Hitler mistakenly signed the original document rule that established the foundation of the secret police in 1933, but it was redrafted.
It was not suppose to have Adolf Hitler as chancellor signing the law in which the Gestapo was founded on April 26, 1933, but he was the first one to do so. This is shown in the original document has now been found in the State Archives in Berlin and reflected in the German newspaper Die Welt.
The text, of just four paragraphs, is a sign of contempt by the Nazis for the laws because it was poorly written while including the signature of Hitler. Only after they realized it was premier Hermann Göring who should formally appear at the bottom of the second sheet as it was a law of the State Secretariat of Prussia, but instead of repeating the document they simply crossed out the signing of the "Führer".
"They should have made a new law", says the head of the secret archives of the Prussian state, Paul Marcus to the German newspaper. "The fact that the signature of Hitler was then crossed out and replaced by the one from Göring in the same document is an example of the ruthlessness of the Nazis in the use of reason and the law," he adds.
Three months before Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President, General Paul von Hindenburg, and the Reichstag fire on February 27 had allowed him to get it signed a state of emergency. The Gestapo was a step on the way to complete control of power, but at the time of its creation had yet to formally follow established procedures.
The law that founded the "Department 1A of the Prussian State Police" (short for Gestapo would be used from 1934), was so deliberately vague that opened up the possibility of all arbitrary actions that it would be taken the Nazi police. The first paragraph states creation "for the fulfillment of the tasks of the political police, in addition to or instead of the regular police" so that it could become anything wanted by Göring as prime minister and interior minister.
The second paragraph determined that all police authorities should be assisted by the Gestapo and the third and last point gave the Home Secretary the power to use it as he wished.
Another document of 20 November 1933 states that the secret police had "an independent state power" and reported directly to the prime minister. This second law might respond, as per Die Welt, to the tensions arising between Göring and Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, following the creation of the Gestapo. However, in April 1934, the two put aside their differences and the SS took over the management of the Gestapo.
