While the character is, of course, fictitious, with many of his characteristics and parts of his biography taken from a number of historical but different Nazi figures, it may be an interesting note that Rudolf Brandt, http://www.deathcamps.org/reinhard/himmlerbrandt_de.html, was essentially the entire framework of the composite that is Erik Dorf. The major difference, obviously, is his being Himmler's protege rather than Heydrich's.
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The character Dorf mirrors Brandt: both were slavishly loyal to their commanders, both took great joy in their clerical duties, while complaining constantly that they were overworked... and both had trouble sleeping at night. I would have preferred to see Dorf hanged, as Brandt was; I remember feeling, after seeing this miniseries when it aired, that the antagonists had not suffered nearly enough for their crimes. It was many years until I understood that no punishment would ever be enough.
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