The Gestapo and German Society Enforcing Racial Policy 1933-1945 [Paperback]

How was the Gestapo able to detect the smallest signs of non-compliance with Nazi doctrines--especially crimes pertaining to the private spheres of social, family, and sexual life? How could the police enforce policies such as those designed to isolate Jews, or the foreign workers brought to Germany after 1939, with such apparent ease? Addressing these questions, Gellately argues that the key factor in the successful enforcement of Nazi racial policy was the willingness of German citizens to provide authorities with information about suspected criminality. He demonstrates that without some degree of popular participation in the operation of institutions such as the Gestapo, the regime would have been seriously hampered in the realization of the unthinkable, not only inside Germany but also in many of the occupied countries. Offering an intriguing examination of the everyday operations of the Gestapo and the product of extensive archival research, this incisive study surveys the experiences of areas across Germany, drawing out national, local, and regional implications.

This excellent and disturbing book demolishes a number of long-accepted myths. --The Historian

Gellately's well-written, judiciously argued monograph documents how the local population gave significant and indispensable support to Hitler's racist program. --Choice

A valuable contribution not only to the literature on the Gestapo but also to the study of public accommodation and cooperation in the Third Reich. --American Historical Review

The author not only provides a keen institutional analysis of his subject; by focusing on popular responses to the Gestapo, he brilliantly illuminates the complex blend of apathy, complicity and resistance that both enhanced and circumscribed the effectiveness of the Nazi secret police. --Report ofthe Biennial Book Prize Committee

Clearly-written, informative, anall3