Werner Lorenz

Werner Lorenz (October 2, 1891 – March 13, 1974) was an SS functionary during the Nazi era. He was head of the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (VOMI) (Main Office for Ethnic Germans), an organization charged with resettling ethnic Germans in the "German Reich" from other parts of Europe, as well as colonising the occupied lands during World War II. After the war, Lorenz was sentenced to prison for crimes against humanity in 1948. He was released in 1954 and died in 1974. Early life He was born in Grünhof (now in Gmina Postomino, Sławno County) near Stolp, Pomerania. His father was a forest warden. In 1909 Lorenz went to Military school. He served in World War I first as a cavalry officer then as a pilot in the Luftstreitkräfte. After the war he worked as a border guard and as farmer. He later acquired land and industrial property in Danzig. Through his daughter Rosemarie, Lorenz would become Axel Springer's father-in-law. Nazi Party and SS career In 1929 Lorenz joined the Nazi Party and the SS in 1931. Two years later he had an active political role as a member of the Landtag in the Free State of Prussia, a member of the Reichstag and worked at the Hamburg State Council. In November 1933 Lorenz was promoted to SS-Gruppenführer and led the SS Upper Division North in Altona from 1934 until 1937. He was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer in 1936. In January 1937, was promoted to head the Nazi Party agency Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (VOMI) that was initially responsible for the welfare of ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche) living beyond the pre-war borders of Nazi Germany. After the Second World War began, the VOMI took charge of the resettlement of ethnic Germans on captured territory, but also the "Germanization" of foreign children such as Poles and Slovenes. Some accounts consider him the "least radical" of the higher SS leadership.