Hermann Dietz was a member of the Reich Banner, a political league for the defense of the democratic Weimar Republic; the organization was banned in 1933. Dietz was dismissed as a salesman due to his part-Jewish origins in 1936. He performed military service from August 1939 to May 1941, but was then dismissed, as were all those designated “half-Jews.”
For a time, Dietz sheltered a Jewish acquaintance in hiding, Lotte Basch, in his rented room in Berlin-Wilmersdorf. Later, he hid her on Reiswerder island in Lake Tegel, where he had a garden house. A Jewish couple, Erna and Gerhart Fleck, and 18-year-old Gerda Lesser were also hiding on the small island. The three of them were arrested in Tegel on August 23, 1944, which resulted in the arrests of Lotte Basch and Hermann Dietz. Both later stated a Gestapo informer by the name of Peter Friedländer had caused their arrest. This man’s identity is unclear, however.
They were taken to the Schulstraße assembly camp, where Dietz was held until November 6, 1944. He was then put into Buchenwald concentration camp for “aiding Jews,” and liberated there in April 1945.