After Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany, he persuaded his cabinet to declare a state of emergency and end many individual freedoms. Here, police search a vehicle for arms. Berlin, Germany, February 27, 1933.
Item View![SS General Ernst Kaltenbrunner served as head of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) and as chief of Nazi Security Police (Sipo) ... [LCID: 71539]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/c1de1f25-5dda-4e07-91c1-ae6c288f8ada.jpg "SS General Ernst Kaltenbrunner served as head of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) and as chief of Nazi Security Police (Sipo) ... [LCID: 71539]")
1943 photograph of SS General Ernst Kaltenbrunner, who served as head of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) and as chief of Nazi Security Police (Sipo) and the Security Service (SD).
Item View![Arthur Nebe, head of the Nazi criminal police (Kripo). [LCID: 71533]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/8497b7a9-0c37-4423-8780-788bac67521e.jpeg "Arthur Nebe, head of the Nazi criminal police (Kripo). [LCID: 71533]")
Arthur Nebe, head of the Nazi criminal police (Kripo). Germany, date uncertain.
Item View![A German policeman interrogates a Jewish man accused of trying to smuggle a loaf of bread into the Warsaw ghetto. [LCID: 63323]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/9a4fe16a-e011-4ce2-9710-d8c02eca7a8d.jpeg "A German policeman interrogates a Jewish man accused of trying to smuggle a loaf of bread into the Warsaw ghetto. [LCID: 63323]")
A German policeman interrogates a Jewish man accused of trying to smuggle a loaf of bread into the Warsaw ghetto. Warsaw, Poland, 1942-1943.
Item View![German police and Ukrainian collaborators force Jewish prisoners to undress before they are shot. [LCID: 06754]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/f60ca75c-50ce-4d9f-8bbd-287f50410650.jpg "German police and Ukrainian collaborators force Jewish prisoners to undress before they are shot. [LCID: 06754]")
German police and Ukrainian collaborators force Jewish prisoners to undress before they are shot. Chernigov, Soviet Union, 1942.
Item View![German police raid a vandalized Jewish home in the Lodz ghetto. [LCID: 70377]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/0abf7047-923c-4986-8611-c0ababed31c1.jpg "German police raid a vandalized Jewish home in the Lodz ghetto. [LCID: 70377]")
German police raid a vandalized Jewish home in the Lodz ghetto. Lodz, Poland, ca. 1942.
Item View![SS and Nazi police prepare for a raid on the Jewish community offices in Vienna. [LCID: 65636a]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/5f504077-6978-489e-aa60-42f0cef57df7.jpg "SS and Nazi police prepare for a raid on the Jewish community offices in Vienna. [LCID: 65636a]")
SS and Nazi police prepare for a raid on the Jewish community offices in Vienna. Austria, March 18, 1938.
Item View![German police parade before Adolf Hitler in front of Hotel Deutsches Haus, at a Nazi Party Congress rally. [LCID: 69508]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/8818c815-a827-464b-8efc-16a6d3f223d0.jpg "German police parade before Adolf Hitler in front of Hotel Deutsches Haus, at a Nazi Party Congress rally. [LCID: 69508]")
Parade of German police before Adolf Hitler in front of Hotel Deutsches Haus, at a Nazi Party Congress rally. Nuremberg, Germany, September 10, 1937.
Item View![Prisoners at forced labor under SS and police guard in the Oranienburg concentration camp. [LCID: 78400]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/c94c5409-d6a2-4bc5-a7e0-6e6f1c24f843.jpg "Prisoners at forced labor under SS and police guard in the Oranienburg concentration camp. [LCID: 78400]")
Prisoners at forced labor under SS and police guard in the Oranienburg concentration camp. Oranienburg was one of the first first concentration camps established in Germany. Oranienburg, Germany, 1934.
Item View![Police search in Berlin. Germany, 1933. [LCID: 85436]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/cfa9a5aa-917a-4896-af9e-7298f236d844.jpg "Police search in Berlin. Germany, 1933. [LCID: 85436]")
Police search in Berlin. Members of the SA stand nearby. Berlin, Germany, 1933.
Item View![Headquarters of the Nazi Gestapo (secret state police) and of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). [LCID: 80082]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/f0787d40-50da-4f8c-95f4-cedd166d7e0c.jpg "Headquarters of the Nazi Gestapo (secret state police) and of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). [LCID: 80082]")
Headquarters of the Nazi Gestapo (secret state police) and of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). Berlin, Germany, date uncertain.
Item View![A notice reads "Business closed by the police due to profiteering. [LCID: 10754]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/392c7b8c-cf26-4b3d-9888-ad0333a99c91.jpeg "A notice reads \"Business closed by the police due to profiteering. [LCID: 10754]")
A notice reads "Business closed by the police due to profiteering. Owner in protective custody at Dachau." Signed by police chief Heinrich Himmler. Munich, Germany, April or May 1933.
Item View![Police search a messenger employed by the Social Democratic newspaper Vorwaerts. [LCID: 45001]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/757683c9-b896-4816-8686-c15f9f70db65.jpg "Police search a messenger employed by the Social Democratic newspaper Vorwaerts. [LCID: 45001]")
Police search a messenger at the entrance to the building where Vorwaerts, a Social-Democratic Party newspaper, was published. The building was subsequently occupied during the suppression of the political left wing in Germany that was carried out in response to the Reichstag Fire. Berlin, Germany, March 3–4, 1933.
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