Gestapo. L'organisation. Les chefs. Les agents. L'action de la Gestapo à l'étranger by Pierre Dehillotte - "Gestapo. The Organization. The Commanders. The Agents. Gestapo Operations Abroad" - Early publication about the internal structure and activities of Hitler's German "secret police" - the Gestapo. Published by Payot with a foreword by Georges Suarez. Paris, 1940 - First edition. "To know the enemy is the best way to defeat him" (from the foreword written by Georges Suarez).
"From the day the National Socialist leader was placed in Wilhelmstrasse... the German citizen ceased to be a free man" . Brave, rare and early publication about the German secret police - the Gestapo. How Hitler established the Gestapo in Germany, and the role of Himmler, Heydrich and Göring commanding tens of thousands of "agents" in black uniforms. How from the early organization of the Gestapo Heydrich defined the enemies of the organization: "Marxists, communists... Jews, Freemasons and political clergymen... All those who do not recognize the value of the National Socialist regime, do not acknowledge it as one with Germany or try to undermine its foundations". The book extensively describes how the inner workings of the Gestapo functioned and the guidelines of the organization since its establishment - how it recruited "agents", the salaries of those serving in it, the training of Gestapo agents outside of Germany in European countries, activities held in ten schools serving to train Gestapo agents in different cities of the Reich, the differences between the methods of the Gestapo and the SS in regards to the latter's role defined as "protection of Germany from its internal enemies", the requirements to be accepted into the Gestapo ranks - three months of training, and another year of service in a labor battalion - and an oath of allegiance to the Führer. Afterwards came the period of "political education" - hours upon hours daily of listening to lectures on the successes achieved through the Führer's brilliant methods which could never err under divine providence, the advantages of National Socialism and racism, and weekly readings of main excerpts from Mein Kampf.
Further on, the author describes the Gestapo's abuse of detainees in prisons and Nazi concentration camps and the systematic executions of "regime opponents", the Gestapo's persecution of opponents in Germany, their takeover of districts in Austria following its annexation and "vanishing" of opponents to the regime, the meticulous censorship created by the Gestapo in various cities, the persecutions of clergymen, persecution of freely opinionated German journalists, and more.
An entire chapter deals with the Gestapo's espionage activity in France before the war: "On this important subject, we cannot write everything, reveal everything, " he writes. Among other things he describes distribution of pamphlets and propagandistic material in France through mailboxes, and attempts to identify and register Jews and their places of residence, also surveying the Gestapo's activities in Czechoslovakia, Austria, Spain, Central and South Africa, and even in North America (how Gestapo agents attended an anti-Nazi demonstration held in America, Gestapo agents' infiltration of factories in Canada, etc.) and other countries.
The author Pierre Dehillotte was a correspondent for the Journal des Debats in Berlin from 1932-1938, and was a close witness to the years Germany turned from a democracy into a dictatorship. He was among the first to foresee Hitler's rise to power, and was himself persecuted by the Gestapo. He wrote this publication at risk of his life, and in places where he documents certain events he notes that he cannot provide all the details (out of fear he may one day be captured and accused by the Gestapo).
Extremely rare. Only one copy listed in the World Cat library catalog, in a library in Australia.
213 [6] p. Stains and minor tears on cover. Good condition.
