Gottlieb Hering
Encyclopedia
Gottlieb Hering was an SS
-Hauptsturmführer
(Captain) who served in Action T4
and later as the second and last Commandant of Bełżec extermination camp during Operation Reinhard
. Hering directly pepetrated the genocide
of Jews
and other peoples during The Holocaust
.
Hering began his SS career as a detective in the criminal police (Kriminalpolizei
, or Kripo) in Stuttgart, eventually making officer rank. While in Stuttgart, he became an acquaintance of Christian Wirth
, who also worked in the Kripo. Hering was then transferred to work in the Action T4
euthanasia program at Sonnenstein Euthanasia Centre. Hering served as an assistant supervisor (as did Fritz Tauscher) to a police officer by the name of Schemel. After Sonnenstein, Hering became the office manager at Hartheim Euthanasia Centre
.
After Action T4
, Hering was posted to Operation Reinhard
in Lublin
, Poland. He replaced Christian Wirth as Commandant of Bełżec extermination camp at the end of August 1942. He served as the camp's Commandant until its closure in . After Himmler was impressed by his visit to the Reinhard camps in March 1943, Hering was promoted to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer
(Captain).
SS-Scharführer
Heinrich Unverhau, who served at Bełżec, testified about Hering:
Rudolf Reder, one of the very few survivors of Bełżec, wrote of Hering:
Tadeusz Miziewicz, a Pole who lived in the village of Bełżec and worked at the train station, testified about Hering:
After the termination of Operation Reinhard
and the closure of Belzec
in June 1943, Hering became the commander of the Poniatowa
labor camp. On 3-4 November 1943, German police killed the remaining Jews at Poniatowa during Aktion Erntefest. Hering then joined fellow SS men from the Operation Reinhard staff in Trieste
, Italy
.
On 9 October 1945, Gottlieb Hering died of mysterious complications in the waiting room of St. Catherine's Hospital in Stetten im Remstal
.
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
-Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer was a Nazi rank of the SS which was used between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank of Hauptsturmführer was a mid-grade company level officer and was the equivalent of a Captain in the German Army and also the equivalent of captain in foreign armies...
(Captain) who served in Action T4
Action T4
Action T4 was the name used after World War II for Nazi Germany's eugenics-based "euthanasia" program during which physicians killed thousands of people who were "judged incurably sick, by critical medical examination"...
and later as the second and last Commandant of Bełżec extermination camp during Operation Reinhard
Operation Reinhard
Operation Reinhard was the code name given to the Nazi plan to murder Polish Jews in the General Government, and marked the most deadly phase of the Holocaust, the use of extermination camps...
. Hering directly pepetrated the genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
of Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
and other peoples during The Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
.
Hering began his SS career as a detective in the criminal police (Kriminalpolizei
Kriminalpolizei
is the standard term for the criminal investigation agency within the police forces of Germany, Austria and the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. In Nazi Germany during 1936, the Kripo became the Criminal Police Department for the entire Reich...
, or Kripo) in Stuttgart, eventually making officer rank. While in Stuttgart, he became an acquaintance of Christian Wirth
Christian Wirth
Christian Wirth was a German police and SS officer who was one of the leading contributors to the program to exterminate the Jewish people of Poland, known as Operation Reinhard....
, who also worked in the Kripo. Hering was then transferred to work in the Action T4
Action T4
Action T4 was the name used after World War II for Nazi Germany's eugenics-based "euthanasia" program during which physicians killed thousands of people who were "judged incurably sick, by critical medical examination"...
euthanasia program at Sonnenstein Euthanasia Centre. Hering served as an assistant supervisor (as did Fritz Tauscher) to a police officer by the name of Schemel. After Sonnenstein, Hering became the office manager at Hartheim Euthanasia Centre
Hartheim Euthanasia Centre
The Hartheim Euthanasia Centre was a Nazi killing centre that was part of their euthanasia programme, since also referred to as Action T4. It was housed in Hartheim Castle in the municipality of Alkoven near Linz in Austria.- Statistics :...
.
After Action T4
Action T4
Action T4 was the name used after World War II for Nazi Germany's eugenics-based "euthanasia" program during which physicians killed thousands of people who were "judged incurably sick, by critical medical examination"...
, Hering was posted to Operation Reinhard
Operation Reinhard
Operation Reinhard was the code name given to the Nazi plan to murder Polish Jews in the General Government, and marked the most deadly phase of the Holocaust, the use of extermination camps...
in Lublin
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
, Poland. He replaced Christian Wirth as Commandant of Bełżec extermination camp at the end of August 1942. He served as the camp's Commandant until its closure in . After Himmler was impressed by his visit to the Reinhard camps in March 1943, Hering was promoted to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer was a Nazi rank of the SS which was used between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank of Hauptsturmführer was a mid-grade company level officer and was the equivalent of a Captain in the German Army and also the equivalent of captain in foreign armies...
(Captain).
SS-Scharführer
Scharführer
Scharführer was a Nazi Party title that was used by several paramilitary organizations from 1925 to 1945. Translated as “Squad Leader”, the title of Scharführer can trace its origins to the First World War, where a Scharführer was often a Sergeant or Corporal who commanded special action or shock...
Heinrich Unverhau, who served at Bełżec, testified about Hering:
Hering and WirthChristian WirthChristian Wirth was a German police and SS officer who was one of the leading contributors to the program to exterminate the Jewish people of Poland, known as Operation Reinhard....
were definitely wicked people, and the whole staff of the camp was afraid of them....I heard that Hering shot two Ukrainian guards who expressed their dissatisfaction with what was going on in Belzec.
Rudolf Reder, one of the very few survivors of Bełżec, wrote of Hering:
He seldom was present in the camp and came only in connection with some event....Once the gassing engine stopped working. When he was informed, he arrived astride a horse, ordered the engine to be repaired and did not allow the people in the gas chambers to be removed. He let them strangle and die slowly for a few hours more. He yelled and shook with rage. In spite of the fact that he came only on rare occasions, the SS men feared him greatly. He lived alone with his Ukrainian orderly, who served him. This Ukrainian submitted to him the daily reports.
Tadeusz Miziewicz, a Pole who lived in the village of Bełżec and worked at the train station, testified about Hering:
Once the major [sic], the commander of Belzec death camp, invented a new type of entertainment: he tied a Jew with a rope to his car; the Jew was forced to run behind the car and behind them ran the major's dog and bit the Jew. The major rode from the camp to the water pump, which was in Belzec on Tomaszowska Street, and back. What happened to this Jew I do not know. This event was witnessed by the people of Belzec.
After the termination of Operation Reinhard
Operation Reinhard
Operation Reinhard was the code name given to the Nazi plan to murder Polish Jews in the General Government, and marked the most deadly phase of the Holocaust, the use of extermination camps...
and the closure of Belzec
Belzec
Bełżec is a village in Tomaszów Lubelski County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Bełżec. It lies approximately south of Tomaszów Lubelski and south-east of the regional capital Lublin.During World War II it was the site of the Nazi Bełżec...
in June 1943, Hering became the commander of the Poniatowa
Poniatowa
Poniatowa is a town in southeastern Poland, in Opole Lubelskie County, in Lublin Voivodship, with 10,500 inhabitants .-Historical antecedents:A village named Poniatowa had existed near the site of the present town for about 750 years...
labor camp. On 3-4 November 1943, German police killed the remaining Jews at Poniatowa during Aktion Erntefest. Hering then joined fellow SS men from the Operation Reinhard staff in Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
On 9 October 1945, Gottlieb Hering died of mysterious complications in the waiting room of St. Catherine's Hospital in Stetten im Remstal
Kernen
Kernen im Remstal is a municipality in the Rems-Murr district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located in the Rems valley, 4 km south of Waiblingen, and 11 km east of Stuttgart....
.