Hermann Höfle

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Hermann Julius Höfle (June 19, 1911 – August 20, 1962) was an SS-Sturmbannführer (major). He was deputy to Odilo Globocnik in the Aktion Reinhard program.

Born in Salzburg, Austria, Höfle joined the NSDAP on August 1, 1933, with a party number 307,469. After the conquest of Poland, he served in Nowy Sącz, in Southern Poland. In November 1940 he served as an overseer of a Jewish labour camp southeast of Lublin. Up to December 1941 Hofle was in Mogilew, Russia.

Telegram from Hermann Höfle, the deputy commander of the Aktion Reinhard program, listing the number of deaths in the extermination camps during a 14 day period in 1942

He was involved in deportations to the camps of Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka. He lived and worked from the Aktion Reinhard headquarters with the Julius Schreck Barracks, Ostland Strasse, in Lublin. Hofle also played a key role in the "Harvest Festival" massacre of Jewish inmates of the various labour camps in the Lublin district in early November 1943; approximately 42,000 Jews were murdered during this operation. Hofle rejoined Globocnik in Trieste, after various missions in the Netherlands and Belgium.

After the war, he was interned by the British, but was released. For only a brief period of time he worked in the Gehlen organization. He was eventually arrested, but committed suicide by hanging in a Vienna prison cell before his trial could begin.

A Photograph of Hofle can be found here at [1] in Link dated May 22, 2007 to "Deathcamps.org". {Deathcamps link not usable on Wikipeta. Also SS Major Hofle not to be confused with SS General Hofle at this link.}