APRIL 26

Adolph Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933. In 1934, when the President of Germany died, Hitler combined the offices of Chancellor and President. He was effectively the Head of State and the Head of Government. He went by the title, Fuhrer (meaning leader).

As part of the deal which made Hitler the Chancellor, Hermann Goring was named Interior Minister of Prussia. Goring proceeded to separate the political and intelligence departments from the police and named loyal Nazis to staff the new organization. On April 26, 1933, he merged these two departments and renamed it the Gestapo.

Gestapo is a shortened form of longer German words meaning "Secret State Police". The Gestapo grew in strength and operated with an iron fist. It is the organization which later established and ran the concentration camps in which Jews were held, persecuted and slaughtered during World War II.
.