Gottlieb Hering | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1887-06-02)2 June 1887 |
| Died | 9 October 1945(1945-10-09) (aged 58) |
| Allegiance | Nazi Germany |
| Branch | Schutzstaffel |
| Rank | SS-Hauptsturmführer |
| Unit | SS-Totenkopfverbände |
| Commands | Bełżec, end of August 1942 — June 1943 |
Gottlieb Hering (2 June 1887 – 9 October 1945) was anSS commander ofNazi Germany. He served inAction T4 and later as the second and last commandant ofBełżec extermination camp duringOperation Reinhard. Hering directly perpetrated thegenocide ofJews and other peoples duringThe Holocaust.
Hering was born and raised in Warmbronn, a district in the town ofLeonberg. After finishing his schooling, Hering worked on a farm near his home. From 1907 to 1909, he served in the20th (2nd Württemberg) Uhlans "King William I" regiment, and then voluntarily stayed on for another three years. Hering then joined theHeilbronn police in 1912. In 1914, Hering married and had one son.
During theFirst World War, Hering was called to serve in the machine gun company of Grenadier Regiment 123 in 1915, with which he fought on theWestern Front in northern France until the armistice in 1918. He attained the rank of sergeant. For his war services he was awarded theIron Cross First Class. After the First World War, Hering briefly rejoined theSchutzpolizei in Heilbronn.
Hering began his police career in 1919 as a detective (sergeant) in the criminal police (Kriminalpolizei, or Kripo) inGöppingen, nearStuttgart, making officer rank by 1929. In 1920, Hering had joined theSocial Democratic Party of Germany. During the Weimar Republic era he initiated vigorous actions against theNazi Party, SA and SS and consequently was called a "Nazi-eater". By the 1933Nazi Seizure of Power ("Machtergreifung"), Nazi Party members vehemently demanded Hering's dismissal from the police. However, Hering had known NaziChristian Wirth from official contexts since 1912, and while working in the Kripo in Stuttgart, the two became acquaintances, so that Hering was able to continue working despite the violent protests of localSA andSS men. In May 1933 Hering finally joined the Nazi Party. In 1934 he was appointed head of the Göppingen Kripo and then continued his career in 1939 in Stuttgart-Schwenningen. After the outbreak ofWorld War II, Hering, along with other senior Kripo officers, was transferred toGotenhafen (Gdynia) in December 1939. He was appointed with the task of resettlingVolksdeutsche to theGeneral Government.
Beginning in late 1940, Hering held various functions within theAction T4 "euthanasia" program. Having completed the order at Gdynia, he was transferred to work first atSonnenstein 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 atHartheim Euthanasia Centre.[1] He also worked in the special registry offices ofBernburg andHadamar euthanasia centres.
AfterAction T4, Hering was posted briefly to theSicherheitsdienst (SD) inPrague in June 1942, and was then transferred toOperation Reinhard inLublin, Poland. He replacedChristian Wirth as commandant ofBełżec extermination camp at the end of August 1942. He served as the camp's commandant until its closure inJune 1943.[2]
AfterHimmler was impressed by his visit to the Reinhard camps in March 1943, Hering was promoted to the rank ofSS-Hauptsturmführer (captain).[2][3]SS-Scharführer Heinrich Unverhau, who served at Bełżec, testified about him: "Hering andWirth 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 Bełżec."[4]
Rudolf Reder, one of only two survivors of Bełżec, wrote of Hering's role in the killing of Jews.[5]
He was a tall bully, broad shouldered, age around forty, with an expressionless face. He seemed to me as if he were a born bandit. Once, the gassing engine stopped working. When he was informed [about it], 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, attended by Ukrainian orderly who served under him. This Ukrainian submitted to him the daily reports.[4]
Tadeusz Misiewicz, a Pole who lived in the village ofBełżec and worked at the train station, testified about Hering (file No.: Ds. 1604/45 –Zamość. Dated 15 October 1945 / Belzec-OKBZ):
Once the major [sic], the commander of Bełżec 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 Bełżec on Tomaszowska Street, and back. What happened to this Jew I do not know. This event was witnessed by the people of Bełżec.[4]
After the termination ofOperation Reinhard and the closure ofBełżec in June 1943, Hering remained the commander of thePoniatowa concentration camp reassigned as subcamp ofMajdanek from the forced labor camp supporting the German war effort. On 3–4 November 1943, German police killed the remaining Jews at Poniatowa duringAktion Erntefest (German:Operation Harvest Festival). Hering then joined fellow SS men from the Operation Reinhard staff inTrieste,Italy.[6] On 9 October 1945, Hering died of mysterious complications in the waiting room of St. Catherine's Hospital inStetten im Remstal.[7][8]
| Military offices | ||
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| Preceded by SS-SturmbannführerChristian Wirth | Commandant ofBełżec extermination camp end of August 1942 — June 1943 | Succeeded by None |
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| National | |
| People | |
