Informants/Agents of the Gestapo

The proposed research project attempts to examine the conditions for, and the employment of, confidental agents and informers ("Vertrauensleute") by the Gestapo head offices ("Leitstellen") in Vienna and Düsseldorf on a comparative basis. In order to distinguish this theme from the comparably better researched subject "Denounciation in the Third Reich", two factors are significant. First, denounciations were made voluntarily. Reporting on individuals to the Nazi authorities aimed at criminalising non-conformist behaviour in the social environment and was generally motivated by personal animosity and the desire for revenge. Second, the "recruiting" of confidential agents and informers by the Gestapo differed from denounciatory activities both in respect of the civilians involved and their individual motivation: Agents of the Gestapo were forced to collaborate after being physically and mentally tortured and consisted, in the main, of members of the resistance or released concentration-camp inmates. An important goal of the proposed study is to document the plethora of methods used by the Gestapo in order to "recruit" confidential agents. Verbal intimidation, threatening to persecute the family of the prisoner and prolonged physical torture were common. The most extreme sanction was the execution of the death sentence already passed by the Volksgerichtshof. The capital verdict was repeatedly suspended because of Gestapo intervention - in order to ensure the collaboration of the prisoner and bind him or her ineluctably to the machinery of the Gestapos surveillance and repression strategies. The dimensions of this predominantly forced collaboration differed greatly in terms of numbers and intensity. In most cases the transformation from victim to perpetrator did not proceed in a straight line but was characterized by ambiguities. Particularly "efficient" agents were used to varying degrees also as agents provocateurs. Gestapo headquarters in Vienna pioneered this method. The study will demonstrate that the Viennese Gestapo not only successfully infiltrated resistance organizations but also created new leadership structures of the Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ) and thus arrested numerous unsuspecting Party members or sympathizers. Recent research would suggest, for example, that the "fourth" illegal Central Committee of the KPÖ formed in 1942 was a direct creation of Gestapo agents. Main subjects of this scientific work will concern activities of Gestapo Informers within communist, socialdemocatric, catholic-conservative and (in Austria) legitimicy resistance groups. The choice of the agent-networks in the regions under the surveillance of Gestapo "Leitstellen" in Vienna and Düsseldorf is justifiable on three counts. First, the relatively good primary sources; second, that the social structures in both industrial conurbations are comparable to a great degree; and finally, because Communist Party organizations were relatively strong in the two regions before the accession to power of the Nazis.

The proposed research project attempts to examine the conditions for, and the employment of, confidental agents and informers ("Vertrauensleute") by the Gestapo head offices ("Leitstellen") in Vienna and Düsseldorf on a comparative basis. In order to distinguish this theme from the comparably better researched subject "Denounciation in the Third Reich", two factors are significant. First, denounciations were made voluntarily. Reporting on individuals to the Nazi authorities aimed at criminalising non-conformist behaviour in the social environment and was generally motivated by personal animosity and the desire for revenge. Second, the "recruiting" of confidential agents and informers by the Gestapo differed from denounciatory activities both in respect of the civilians involved and their individual motivation: Agents of the Gestapo were forced to collaborate after being physically and mentally tortured and consisted, in the main, of members of the resistance or released concentration-camp inmates. An important goal of the proposed study is to document the plethora of methods used by the Gestapo in order to "recruit" confidential agents. Verbal intimidation, threatening to persecute the family of the prisoner and prolonged physical torture were common. The most extreme sanction was the execution of the death sentence already passed by the Volksgerichtshof. The capital verdict was repeatedly suspended because of Gestapo intervention - in order to ensure the collaboration of the prisoner and bind him or her ineluctably to the machinery of the Gestapo`s surveillance and repression strategies. The dimensions of this predominantly forced collaboration differed greatly in terms of numbers and intensity. In most cases the transformation from victim to perpetrator did not proceed in a straight line but was characterized by ambiguities. Particularly "efficient" agents were used to varying degrees also as agents provocateurs. Gestapo headquarters in Vienna pioneered this method. The study will demonstrate that the Viennese Gestapo not only successfully infiltrated resistance organizations but also created new leadership structures of the Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ) and thus arrested numerous unsuspecting Party members or sympathizers. Recent research would suggest, for example, that the "fourth" illegal Central Committee of the KPÖ formed in 1942 was a direct creation of Gestapo agents. Main subjects of this scientific work will concern activities of Gestapo Informers within communist, socialdemocatric, catholic-conservative and (in Austria) legitimicy resistance groups. The choice of the agent- networks in the regions under the surveillance of Gestapo "Leitstellen" in Vienna and Düsseldorf is justifiable on three counts. First, the relatively good primary sources; second, that the social structures in both industrial conurbations are comparable to a great degree; and finally, because Communist Party organizations were relatively strong in the two regions before the accession to power of the Nazis.