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Busts of Hitler (right) and Göring (left) in the Main Hall of the Secret State Police Office at 8 Prinz-Albrecht-Straße (1935)

The Secret Police Office (Gestapa) at 8 Prinz-Albrecht-Straße, Berlin, was the central headquarters of Prussia's political police from May 1933 on. After Himmler was appointed inspector and deputy head of the State Secret Police in April 1934, he chose Reinhard Heydrich as head of the Gestapo. Together, they coordinated the work of the political police nationwide. The two portrait busts of Hitler and Göring displayed in the main lobby make clear that a “Führer cult” operated within the Nazi regime and that this cult demanded absolute loyalty and obedience to Hitler. Until 1934, Göring was acting Prussian Minister of the Interior and as such also head of the Gestapa. He lost both titles when the Prussian Ministry of the Interior was incorporated into the Reich Ministry of the Interior under Wilhelm Frick, but this restructuring in no way diminished his influence within the Nazi regime.

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Busts of Hitler (right) and Göring (left) in the Main Hall of the Secret State Police Office at 8 Prinz-Albrecht-Straße (1935)

© Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz