Hans Loritz (12 December 1895 – 31 January 1946) was an officer in the Schutzstaffel (SS) who was the commandant of several concentration camps in Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe.
On his return to Augsburg, he joined local police (where his father worked) transferring subsequently to the motorcycle squad.
Loritz was known as one of the most brutal camp commanders at Dachau, personally cruel, he allowed barbaric behavior by the guards.
He became the camp commandant in place of Walter Eisfeld in March 1940 on the orders of Heinrich Himmler.
[3] He was then sent to oversee camps in Beisfjord, Elsfjord, Rognan, and Karasjok in northern Norway where Yugoslavian prisoners were used as forced labour to construct roads and military installations.
[4] After the war, he was arrested and imprisoned at the internment camp in Neumünster to await trial by the Soviets.