Abstract
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.