Gestapo information request

[Hellfang]

Hello,

I've got a bit of an unusual request. I'm part of an internet roleplaying community called "Elysium", we're fairly small. We're planning to do a roleplay about the nazi occupation of a french town named Lorient. I might be running the roleplay "Gestapo" faction, and I'm in need of a little information to understand how to run it.

Before I go any further I'd like to add that we don't mean any offense by trying to roleplay this setting, none of us hold nazi beliefs and we're extremely against racism. The roleplay setting we used before was based on the film "Terminator", we're just trying to add some variety and tap into another section of the roleplay community. I can also answer any questions about this roleplay because I imagine it's something of an unusual concept on a forum like this.

The things I really need to run the faction are the names of the ranks (An english translation might also be useful, when roleplaying you often have to type a rank in and from what I've seen some of the ranks are quite fiddly to type), the general structure of the gestapo in a town with a high risk of sabotage/espionage (Lorient was home to a submarine base), and information about how the gestapo would operate in this setting.

I'll sum that up because the paragraph looks very messy.

-Gestapo ranks (English translation would be good)
-The different roles of these ranks in a town like Lorient
-Structural details, for eample, would there be one man in charge of the gestapo in the area? or several?
-Operational details, what sort of things would the gestapo be doing in such a town? I've read that most of their work was responding to the reports of ordinary citizens, what sort of rewards would be given to these citizens?

Because it's a roleplaying setting, and not a re-enactment, we tend to take history/canon as a guideline, rather than a ruleset. How much we do this depends on the team behind the roleplay, and the setting. In this case I think we'll be able to create a very true-to-life roleplay faction, but please take into consideration that the people who will be roleplaying within it will be roleplayers, and not historians.

Thank you in advance, I know it's a very unusual topic and if it's not acceptable here I'm happy to leave you in peace and ask somewhere else.

-Michael

[Stuckes58]

hi

firstly im sure i speak for everyone in welcoming you to the forum. and now to answer your questions...

in a small town such a Lorient i doubt there would be a significantly large number of Gestapo officials around. Indeed there were officers that held rank in the SS that would be operating for the Gestapo, however the large amount of its informers were ordinary citizens that chose to rat out their fellow neighbours for whatever reason. they would monitor the population for any sign of defeatism or possible resistance which would in turn be told to the relevant Gestapo officials in the area and would be dealt with.

hope this and the image helps

herr stuckes

[Hellfang]

Thanks very much Stuckes.

Does anyone have any information on what roles these ranks filled?

Also, Lorient happened to be the site of a submarine base, do you think this would mean an increase to gestapo activity? We were planning on having some SOE agents in the town, and perhaps a few crashed pilots. Does anyone know if the Gestapo would have any involvement in the responce to these things?

[Stuckes58]

hi
A little more info for you

The local offices of the Gestapo were known as Stapostellen and Stapoleitstellen. They would answer to local commander known as the Inspekteur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD ("Inspector of the Security Police and Security Service") who, was under the command of his local SS and Police Leader.

I would recommend having a little glance at the Wikipedia page for the Gestapo. Although it cannot be treated as a credible source it will give you a bit of knowledge to understand its workings and its roles.

herr stuckes

[Polizei51]

Hi,

Lorient was an Aussenkommando which reported to KdS Rennes.

Stapeleitstellen and Stapostellen were Gestapo offices on Reich territory only.

Peter