Gestapo mýtů zbavené?
The Gestapo Rid of Myths?

Summary/Abstract: McDONOUGH, Frank. Gestapo: Mýtus a realita Hitlerovy tajné policie. Translated from English by Jindřich Manďák. Prague: Vyšehrad 2016, 292 pp., ISBN978-80-7429-742-7. The publication is a translation of the original title "The Myth and Reality of Hitler’s Secret Police" (London: Hodder & Stoughton 2015). According to the reviewer, the British historian attempts to present a new, revisionist interpretation of the role of the political police in a totalitarian society. He claims that the Nazi Secret State Police (Geheime Staatspolizei – Gestapo) was not the omnipotent, fearsome, and brutal apparatus it is purported to have been, but rather an undermanned, overworked, and underfinanced police organization staffed mostly by former detectives,reacting mainly to denunciations submitted by citizens, using lengthy and not very effective investigation methods, and sticking to legal procedures. According to the reviewer who provides a fairly detailed account of the author’s interpretations, the above picture is sometimes relatively credible (in relation to churches), but not very convincing in other places (in particular in relation to Jews). Moreover, the author depicts only the situation in the Third Reich, and his generalizing conclusions are thus unfounded.

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