The Danger of Tar and Brush
I came across an article the other day which got me thinking. Richard Overy, a Professor of History at the University of Exeter wrote an article for History Today . He questioned the indiscriminate use of the word "Nazi" to describe "anything to do with German institutions or behaviour in the years of the dictatorship between 1933 and 1945" - for example, "Nazi Army", "Nazi Luftwaffe", "Nazi spies". Overy pointed out that the term "Nazi" was an abbreviation of the name for a political party - the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP). Certainly there were many notorious organizations that were run under the umbrella of the Nazi party: the paramilitary Schutzstaffel (SS), the state police - Geheimstaatspolizei (Gestapo) and the intelligence organization -Sicherheitsdienst (SD). Horrific things happened under the auspices of the Nazi party - no question. But not all German institutions were run by the Nazis. The G