Editing Arthur Nebe (section)

===Head of National Criminal Police===

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R98680, Besprechung Himmler mit Müller, Heydrich, Nebe, Huber2.jpg|thumb|255px|left|From left to right: [[Franz Josef Huber]], Nebe, [[Heinrich Himmler]], [[Reinhard Heydrich]] and [[Heinrich Müller (Gestapo)|Heinrich Müller]], November 1939 in [[Munich]].]]

In July 1936, the [[Prussian Criminal Police]] became the central criminal investigation department for Germany, the ''[[Reichskriminalpolizeiamt]]'' (Reich Criminal Police Office or RKPA). It was amalgamated, along with the secret state police, the ''[[Geheime Staatspolizei]]'' (Gestapo), into the ''[[Sicherheitspolizei]]'' (SiPo), with [[Reinhard Heydrich]] in overall command. Nebe was appointed head of the RKPA, reporting to Heydrich.{{sfn|Friedlander|1995|p=55}} The addition of the Kripo to Heydrich's control helped cement the foundations of the Nazi police state. It also led to an "overlap" of personnel from the SD, Gestapo and Kripo in leadership positions in the police and security forces in Germany.{{sfn|Browder|1990|pp=240, 241}}

On 27 September 1939, Himmler ordered the creation of the [[Reich Security Main Office]] (''Reichssicherheitshauptamt'' or RSHA); the new organisation encompassed the intelligence service, security services, secret state and criminal police. The RSHA was divided into several main departments, including the Kripo, which became Department V of the RSHA.{{sfn|Gellately|2001|p=75}} Kripo's stated mission, which Nebe embraced, was to "exterminate criminality". Under his leadership, equipped with arbitrary powers of arrest and detention, the Kripo acted more and more like the Gestapo, including the liberal use of so-called [[Protective custody#Nazi Germany|protective custody]] and large-scale roundups of "[[Asociality (Nazi Germany)|asocials]]".{{sfn|Gellately|2001|pp=45–46}}

In 1939, Nebe lent a commissioner of his Criminal Police Office, [[Christian Wirth]] of Stuttgart, to the [[Action T4]], which ran the programme of [[involuntary euthanasia]] (murder) of the disabled.{{sfn|Reitlinger|1957|p=279}} Also in 1939, as head of Kripo, he was involved in the discussions of the upcoming campaigns against the [[Sinti]] and [[Romani people|Roma]]. Nebe wanted to include sending Berlin's "Gypsies" to the planned reservations for the Jews and others in the east.{{sfn|Gellately|2001|pp=107–108}} In October 1939, he ordered [[Adolf Eichmann]] to put Sinti and Roma with Jews on the transports to occupied Poland under the "[[Nisko Plan]]".{{sfn|Lewy|2000|pp=204–208}} In November, Nebe interrogated [[Georg Elser]] after Elser's failed assassination attempt on Hitler, concluding that Elser was telling the truth when he claimed that he was working alone.{{sfn|Gill|1994|pp=130–131}}