From its creation in 1933 until Hitler's death in May 1945, anyone living in Nazi-controlled territory lived in fear of a visit from the Gestapo—an abbreviation of Geheime Staatspolizei—or secret state police. Young or old, rich or poor, nobody was beyond the attentions of a brutally efficient organization that spread its malign influence into every corner of Europe in the wake of the all-conquering German armed forces.The Gestapooffers a detailed history of this evil operation—commanded for much of its life by the SS chief Heinrich Himmler—whose 20,000 members were responsible for the internal security of the Reich. Under its auspices, hundreds of thousands of civilians, resistance fighters and spies in occupied Europe were brutalized, tortured and murdered, and many, many more were deported to almost certain death in concentration camps. Based upon the Gestapo's own archives and eye-witness accounts, the author charts the development of the...