst K altenbrunner remained the head of the RSHA building. He was born in Austria-Hungary in 1903.
He was a lawyer, joined the political activities of the Nazis in 1930. He was detained by the Austrian authorities for about six months for Nazi activities. Later he was charged with high treason, but received only six months in prison and a ban on legal activities. For these arrests and serving a prison sentence, he was awarded the Order of the Blood by the Nazi authorities, one of the main party awards for the National Socialist German Party work.
In 1934, he took part in the putsch, during which the Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss was killed. When the Anschluss took place in 1938, he began to make a rapid career in the Gestapo. In particular, he was responsible for the functioning of concentration camps. In January 1943, he replaced Himmler as head of the RSHA, as he could not cope with the large number of duties assigned to him in this and other structures of the Third Reich.
At the very end of the war, he was arrested by American troops when he was in Austria. At the Nuremberg trials, he was among the accused, appeared beforeInternational Military Tribunal. For numerous crimes against civilians, he was sentenced to death by hanging.
The sentence was carried out in October 1946. It is known that before his death he said one phrase: "Happily get out, Germany." After that, a hood was thrown over his head.
