The centralization of the main offices of the GESTAPO and SD was not fully carried out in the regional organization. Within Germany the regional offices of the GESTAPO and SD maintained their separate identity and reported directly to the section of the RSHA which had the jurisdiction of the subject matter. They were, however, coordinated by the Inspekteurs of the Security Police and SD. The Inspekteurs were also under the supervision of the Higher SS and Police leaders appointed for each Wehrkreis.
The Higher SS and Police leaders reported to the Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police in each Wehrkreis and supervised not only the Inspekteurs of the Security Police and SD but also the Inspekteurs of the Order Police and various subdivisions of the SS. (1285-PS)
In the occupied territories the organization developed as the German armies advanced. Combined operational units of the Security Police and SD, known as Einsatz Groups, operated with and in the rear of the Army. These groups were officered by personnel of the GESTAPO, the KRIPO, and the SD, and the enlisted men were composed of Order Police and Waffen SS. They functioned with various army groups. The Einsatz Groups were subdivided into Einsatzkommandos, Sonderkommandos, and Teilkommandos, all of which performed the functions of the Security Police and SD with or closely behind the army. After the occupied territories had been consolidated, the Einsatz Groups and their subordinate parts were formed into permanent combined offices of the Security Police and SD within prescribed geographical locations. These combined forces were placed under the Kommandeurs of the Security Police and SD, and the offices were organized in sections similar to the RSHA headquarters. The Kommandeurs of the Security Police and SD reported directly to Befehlshabers of the Security Police and SD, who in turn reported directly to the Chief of the Security Police and SD. In the occupied territories, the Higher SS and Police leaders exercised more direct control over the Befehlshabers and the Kommandeurs of the Security Police and SD than within the Reich. They had authority to issue direct orders so long as they did not conflict with the Chief of the Security Police and SD who exercised controlling authority. (1285-PS, Chart Number 19.)
C. Place of the GESTAPO and SD in the Conspiracy.
(1) Tasks and Methods of the GESTAPO. In the basic law of 10 February 1936, the GESTAPO was declared to have “the duty to investigate and to combat in the entire territory of the State, all tendencies dangerous to the State.” The decree issued for the execution of said law gave the GESTAPO the authority to make police investigations in treason, espionage, and sabotage cases, “and in other cases of criminal attacks on Party and State.” (2107-PS; 2108-PS)
In referring to the above law, the Nazi jurist, Dr. Werner Best, commented as follows:
“Not the State in its outward organic appearance but the tasks of the leadership in the sense of the National-Socialist idea is the object of protection.” (2232-PS)
The duties of the GESTAPO were described in 1938 as follows, in an order published by the Party Chancery:
“To the GESTAPO has been entrusted the mission by the Fuehrer to watch over and to eliminate all enemies of the Party and the National Socialist State as well as all disintegrating forces of all kinds directed against both.” (1723-PS)
In Das Archiv, January 1936, the duties of the GESTAPO were described in part as follows: