Maximilian Karl Otto von Herff (17 April 1893 – 6 September 1945) was a German senior SS commander during the Nazi era. He served as head of the

SS Personnel Main Office The SS Personnel Main Office (german: SS Personalhauptamt) was established on 1 June 1939 from the personnel department in Himmler's personal staff. It was responsible for the administration of personnel matters regarding all leaders and officers o ...

from 1942 to 1945.

Early life

Maximilian von Herff was born in Hanover on 17 April 1893, the son of a general practitioner. The Protestant von Herff family originated from

Herve Herve (; li, Herf; wa, Heve) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2018 Herve had a total population of 17,598. The total area is which gives a population density of . It is fame ...

in Belgium and moved to the Palatinate in 1577 to escape religious persecution. His ancestor Christian Herff had been inducted into the noble class in 1814. After school, Maximilian von Herff joined the army and became ''Leutnant'' (second lieutenant) in an infantry regiment of the Prussian Army); he served with the unit throughout World War I. He stayed in the

Reichswehr ''Reichswehr'' () was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshape ...

after the war, and in 1926 served as ''Oberleutnant'' (lieutenant) in the 18. Reiter-Regiment in Stuttgart. In

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 previo ...

on 3 January 1939, Herff reached the rank of Oberstleutnant (lieutenant-colonel).

World War II

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 opposing ...

, Herff served with the ''

Deutsches Afrika Korps The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, }; DAK) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the ...

'' in North Africa. He was promoted to ''

Oberst ''Oberst'' () is a senior field officer rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and Norway. The Swedish ...

'' (colonel) and commanded "Kampfgruppe von Herff". For his service in North Africa he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in June 1941. At the suggestion of

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

, he transferred to the

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

. On 1 April 1942 Herff joined the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

(member no. 8 858 661) and the SS (member no. 405 894). From 1 October 1942 to 8 May 1945, he was chief of the

. Herff dealt with internal and financial SS matters. Franke-Gricksch-Report

In his later diary entries, Herff claimed to have had knowledge of the Final Solution but not have played any role in administrative or actual involvement in exterminations or deportations. However, on 14–15 May 1943, Herff was in Warsaw during the

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; pl, powstanie w getcie warszawskim; german: link=no, Aufstand im Warschauer Ghetto was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany' ...

and supervised its suppression under orders from Himmler. His adjutant, wrote of the deportations carried out following the uprising to Auschwitz concentration camp and other camps where "special action" was required.

Jürgen Stroop Jürgen Stroop (born Josef Stroop, 26 September 1895 – 6 March 1952) was a German SS commander during the Nazi era, who served as SS and Police Leader in occupied Poland and Greece. He led the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 19 ...

's report on the

contains a photograph of Herff and Stroop taken during the May 1943 visit and confirms Herff's visit to the ghetto 14 May 1943. On 20 April 1944, Herff was promoted to SS-''

Obergruppenführer ' (, "senior group leader") was a paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and adopted by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) one year later. Until April 1942, it was the highest commissio ...

'' (SS general).

Capture and death

Herff was taken prisoner by British forces in 1945, and held at

Grizedale Hall Grizedale Hall was a large country house at Grizedale, Hawkshead, in the Lake District in Cumbria, England. After two earlier Grizedale Halls had preceded, it was built anew in 1905 in the style of Gothic Revival architecture. During World War ...

POW camp. He suffered a stroke and died at nearby

Conishead Priory Conishead Priory is a large Gothic Revival building on the Furness peninsula near Ulverston in Cumbria. The priory's name translates literally as "King's Hill Priory". Since 1976, the building has been occupied by a Buddhist community. History ...

Military Hospital. He was later reburied at

Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery The Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery () is on Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, England. The cemetery contains nearly 5,000 burials from both the First and Second World War. The burials are mainly German and Austrian nationals with a very small ...

, Staffordshire. His sister Carin von Herff moved to London during his imprisonment where she lived for four years before returning to Germany with her French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

husband, a former SS-''

Oberführer __NOTOC__ ''Oberführer'' (short: ''Oberf'', , ) was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) dating back to 1921. An ''Oberführer'' was typically a NSDAP member in charge of a group of paramilitary units in a particular geographic ...

'' of the

33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French) The Waffen Grenadier Brigade of the SS Charlemagne (german: Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS "Charlemagne") was a Waffen-SS unit formed in September 1944 from French collaborationists, many of whom were already serving in various other German un ...

. Both were acquitted of any war crimes and, along with Maximilian von Herff, claimed they were only involved in the Nazi Party base and Waffen-SS not the extermination of the Jews. The couple later returned to live in England in the 1960s. His cousin was Eberhard Herf, a senior SS police official. 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'' (), abbreviated ''Orpo'', meaning "Order Police", were the uniformed police force in Nazi Germany from 1936 to 1945. The Orpo organisation was absorbed into the Nazi monopoly on power after regional police jurisdiction w ...

units in

Minsk, Belarus Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the 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 adm ...

; in the latter capacity, Eberhard Herf directed mass murder of the Jews in the

Minsk Ghetto The Minsk Ghetto was created soon after the German invasion of the Soviet Union. It was one of the largest in Belorussian SSR, and the largest in the German-occupied territory of the Soviet Union.Donald L. Niewyk, Francis R. Nicosia, ''The Co ...

. Following the war, Eberhard 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.

Awards

* Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 13 June 1941 as ''

'' and as commander of Kampfgruppe "von Herff" (Schützen-Regiment 115).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herff, Maxmilian von 1893 births 1945 deaths SS-Obergruppenführer Holocaust perpetrators in Poland Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross Reich Security Main Office personnel Waffen-SS personnel Personal staff of Heinrich Himmler 20th-century Freikorps personnel Burials at Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery Prisoners who died in British military detention Nazis who died in prison custody Military personnel from Hanover German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United Kingdom