Heinrich Himmler oversaw the Gestapo.
Gestapo . Beginning on 20 April 1934 it passed to the administration of Schutzstaffel ( SS ) national leader Heinrich Himmler , who in 1936 was appointed Chief of German Police ( Chef der Deutschen Polizei ) by Hitler , the Gestapo at this time becoming a national rather than a Prussian state agency as a suboffice of the Sicherheitspolizei ( SiPo ) ( `` Security Police '' ) . Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( [ ˈhaɪnʁɪç ˈluˑɪtˌpɔlt ˈhɪmlɐ ] ; 7 October 1900 -- 23 May 1945 ) was Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel ( Protection Squadron ; SS ) , and a leading member of the Nazi Party ( NSDAP ) of Germany . Reichsführer-SS ( [ ˈʁaɪçsˌfyːʁɐ ˈɛs ˈɛs ] ) was a special title and rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945 for the commander of the Schutzstaffel ( SS ) . Schutzstaffel . Additional subdivisions of the SS included the Gestapo and the Sicherheitsdienst ( SD ) organizations .