Hitler's exekutive
The Carinthian Police under National Socialism
The Carinthian Police under National Socialism
Even before the "Anschluss", large National Socialist circles were active in the Security Directorate for Carinthia and the Federal Police stations in Villach and Klagenfurt. They seized power on 11 and 12 March 1938 and carried out initial arrests. Those affected included officials of the Dollfuß-Schuschnigg regime, social democrats, communists and Jews. On 13 March, officers of the Secret State Police (Gestapo) arrived from Berlin. The Klagenfurt Gestapo office was set up in the Castle. There were also branch offices in the district towns and in East Tyrol, which was incorporated into the Reichsgau Carinthia. The Gestapo and the criminal police (Kripo) enforced the antisemitic and racist ideas of the Nazi regime, and their concept of social order. Carinthian police officers and gendarmes were part of the Nazi regime in the areas of Slovenia and northern Italy that were annexed to the Reichsgau Carinthia and occupied.
