The Sicherheitspolizei often abbreviated as SiPo, is a German term meaning "security police". In the Nazi era, it referred to the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the combined forces of the Gestapo (secret state police) and the Kriminalpolizei (criminal police; Kripo) between 1936 and 1939. As a formal agency, the SiPo was incorporated into the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) in 1939, but the term continued to be used informally until the end of World War II in Europe.
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👉 Sicherheitspolizei in the context of Gestapo
The Geheime Staatspolizei ([ɡəˈhaɪmə ˈʃtaːtspoliˌtsaɪ] , lit. 'Secret State Police'), abbreviated Gestapo ([ɡəˈstaːpo] ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organisation. On 20 April 1934, oversight of the Gestapo passed to the head of the Schutzstaffel (SS), Heinrich Himmler, who was also appointed Chief of German Police by Hitler in 1936. Instead of being exclusively a Prussian state agency, the Gestapo became a national one as a sub-office of the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo; Security Police). From 27 September 1939, it was administered by the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). It became known as Amt (Dept) 4 of the RSHA and was considered a sister organisation to the Sicherheitsdienst (SD; Security Service).
In this Dossier
- ⭐ Core Definition: Sicherheitspolizei
- 👉 Sicherheitspolizei in the context of Gestapo
- Sicherheitspolizei in the context of Jedwabne pogrom
- Sicherheitspolizei in the context of Police forces of Nazi Germany
- Sicherheitspolizei in the context of Reichskriminalpolizeiamt
- Sicherheitspolizei in the context of Salaspils concentration camp
Sicherheitspolizei in the context of Jedwabne pogrom
The Jedwabne pogrom was a massacre of Polish Jews in the town of Jedwabne, German-occupied Poland, on 10 July 1941, during World War II and the early stages of the Holocaust. Estimates of the number of victims vary from 300 to 1,600, including women, children, and elderly, many of whom were locked in a barn and burned alive.
At least 40 ethnic Poles carried out the killing; their ringleaders decided on it beforehand with Germany's Gestapo, SS security police or SS intelligence, and they cooperated with German military police. According to historian Jan T. Gross, "the undisputed bosses of life and death in Jedwabne were the Germans," who were "the only ones who could decide the fate of the Jews."
Sicherheitspolizei in the context of Police forces of Nazi Germany
There were two main Police forces of Nazi Germany under the Reichsführer-SS, Heinrich Himmler from 1936:
- Ordnungspolizei (Orpo; order police) consisting of the regular uniformed police
- Gemeindepolizei (GemPo; municipal protection police)
- Schutzpolizei (SchuPo; state protection police)
- Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo; security police) consisting of two sub-departments
- Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo; secret state police)
- Kriminalpolizei (Kripo; criminal police)
In September 1939, the SiPo and the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) were folded into the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA; Reich Security Main Office) where they were made separate departments.
Sicherheitspolizei in the context of Reichskriminalpolizeiamt
Reichskriminalpolizeiamt (RKPA), was Nazi Germany's central criminal investigation department, founded in 1936 after the Prussian central criminal investigation department (Landeskriminalpolizeiamt) became the national criminal investigation department for Germany. It was merged, along with the secret state police department, the Gestapo, as two sub-branch departments of the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo). The SiPo was under Reinhard Heydrich's overall command. In September 1939, with the founding of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), the SiPo as a functioning state agency ceased to exist as a department and was merged into the RSHA.
Sicherheitspolizei in the context of Salaspils concentration camp
The Salaspils concentration camp (Latvian: Salaspils koncentrācijas nometne; German: Lager Kurtenhof) was a Nazi concentration camp located near Salaspils, Latvia from 1941 to 1944. It was the largest civilian concentration camp in the Baltic states during World War II.
Salaspils camp was established by Rudolf Lange as a prison camp for the Sicherheitspolizei but it soon developed into a de facto concentration camp operated by the Schutzstaffel (SS). Its prisoner population was variable, including Jews deported from Central Europe, political prisoners, Latvian anti-Nazi partisans, and Latvian pro-Nazi collaborators. An estimated 2,000 to 3,000 people died at Salaspils due to the deplorable living conditions, and the camp has had a lasting legacy in Latvian and Russian culture due to the severity of the treatment, especially with regard to child prisoners. Memorials to the victims were erected in 1967 and 2004.