of agents was likewise minimally staffed and in the early years of the
Nazi regime was used primarily to eliminate political opponents on
the left. As a result, both the communists and the social democrats
proved unable to rebuild their illegal apparatuses. A large degree
of cooperation came from the general population, as an estimated
5–10 percent of all Germans were willing to engage in political de-
nunciations, although many of these reports stemmed from personal
animosity and conflicts.
Operating without judicial restraints, the Gestapo had the power
of preventive arrest and often resorted to brutal forms of torture to
extract information. It could also place people under Schutzhaft, or
“protective custody,” in concentration camps. During World War II,
many Gestapo members joined with those of the Sicherheitsdienst
(SD; Security Service) to form the Einsatzgruppen, the mobile
death squads that accompanied the Wehrmacht into Poland and the
Soviet Union. The Gestapo also ruthlessly attempted to suppress all
partisan activity in the occupied territories and played a key role in
the deportation of Jews to the death camps. In 1946, it was declared
a criminal organization by the International Military Tribunal in
Nuremberg.GEWITTER. A massive Gestapo roundup of former political depu-
ties and officials from the Weimar Republic, Operation gewitter
(Thunderstorm) was launched on 22 August 1944. Although this
synchronized action throughout Germany occurred in the aftermath
of the failed 20 July conspiracy against Adolf Hitler, it had been
planned much earlier. Some 5,000 putative opponents of the Nazi
regime were taken into custody and placed in concentration camps,
among them Konrad Adenauer and Kurt Schumacher. Yet the result-
ing unrest in the general population caused Gestapo chief Heinrich
Müller to doubt whether the aim of the operation had been achieved.
Most of the detainees were therefore released within two to four
weeks, although a number died due to mistreatment.
GEYER, HANS JOACHIM. An East German double agent within the
Organisation Gehlen (OG), Hans Joachim Geyer was also a suc-
cessful author, known for the popular John Kling spy novel series,
which appeared under the pseudonym Henry Troll. In 1952, after
GEYER, HANS JOACHIM • 137