The Gestapo (short for Geheime Staatspolizei, or Secret State Police) was established to suppress political opposition to the Nazi regime. The Gestapo was created in 1933, and became part of the Reich Security Main Office in 1939, under the command of Reinhard Heydrich. By the end of the war, there were 31,000 agents in the Gestapo. These agents could arrest anyone suspected of disloyalty to the Nazi government, and imprison, torture, and execute them without formal legal process. During the Holocaust, the Gestapo was instrumental in rounding up and deporting European Jews to ghettos and concentration camps.
