Eberhard Herf (20 March 1887 – 30 January 1946) was a German police official and

war criminal A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

during the

Nazi era Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

. He commanded

Police Regiment North __NOTOC__ The Police Regiment North (''Polizei-Regiment Nord'') was a police formation under the command of the SS of Nazi Germany. During Operation Barbarossa, it was deployed in German-occupied areas of the Soviet Union, in the Army Group North ...

and

Order Police The ''Ordnungspolizei'' (''Orpo'', , meaning "Order Police") were the uniformed police force in Nazi Germany from 1936 to 1945. The Orpo was absorbed into the Nazi monopoly of power after regional police jurisdiction was removed in favour of t ...

units in

Minsk, Belarus Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administrative centre of Minsk region ...

. Following the war, Herf was convicted in the

Minsk Trial The Minsk Trial was a war crimes trial held in front of a Soviet military tribunal in 1946 in Minsk, the capital of Soviet Belarus. Defendants included German military, police, and SS officials who were responsible for implementing the occupation ...

and executed.

Career

From June to October 1941, Herf commanded

that perpetrated mass murder in the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

in the

Army Group North Rear Area Army Group North Rear Area (''Rückwärtiges Heeresgebiet Nord'') was one of the three Army Group Rear Area Command (Wehrmacht), Army Group Rear Area Commands, established during the 1941 German Operation Barbarossa, invasion of the Soviet Union. I ...

. He was subsequently appointed the commander of the Order Police in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

, the capital of

Soviet Belarus The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and ...

(''Kommandeur der

Ordnungspolizei The ''Ordnungspolizei'' (''Orpo'', , meaning "Order Police") were the uniformed police force in Nazi Germany from 1936 to 1945. The Orpo was absorbed into the Nazi monopoly of power after regional police jurisdiction was removed in favour of t ...

'' (KdO) Minsk). In this capacity, he directed mass murder of the Jews in the

Minsk Ghetto The Minsk Ghetto was created soon after the Operation Barbarossa, German invasion of the Soviet Union. It was one of the largest in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Byelorussian SSR, and the largest in the German-occupied Europe, Germa ...

. Herf reached the rank of general in the

. Later on in his career, Herf wrote to the

Reich Security Main Office The Reich Security Main Office ( , RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and , the head of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS). The organization's stat ...

to request a transfer. He said he wanted "to get out of the East, since, to be honest, I've had enough."

Minsk Trial

At the end of the war, Herf was taken prisoner by the Soviet Forces. He was tried in the

, a

war crimes trial A war crimes trial is the trial of persons charged with criminal violation of the laws and customs of war and related principles of international law committed during armed conflict. History The trial of Peter von Hagenbach by an ad hoc tribun ...

held in front of a Soviet military tribunal in 1945–1946 in Minsk. The tribunal heard the case against 18 German military, SS, and police officials accused of crimes committed during the occupation of Belarus. Alongside two

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

generals, Herf was the highest-ranking official of the occupying force on trial. The trial started in December 1945 and concluded in January 1946, with the sentence pronounced on 29 January. All 18 defendants were convicted; 14, Herf among them, were sentenced to death. He was executed by hanging on 30 January 1946.

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* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Herf, Eberhard 1887 births 1946 deaths 20th-century Freikorps personnel German Army personnel of World War I German police officers convicted of murder Executed German mass murderers Executed military leaders Holocaust perpetrators in Belarus Nazis executed by the Soviet Union by hanging Nazis executed for war crimes Police officers executed for murder SS-Brigadeführer People executed by public hanging