The Gestapo and Surveillance Technology: A Theoretical and Historical Analysis

• In Event: Autocratic Institutions

Abstract

To implement its utopian- totalitarian ideology, the Nazi party required a Gestapo. As the preeminent agent of a totalitarian party, the secret political police surveilled and destroyed networks of resistance, and, through perceived omniscience, reshaped and formed the identity of the subject populations. The ultimate target of the Gestapo was not only resistant action, but thought and the mind. Nonetheless, although effective, a mid-20th Century Gestapo was limited by the technology of its day. In contrast, the contemporary migration of thought, organization and action from the physical to the ‘virtual’ world has increased the potential for politically significant surveillance. This paper will contribute towards a theory of the rise of the Gestapo, and consider whether advancing surveillance technologies will fundamentally alter the methods and effectiveness of secret political police.

Author

• Aaron Zack, Baruch College and John Jay College, CUNY