Records of the Berlin Gestapo Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt (Gestapa) Berlin (Fond 501)

Rossiĭskiĭ gosudarstvennyĭ voennyĭ arkhiv 

The German Secret State Police (Gestapo) originated in the political department of the police headquarters in Berlin during the Weimar Republic. With the Nazi assumption of power in 1933 the agency was under control of Herman Goring and Rudolf Diels, and later Heinrich Himmler and Reinhardt Heydrich. The agency had a broad power of arresting, wiretapping, and engaging in torture and executions. After Kristallnacht (November 1938) the gestapo become the main instrument of the Nazi regime for implementing ant-Jewish polices. In 1939, the Gestapo was fused with Sipo and SD the Reichssicherheitshauptmat (RSHA). The Gestapo took part in the enslavement of races, pacification of occupied territories, persecution of Jews, deportation from ghetto to extermination camps, and played major role in the “Final Solution”. 

Records of the Berlin Gestapo Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt (Gestapa) Berlin (Fond 501) 

6 microfilm reels (partial), 16 mm 7,661 digital images, JPEG 

Contains the surveillance files on communists, social-democratic, anti-fascist, and Jewish organizations; reports on “unreliable” persons and on masonic lodges; police surveillance on activities of organization outside Germany; clippings of German and foreign newspapers and journal concerning the situation in Germany. Includes also records related to the Zionist movements in Germany: correspondence of the Reich and Prussian Minister of the Interior and of the Prussian Gestapo Office with the Zionist Federation of Germany (Zionistische Vereinigung für Deutschland); reports by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA); results of elections of the Zionist federation in Germany, and lists of top officers of the Zionist Union of Germany as well as of the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (Jewish National Fund). The collection contains a bibliography of Jewish literature drawn up for the Gestapo; internal correspondence and intelligence files, minutes and speeches, statistical tables, lists of members of the Reich Representation of Jews in Germany, lists of members of various Jewish societies; and correspondence with Gestapo office in Elbing (Elbląg,Poland) on the discovery of the corpse of Sh. Vishnik. a.k.a. “Black Paul”, and description of the murdered man. There are also lists of German Jews immigrated to Italy, documents on the situation of Jews in USSR, includes lists of Soviet citizens expelled or subject to expulsion from Germany. Note: USHMM Archives holds only selected records. 

Copyright Holder: Rossiĭskiĭ gosudarstvennyĭ voennyĭ arkhiv 

Fond 501 (1913-1945). Opis 1-3; Dela 893. Selected records arranged in three series: 1. Files on religious organizations; 2. Gestapo reports, analyses of Weizman speech at the 20th Zionist Congress, 1937, and media coverage; 3. Gestapo reports, press clippings, and articles about Jews and Jewish organizations. Note: Location of digital images; Partial microfilm reels: #17-18, 26, 185, 305, 306; Reel 17: Image #990-Reel end; Reel 18: Reel start-Image #1411; Reel 26: Reel start-Image #1765; Reel 185: Image #1183-Image #1952; Reel 305: Image#1278-Reel end; Reel 306: Reel start-image #1600.