Ferdinand Amberger, 1884-1972 Gestapo official responsible for the deportations Ferdinand Amberger was a reliable member of Hamburg's Gestapo who, in the judgment of the survivors, numbered among "the less barbarous members of the Gestapo," but nonetheless "participated in all the actions implemented by the Gestapo against the Jews." Ferdinand Amberger was born on 20 January 1884 in Gross-Engelau, East Prussia. He attended the local Volksschule there. In 1911 he began service as an officer of the Hamburg police, and in 1923 entered the investigations department. Then in April 1933, Amberger entered the Hamburg Gestapo. From 1939 to 1942 he served in France and Russia in the military secret police, before working in the "Jewish Department" of the Hamburg Gestapo. He reached the rank of Kriminalsekretär before retiring in 1944. Amberger assisted with house searches which, according to witness testimonies, "generally resulted not only in the total disarray and extensive destruction of household belongings, but often in the taking of one or more residents into Gestapo detention. In addition, house searches were generally associated with nasty assaults by Gestapo members, even against female and elderly residents, and often with the theft of belongings." In 1943 and 1944, Amberger also participated in implementing the deportations. A 1949 court case against Amberger was suspended by Hamburg's state prosecution in 1951. Amberger died in 1972.