What was the name of the Nazi secret police force?

The Gestapo was the secret police force of Nazi Germany. Its name was an abbreviation of Geheime Staatspolizei, meaning “Secret State Police.” Hermann Göring created the organization in Prussia in 1933 by combining political-police units, shortly after Adolf Hitler came to power.

The Gestapo investigated political opposition, resistance, espionage, sabotage, and actions the Nazi regime labeled criminal or disloyal. It used surveillance, informers, intimidation, arbitrary arrest, torture, and imprisonment without normal judicial protections. Its victims included political opponents, Jews, Roma and Sinti, clergy, homosexual people, and others persecuted by the Nazi state.

The Gestapo was closely connected with the SS but was not identical to it. The SS was a much broader Nazi organization with military, police, and administrative branches. The Wehrmacht was Germany’s regular armed forces, while the SA was the earlier Nazi paramilitary organization. In 1939, the Gestapo became Department IV of the Reich Security Main Office, or RSHA.