Werner Lorenz Werner Lorenz ( October 2 , 1891 – March 13 , 1974 ) was SS head of the " Hauptamt Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle " ( ) ( VOMI ) an organization charged with settling ethnic Germans in the German Reich from other parts of Europe . Early life . He was born 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 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 lead the SS Upper Division North from 1934 until 1937 . In January 1937 , was promoted to head the NSDAP agency " Hauptamt Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle " ( VOMI ) that was initially responsible for the welfare of Germanic peoples ( " Volksdeutsche " ) living beyond the pre - war borders of Nazi Germany . However when the Second World War began VOMI took charge of the resettlement of ethnic Germans on captured territory but also the " Germanization " of foreign children such as Poles and Slovenes . Ethnic cleansing in World War II . Following the invasion of Poland , Lorenz was the chief executive responsible for allocating confiscated land , property and managing the affairs of the " Volksdeutsch " in all other areas of occupied Eastern Europe . VOMI , which was an office of the Nazi Party , would take control of a district once the native populations had been driven from their homes and lands . Ethnic German settlers were then given the land to work under the direction of VOMI officials . In respect to his international work , Lorenz was plenipotentiary for foreign relations for Adolf Hitler ' s deputy , Rudolf Hess . In June 1941 VOMI was absorbed into the office of the Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of German Ethnic Stock ( RKFDV ) run by " Reichsführer - SS " Heinrich Himmler . The RKFDV , as an SS - controlled organization , had the authority to say who was German , where ethnic Germans could live , and what populations should be cleared or annihilated in order to make room for the German settlers from the east Europe during action " Heim ins Reich " . As RKFDV chief , Himmler authorized the SS - " Einsatzgruppen " and other SS police units to round up and kill Jews , Slavs and Roma . Lorenz remained in charge of " Volksdeutsch " settlements in these ethnically cleansed areas . He also was responsible for VOMI officials who handled the personal property seized from Jews killed during Operation Reinhard in the General Government during 1942 - 1943 . In late 1942 Lorenz was seriously injured in a vehicle accident in Bosnia while overseeing the VOMI evacuation of ethnic Germans from the region . He was promoted to SS - " Obergruppenführer " in 1943 . Post - war . At the end of World War II , Lorenz was captured and held in an internment camp in England . He was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the RuSHA Trial at Nuremberg on 10 March 1948 . Later , his sentence was reduced to 15 years in 1951 . Lorenz was released early in 1955 . Death . Lorenz died in Hamburg in 1974 .