Russell Berman

Hoover Institution senior fellow and Walter A. Haas Professor in the Humanities at Stanford University, specializing in German studies, comparative literature, and the politics and culture of Europe and the Middle East.

Gestapo Arrest List Revealed Plans to Decapitate Occupied Britain

Hoover Senior Fellow Russell Berman examines a surviving Gestapo arrest list prepared for Operation Sea Lion, Nazi Germany’s planned invasion of Britain in 1940. The pocket-sized booklet named thousands of people the occupation forces expected to seize, from Winston Churchill and other political leaders to exiled officials, writers, Jewish intellectuals, and former Nazis who opposed Hitler. Berman argues that the directory shows an intended occupation strategy of eliminating Britain’s independent political, cultural, and ideological authorities.

Hoover InstitutionSep 17, 20264 min read