Gestapo by Edward Crankshaw

days:
    â€œâ€¦ We were living in a den of murderers,” writes Gisevius (who, it should be remembered, was doing his level best to make good in that den). “We did not even dare step ten or twenty feet across the hall to wash our hands without telephoning a colleague beforehand and informing him of our intention to embark on so perilous an expedition. Not for a moment was anybody’s life secure. Nebe, of all persons, Nebe the Nazi, the old fighter who had the best of connections, used to impress this on me forcibly, morning, noon, and night. His own opinion of his illustrious department was quite clear. As a matter of principle he entered and left by the rear staircase, with his hand always resting on the cocked automatic in his pocket. And again and again he angrily reprimanded me for coming incautiously upstairs near the banister—which could be seen more easily from above—instead of stealing up against the wall, where a shot from above could not easily reach me.
    â€œIt was so usual for members of the Gestapo to arrest one another that we scarcely took notice of such incidents, unless we happened to come across a more detailedexample of such an arrest—by way of the hospital or the morgue.”
    That is a leaf from the album of an aspiring member of the early Gestapo, describing life in the Prinz Albrecht Strasse—Nebe had been seconded to the Gestapo from the Kripo. But life also had its color in the old Prussian Police headquarters in the Ministry of the Interior across the road. And Gisevius gives a vivid account of the excitement when Diels was brought back to the Prinz Albrecht Strasse to resume his old functions after Heydrich’s first major assault had all but succeeded:
    â€œAt the end of September, Diels was removed from office with the lightning swiftness common to all Nazi actions. The Gestapo chief was assigned to the post of assistant police commissioner of Berlin; but he sensed that his career was in a bad way and thought it better to fly to Czechoslovakia on a false passport. Nebe and I, who had persistently intrigued for his removal, breathed more freely.”
    But not for long. Diels has himself described at length and with some pathos his feelings in exile and the highly patriotic motives which induced him to return. We have no reason to doubt that he felt homesick in Prague. He also wanted to get on in the world, and Berlin was the place for that. And so, says Gisevius, “From his retreat in Bohemia he threatened embarrassing revelations, and asked a high price for keeping his mouth shut. By the end of October he had moved in again.” This rings true, and it is also the only reasonable explanation of Diels’ power over Goering. Diels himself describes how after Goering had “pleaded” with him to return he, Diels, demanded extensive guarantees and a free hand. For the time being he had both. And it was at this moment that Goering, who had now succeeded von Papen as Prime Minister of Prussia, quite unconstitutionally removed the Gestapo from the Ministry of the Interior and continued to run it, through Diels, as his private police force.
    â€œI can still see Nebe collapsing into his chair when he returned from the Ministry with the bad news,” writes Gisevius, who, however, was made of sterner stuff. “My immediate reaction was to decide that Imust not sleep at home that night. So I hid in a hotel; and that was fortunate for me, for the hangmen were already out looking for me.”
    Next day he decided to throw himself on the protection of Kurt Daluege. Instead of going to his own office in the Prinz Albrecht Strasse, he went off to the Ministry of the Interior and slunk in through a back entrance. Nebe, who knew Daluege very well, joined him there, and together they went up to Daluege to decide what to do. They could not think of anything. One of Daluege’s subordinates, who had gone with them, also in fear of his life from