The Radicalization of the Police during the War
With the outbreak of war the police had to take on new tasks: they were to guarantee the cohesive solidarity of the “home front”. The Nazi regime enacted a great number of laws and decrees to increase the regulation of everyday life. Gestapo and Criminal Investigation Police pursued even the most minor offences by “antisocial parasites” with unrelenting severity.
From 1941 on more and more people from the occupied territories were deported into the German Reich for forced labour. They were subjected to strict regulation by the police, ranging from mandatory labelling to where they could stay. Forced labourers who refused to carry out instructions or attempted to flee were faced with deportation to Gestapo camps.
In 1942 the Allies began destroying german cities in bombing attacks and brought public life increasingly to a standstill. In order to maintain order the police acted with greater severity toward the population. In the final phase of the war anyone who declined to follow the regime into the coming downfall was threatened with Nazi terror.
