 At the trial of Hermann Worthoff (former Gestapo chief in Lublin) after the war, it was mentioned that Lerch had overseen the murder of thousands of Jews from the Majdan Tatarski ghetto in Lublin at the nearby Krepiec Forest.When Operation Reinhard ("Aktion Reinhard") was finished, Lerch was ordered to Italy in September 1943.He went with most of the SS-men of Globočnik's staff.