Herman Dietrich

Col. Dietrich.

Colonel Herman Dietrich was the Nazi officer in charge of the dig for the Ark of the Covenant in Tanis, Egypt in 1936. He worked closely with Renee Belloq on the matter. When the Ark was opened by Belloq later at their island stronghold near Crete, Dietrich, along with the rest of the Nazis, did not avert his eyes from the power of God. He then died when his head imploded.

Comments

In the original script for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Dietrich was named Shliemann. Instead of dying when the Ark is opened, he and several of his men pursued Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood in mine carts, in a sequence cut from the film but recycled for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.