Günther Herrmann (15 September 1908 − 17 February 2004) was a functionary in the SS of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and a convicted criminal. He commanded the ''Sonderkommando 4b'' and the ''Einsatzkommando 12'' of the ''

Einsatzgruppe C (, ; also ' task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the im ...

'' in the occupied Soviet Union and the ''Einsatzgruppe E'' in Croatia. In 1973, Herrmann was convicted for the murders committed in 1941–42 in the occupied Soviet Union and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

SS career

Herrmann studied

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

at the

Göttingen University Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The orig ...

. He joined the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

in 1933 and the SS in 1935. In February 1935, Herrmann was appointed deputy chief of

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

; between 1936 and 1939 he was head of the Gestapo in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

. Upon the

German occupation of Czechoslovakia German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and the establishment of the

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; cs, Protektorát Čechy a Morava; its territory was called by the Nazis ("the rest of Czechia"). was a partially annexed territory of Nazi Germany established on 16 March 1939 following the German oc ...

in 1939, Herrmann was appointed as head of the Gestapo in

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

. In June 1941, Herrmann was appointed to the command of ''Sonderkommando 4b'' of ''

'', which was attached to

Army Group South Army Group South (german: Heeresgruppe Süd) was the name of three German Army Groups during World War II. It was first used in the 1939 September Campaign, along with Army Group North to invade Poland. In the invasion of Poland Army Group Sou ...

of the

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

and operated in northern and central Ukraine. Herrmann's command arrived in Lemberg on 30 June 1941, where it cooperated with the Ukrainian militia. In Tarnopol, in cooperation with Hermann's unit, Ukrainian nationalists instigated pogroms against the local Jewish population. By the time Herrmann's unit left Tarnopol on 11 July, 127 people had been executed and 600 more had been murdered in the pogroms. In mid-August 1941, Herrmann attended the meeting of the ''Einsatzgruppen'' leadership at Zhitomir where they received the "strict order" that from then on Jewish women and children were also to be killed. On this occasion, Herrmann was chastised for his slow pace of killings. According to the post-war testimony of his subordinate,

Lothar Fendler Lothar Fendler (13 August 1913 – 7 March 1983) was an '' SS-Sturmbannführer'', in ''Sonderkommando 4b'' of ''Einsatzgruppe C,'' which was involved in the mass murder of the Jews in occupied Ukraine. At the ''Einsatzgruppen'' Trial in 1948, Fen ...

, Herrmann complained that the higher ups "judged the effectiveness of a commando according to the number of persons the commando has executed". ''Sonderkommando 4b'' continued on to Proskurov, Vinnytsa, Kirovohrad and reached Kremenchuk and Poltava in September. According to a report of 25 September 1941, Herrmann's commando had murdered 13 Soviet officials and 290 Jews. On 1 October 1941, Herrmann was succeeded by . According to the post-war testimony of Braune, Herrmann was warmly sent off by General

Hermann Hoth Hermann Hoth (12 April 1885 – 25 January 1971) was a German army commander, war criminal, and author. He served as a high-ranking panzer commander in the Wehrmacht during World War II, playing a prominent role in the Battle of France and on t ...

, commander of the

3rd Panzer Group The 3rd Panzer Army (german: 3. Panzerarmee) was a German armoured formation during World War II, formed from the 3rd Panzer Group on 1 January 1942. 3rd Panzer Group The 3rd Panzer Group (german: Panzergruppe 3) was formed on 16 November ...

. In October 1942, Herrmann was appointed as commander of ''Einsatzkommando 12'' of ''Einsatzgruppe D''. This commando operated in the area of Pripyat marshes in 1943. From 1943 to 1944 Herrmann led ''Einsatzgruppe E'' in Croatia.

Trial and conviction

Herrmann was arrested in 1962, but was released on bail. On 12 January 1973 he was convicted for his responsibility for the murder of Jews, Soviet state officials, members of the resistance and the mentally disabled as committed by the ''Sonderkommando 4b'' in Ukraine in 1941–42. Herrmann was given a prison sentence of seven years.

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SS career

Trial and conviction

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