English source-aligned edition
Eberhard Herf
Eberhard Herf served as Order Police commander in occupied Belarus and staff officer in anti-partisan formations. The profile reconstructs the person’s function in occupied Belarus through documented office, decisions, supervision or operational conduct. It does not assign every crime committed by an institution or region to one individual.
Confirmed findings
- Eberhard Herf was born in Krefeld in 1887. The available institutional sources do not justify supplying an exact day of birth. (Source: Federal Archival Agency of Russia — Crimes of the Nazis and their Accomplices against the Civilian Population of the USSR, judgment of the Military Tribunal of the Minsk Military District, 29 January 1946; entry and findings concerning Eberhard Herf; Source: Institut für Zeitgeschichte München–Berlin — Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, printed pp. 211–244, especially pp. 213–215 and 232–233; critical analysis of the Minsk trial)
- In 1943–1944 he was an SS-Brigadeführer, police major general and Order Police commander in occupied Belarus; the IfZ source also links him to the staff of anti-partisan formations. (Source: Institut für Zeitgeschichte München–Berlin — Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, printed pp. 211–244, especially pp. 213–215 and 232–233; critical analysis of the Minsk trial; Source: Institut für Zeitgeschichte München–Berlin — Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, printed pp. 481–483; reproduced Soviet case-planning document and editorial note 120)
- The Soviet charging material and judgment attributed mass killing and the deportation of Soviet civilians for forced labour to formations under his leadership. This is a finding of the Soviet proceeding, not direct evidence that Herf personally killed a named victim. (Source: Federal Archival Agency of Russia — Crimes of the Nazis and their Accomplices against the Civilian Population of the USSR, judgment of the Military Tribunal of the Minsk Military District, 29 January 1946; entry and findings concerning Eberhard Herf; Source: Institut für Zeitgeschichte München–Berlin — Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, printed pp. 481–483; reproduced Soviet case-planning document and editorial note 120)
- He was sentenced to death in the public Minsk trial held from 15 to 29 January 1946; the IfZ sources record that the sentence was carried out in 1946. (Source: Federal Archival Agency of Russia — Crimes of the Nazis and their Accomplices against the Civilian Population of the USSR, judgment of the Military Tribunal of the Minsk Military District, 29 January 1946; entry and findings concerning Eberhard Herf; Source: Institut für Zeitgeschichte München–Berlin — Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, printed pp. 211–244, especially pp. 213–215 and 232–233; critical analysis of the Minsk trial; Source: Institut für Zeitgeschichte München–Berlin — Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, printed pp. 481–483; reproduced Soviet case-planning document and editorial note 120)
Place in the chain of responsibility
The profile grounds Herf’s responsibility in his command position and the tribunal’s attribution. It does not turn a general account of subordinate formations into proof that Herf personally issued every order or took part in every operation. (Source: Federal Archival Agency of Russia — Crimes of the Nazis and their Accomplices against the Civilian Population of the USSR, judgment of the Military Tribunal of the Minsk Military District, 29 January 1946; entry and findings concerning Eberhard Herf; Source: Institut für Zeitgeschichte München–Berlin — Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, printed pp. 211–244, especially pp. 213–215 and 232–233; critical analysis of the Minsk trial; Source: Institut für Zeitgeschichte München–Berlin — Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, printed pp. 481–483; reproduced Soviet case-planning document and editorial note 120)
Key events and mechanisms
- 1943–1944 – Order Police commander in occupied Belarus (Source: Institut für Zeitgeschichte München–Berlin — Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, printed pp. 211–244, especially pp. 213–215 and 232–233; critical analysis of the Minsk trial; Source: Institut für Zeitgeschichte München–Berlin — Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, printed pp. 481–483; reproduced Soviet case-planning document and editorial note 120)
- 15 January 1946 – public trial opened in Minsk (Source: Institut für Zeitgeschichte München–Berlin — Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, printed pp. 211–244, especially pp. 213–215 and 232–233; critical analysis of the Minsk trial)
- 29 January 1946 – death sentence by the Military Tribunal of the Minsk Military District (Source: Federal Archival Agency of Russia — Crimes of the Nazis and their Accomplices against the Civilian Population of the USSR, judgment of the Military Tribunal of the Minsk Military District, 29 January 1946; entry and findings concerning Eberhard Herf; Source: Institut für Zeitgeschichte München–Berlin — Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, printed pp. 211–244, especially pp. 213–215 and 232–233; critical analysis of the Minsk trial)
- 1946 – sentence carried out (Source: Federal Archival Agency of Russia — Crimes of the Nazis and their Accomplices against the Civilian Population of the USSR, judgment of the Military Tribunal of the Minsk Military District, 29 January 1946; entry and findings concerning Eberhard Herf; Source: Institut für Zeitgeschichte München–Berlin — Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, printed pp. 481–483; reproduced Soviet case-planning document and editorial note 120)
The circle records authority, function and agency. Several profiles may describe different parts of the same persecution chain, so profile-level totals must not be added together.
Postwar accountability
Herf was tried in the public Soviet proceeding at Minsk, sentenced to death and executed in 1946. The IfZ analysis stresses both the gravity of the crimes at issue and serious procedural and source-critical problems in the proceeding. (Source: Federal Archival Agency of Russia — Crimes of the Nazis and their Accomplices against the Civilian Population of the USSR, judgment of the Military Tribunal of the Minsk Military District, 29 January 1946; entry and findings concerning Eberhard Herf; Source: Institut für Zeitgeschichte München–Berlin — Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, printed pp. 211–244, especially pp. 213–215 and 232–233; critical analysis of the Minsk trial; Source: Institut für Zeitgeschichte München–Berlin — Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, printed pp. 481–483; reproduced Soviet case-planning document and editorial note 120)
Limits of the evidence
The Minsk record arose within Stalinist demonstrative justice. The IfZ analysis warns against treating every prosecution assertion as independently proved. This profile omits an exact birth day not established by these sources and does not attribute a specific personal killing to Herf. (Source: Institut für Zeitgeschichte München–Berlin — Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, printed pp. 211–244, especially pp. 213–215 and 232–233; critical analysis of the Minsk trial; Source: Institut für Zeitgeschichte München–Berlin — Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, printed pp. 481–483; reproduced Soviet case-planning document and editorial note 120)
Sources
The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.