This is an interesting one.

The Order Police and the Krippo generally continued as normal, as did most of the judiciary.

The Gestapo was brought in front of the Nuremberg trails where it was decided the it was a criminal organisation and that all officers and administrators were collectively responsible. However, it didn't apply to those who left before 1st September 1939, thus ruling it was only after this date that it became a criminal organisation and this ruled out any officer facing punishment for their actions before then.

Very few rank and file officers were brought to trial and most of those that did served less than three years detention. The Law for the Liberation from National Socialism and Militarism (5th March 1946) allowed individuals, including Gestapo officers, the chance of exoneration by producing evidence and witnesses. Most of the West Germans who applied were exonerated (issued a 'Persil Certificate' - a pun on the washing powder that offered whiter-than-white results) due to those overseeing the process being over worked and under staffed.

In the East, the Russians were just as 'thorougher' in investigating the past of those involved in the Nazi regime, however, this meant detention.

Their are a number of things we must understand. Firstly, rank and file Gestapo officers were forcibly transferred from the police detective branch and very very few were members of the Nazi party before 1937. It was the senior managers that were ardent career Nazis with no police experience. Secondly, by the 1950s there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm among the West German political establishment to bring Nazis to judgement. Thirdly, the people who the Gestapo targeted were dead by the end of the war and unable to provide witness to the prosecution. Finally, by the late 1940s, the western allies were more concerned with the Soviet Union than the Nazis. Routing out every Nazi, be them part of the civil service or civilians was not only time consuming but removing the low level civil service would make reconstruction and governance more difficult.