English source-aligned edition
Gottlieb Hering
Gottlieb Hering served as commandant of the German Bełżec killing centre. The profile reconstructs the person’s function in Bełżec, the Lublin District and the General Government 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
- On 1 August 1942 Hering replaced Christian Wirth as commandant of SS-Sonderkommando Bełżec and remained in office until the camp's final liquidation.
- Museum and encyclopaedia sources place his command in the period when Bełżec operated as an Operation Reinhard killing centre, with German staff and guard formations recruited from prisoners of war and civilians.
- He had previously been connected with the personnel of Operation T4; the USHMM records his administrative work at Bernburg, Hadamar and Hartheim.
Place in the chain of responsibility
The profile concerns command of a killing centre as a link connecting transports, staffing, camp procedures and the concealment of traces. It does not replace profiles of Wirth, Globocnik, guards or those directing deportations, and it does not assign Hering the personal execution of every crime committed by the staff.
Key events and mechanisms
- his assumption of command at Bełżec on 1 August 1942
- deportations to Bełżec from districts of the General Government in 1942
- the liquidation of the Bełżec camp in 1943
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
Hering died in 1945 before criminal proceedings could be brought against him.
Limits of the evidence
Studies differ on the date he assumed office, giving June or August 1942; this profile follows the 1 August date given by the Bełżec Museum. The scale of crime at the camp is not treated as Hering's personal total.
Sources
The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.