The Reich Security Main Office was the central office of the Nazi persecution apparatus during the Second World War. It was created in 1939 by merging the Security Service (SD) and the Security Police. In this way, the Nazi leadership created a central authority to surveil and control the political opposition, Jews, Sinti and Roma, homosexuals and other groups classified as “enemies”. The RSHA was one of the most powerful organisations in the Nazi regime and played a decisive role in the implementation of the Holocaust and other crimes against humanity in the German Reich and the occupied territories.
Reich Security Main Office / Reichssicherheitshauptamt der SS (RSHA)
- Synonyms: RSHA
