In 1933, Hermann Goering was appointed Minister of the Interior (i.e., Police Commissioner) of Prussia. One of Goering’s first innovations was a radical change in the priorities of police, including specific restrictions of police activities. The novelty of Goering’s approach was that he departed from the socialist tradition of demanding the abolition of the police, which was first proposed by Vladimir Lenin a quarter of a century before the described events in his article “April Theses” of 1917. Another radical proposal of Russian socialists – the closure of prisons and the release of all prisoners – has been partially implemented...