The Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police), Gestapo, was responsible for domestic security and indirectly for the concentration camps.
Its scope of authority comprised both the German Reich and the occupied territories. The Gestapo was a division of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Headquarters of the Security Service). In Amsterdam the Gestapo head office was on Euterpestraat (after the war renamed Gerrit van der Veenstraat), where SD and the Sipo also had their offices. The Gestapo was feared because of the torture techniques it used and was a driving force in persecuting the Jews.
In the German society the Gestapo was the most feared perpetrator of terror. The Gestapo had the authority to send people to concentration camps without any due process. It was a relatively small organisation that focused on combating any suspicious groups: minorities and persons considered enemies by the regime. The Gestapo acted mercilessly against these groups.