Berlin – Referat IV B
On Bürgstrasse 28 Gestapo’s office Referat B had its office between 1941 and 1943 whose task was to map and persecute religious groups. Head of the Referat was SS-Sturmbannführer Albert Hartl and it consisted of four departments. Referat B1 was tasked with mapping and combating political Catholicism. Referat B 2 was tasked with political Protestantism. Both Referat’s were led by SS-Sturmbannführer Erich Roth. Referat B 3 was tasked with Freemasons and was led by SS-Obersturmführer Otto-Wilhelm Wandesleben. But the most important Referat was undoubtedly B4 which dealt with Jews and was led by SS-Sturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann. Eichmann’s referat was so important that it was located at Kurfürstenstrasse 115and not on Bürgstrasse.
Current status: Demolished with memorial tablet (2011).
Address: Bürgstrasse 28, 10178 Berlin.
Get there: Metro to Hakescher markt Station.
Follow up in books: Cesarani, David: Becoming Eichmann: Rethinking the Life, Crimes and Trial of a Desk Murderer (2006).
Although the Gestapo headquarters was on Prinz Albrecht Strasse, several of its departments were located around Berlin. This for various reasons, but among other things, because if the headquarters of Prinz Albrecht Strasse were bombed, not all the departments would be knocked out.