Books like Gestapo by Edward Crankshaw

A comprehensive history of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, detailing the rise of Adolf Hitler and the collapse of the Third Reich during World War II.

Henry Friedlander details how the Nazi "euthanasia" program against handicapped and disabled people became the prototype for the systematic extermination of Jews and Roma during the Holocaust.

xx, 636 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm1640L Lexile

This is a detailed history of Heinrich Himmler's evil organization, whose 20,000 members were responsible for the internal security of the Reich. Based upon the Gestapo's own archives and eye-witness accounts, the author charts the development of the organization, its key figures, such as Reinhard Heydrich and Heinrich Muller, its brutal methods, and how the Gestapo dealt with internal security, including the various unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Hitler.

"Written with access to previously unpublished records, this is the fullest and most definitive account available on Hitler's secret police, the Gestapo. The book illustrates how, despite its material constraints, this group was able to extend its reach widely and quickly by manipulating and colluding with the general public during World War II, making ordinary German citizens complicit in the rendition of their associates, friends, colleagues, and neighbors. Though it was a powerful institution, it was not an all-powerful institution, and McDonough also relates the fascinating and underreported accounts of a cross-section of ordinary and extraordinary people who opposed the Nazi regime and its oppressive governance. The Gestapo will provide a chilling new doorway into the everyday life of the Third Reich and give powerful testimony from the victims of Nazi terror, while also challenging popular myths about the Gestapo and its inner workings."--Amazon.com.