History Channel - The Gestapo Hitlers Secret Police (HC) (2006) Part 1 The Sword is Forged

Very few state organisations in history have instilled fear into citizens like the Gestapo, Adolf Hitler's secret police. During the darkest days of the Third Reich, the most dreaded sound was a knock at the door after dark. Everyone who lived under Nazi rule lived in fear of the secretive agents known colloquially as “V-Men”. Hitler called them his “deadliest weapon”, and without them the Fuhrer's ambition could never have been realised. Until now, their full story has not been told. Within six years of its inception, the Gestapo had grown from a regional secret police force into a crucial executive arm of the Nazi Party. By the outbreak of World War II, it had evolved into a wide-reaching organisation whose success in crushing resistance to the state was unparalleled. As the war in Europe raged, the Gestapo extended their operations to include areas under German control, leading to a new era of terror which culminated in Hitler's 'Final Solution'. This fascinating documentary from History explores the inner workings of the Gestapo, from its origins to its rise to prominence as Hitler's main instrument of fear – a sinister organisation that held the power of life and death over millions.

Part 1 The Sword is Forged

The Nazis converted their country from a flawed democracy to a fascist dictatorship in which the rights of the individual were trampled in the interests of the state. Institutions and organizations were warped to serve this purpose, none more than the police. At first, it was the Storm Troopers of the SA, who beat, intimidated, and killed those who opposed the regime. But something more was needed than simple thuggery and the police were co-opted. The Gestapo, the Secret State Police, was the organization set up to perform this function. By reputation its network of black-clad officers spread everywhere; yet it was a small organization–at its height in 1941 there were only 8,000 officers. Program 1 shows the power struggle between the worst of Hitlers henchmen, Himmler and Heydrich on the one hand, and Goering on the other. And it introduces us to a mysterious figure, Heinrich Muller, a career policeman who became the ice-cold leader of the Gestapo.

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