Herman Dietrich

Col. Dietrich is a German Nazi Commanding Officer in the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. He is in charge of the excavation for the Ark Of The Covenant in Cairo, Egypt, a task given to him by Rene Belloq. Dietrich hoped to bring this grand prize to Hitler, unaware that Belloq wanted the Ark for himself.

Dietrich and his fellow Nazi commanders were unaware that the excavation was being done in the wrong place, until Belloq noticed the a group of diggers a good distance away from the main digsite. They descended upon the diggers led by Sallah and claimed the ark for themselves, sealing Marion Ravenwood and Indiana Jones inside. When Belloq protested Marion's imprisonment, as he wanted her for himself, Dietrich replied that the girl was of no concern to him; and that Belloq appears to have forgotten that only the mission to his Führer matters.

When Indiana and Marion escaped, Dietrich, Belloq, and Toht were in a car escorting the truck transporting the Ark to the nearest harbour, and were caught up in a skirmish with Indiana Jones' successful effort to capture the truck.

Eventually, the Nazis caught up with Indy and the Ark at sea, and transported it to a remote island between Crete and the mainland of Greece. Dietrich, being a Nazi, asked Belloq if it's really necessary to hold a Jewish ritual to reveal the Ark's contents, to which Belloq asks him if he prefers the risk of opening an empty Ark in front of Hitler. There was a tense moment when Indy desperately wanted to blow up the ark with a bazooka, but the archaologist was convinced by Belloq to surrender rather than destroy a monumental piece of history.

Dietrich watches on as Belloq performs his ritual, and is at first enraged when he sees only dust and sand in the Ark. The anger turns to surprise and wonder when the spirits are released. Dietrich too witnesses the transformation of the spirit to the Angel of Death and like the others is absolutely terrified. As the altar he's standing on becomes covered by the fires emanating from Belloq, Dietrich's body shrivels up and collapses making him look like a shrunken corpse. His remains are subsequently swept up and evaporated by the fiery whirlwind.