Eberhard Herf

Eberhard Herf (20 March 1887 – 30 January 1946) was a German police official and war criminal during the Nazi era. He commanded Police Regiment North and Order Police units in Minsk, Belarus. Following the war, Herf was convicted in the Minsk Trial and executed. From June to October 1941, Herf commanded Police Regiment North that perpetrated mass murder in the Holocaust in the Army Group North Rear Area. He was subsequently appointed the commander of the Order Police in Minsk, the capital of Soviet Belarus (Kommandeur der Ordnungspolizei (KdO) Minsk). In this capacity, he directed mass murder of the Jews in the Minsk Ghetto. Herf reached the rank of general in the Order Police. In the summer of 1943, in between the KdO Minsk postings, Herf briefly served as Chief of staff to Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, the Higher SS and Police Leader Central Russia. Later on in his career, Herf wrote to the Reich Security Main Office to request a transfer. He said he wanted "to get out of the East, since, to be honest, I've had enough."