Gottlieb Hering was a German police officer who once opposed the Nazi movement and was even nicknamed the “Nazi eater.” Yet after joining the Nazi Party, his career took a radically different path. He served in the Aktion T4 euthanasia program before becoming commandant of the Bełżec extermination camp in August 1942. During his tenure, at least 320,000 Jews were murdered there, while Hering became notorious for his cruelty toward prisoners and guards.

As Bełżec was dismantled, Hering supervised efforts to destroy evidence by exhuming and burning the bodies of victims. He later commanded the Poniatowa labour camp and the Risiera di San Sabba concentration camp in Italy. Unlike many senior perpetrators, Hering never faced a post-war trial: he died in Germany in October 1945 at the age of 58.