By 1942, Nazi Germany's armed forces controlled most of Europe. The Gestapo, Hitler's most potent and hated weapon of fear, was at full stretch routing out opposition and implementing Hitler's "Final Solution" - the extermination of the Jews. What had begun as a domestic secret police force had now gained the power of life and death over millions of people. Later, by 1945, as the Third Reich hurtled towards its destruction and Hitler raged in his bunker, the Gestapo was to reach new depths of brutality.