Rudolf Diels
Rudolf Diels | |
|---|---|
Diels in 1933 | |
| Director of the Gestapo | |
| In office 26 April 1933 – 20 April 1934 | |
| Appointed by | Hermann Göring |
| President | Paul von Hindenburg |
| Chancellor | Adolf Hitler |
| Preceded by | None (office established) |
| Succeeded by | Reinhard Heydrich |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 December 1900 Berghausen, Hesse-Nassau, Prussia, German Empire |
| Died | 18 November 1957 (aged 56) Katzenelnbogen, Rhineland-Palatinate, West Germany |
| Cause of death | Gunshot wound |
| Political party | Nazi Party |
| Spouse(s) | Hildegard Mannesmann, Ilse Göring |
Rudolf Diels (16 December 1900 – 18 November 1957) was a German civil servant and first head of the Gestapo from 1933–34. He obtained the rank of SS-Oberführer and was a protégé of Hermann Göring.
Diels was forced from the Gestapo by Heinrich Himmler. Aided by Göring, he later held several government posts; serving as assistant police commissioner of Berlin, and the administrative president of Cologne. In the 1940s, Diels refused to participate in anti-Jewish initiatives.
Diels was imprisoned in 1944 after the July bomb plot to kill Adolf Hitler. He survived the war, and worked in the post-war government of Lower Saxony.