During the First World War, Hering was called to serve in the machine gun company of Grenadier Regiment 123 in 1915, with which he fought on the Western Front in northern France until the armistice in 1918.

During the Weimar Republic era he initiated vigorous actions against the NSDAP, SA and SS and consequently was called a "Nazi-eater".

After the outbreak of World War II, Hering, along with other senior Kripo officers, was transferred to Gotenhafen (Gdynia) in December 1939.

After Action T4, Hering was posted briefly to the Sicherheitsdienst in Prague in June 1942, and was then transferred to Operation Reinhard in Lublin, Poland.

[2] After Himmler was impressed by his visit to the Reinhard camps in March 1943, Hering was promoted to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer (captain).

[2][3] SS-Scharführer Heinrich Unverhau, who served at Bełżec, testified about him: "Hering and Wirth were definitely wicked people, and the whole staff of the camp was afraid of them....

When he was informed [about it], he arrived astride a horse, ordered the engine to be repaired and did not allow the people in the gas chambers to be removed.

[4]Tadeusz Misiewicz, a Pole who lived in the village of Bełżec and worked at the train station, testified about Hering (file No.

Hering then joined fellow SS men from the Operation Reinhard staff in Trieste, Italy.

[6] On 9 October 1945, Hering died of mysterious complications in the waiting room of St. Catherine's Hospital in Stetten im Remstal.