Werner Lorenz

Werner Lorenz (born October 2, 1891 in Grünhof, Pomerania, died March 13, 1974 in Hamburg) was a German Waffen-SS general, an SS-Obergruppenführer, and a leader of the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (sometimes translated "Repatriation Office for Ethnic Germans"), an organization charged with settling ethnic Germans in the Reich from other parts of Europe.

A forest warden's son, he went to a cadet school and served in World War I as a cavalry officer and pilot.

Afterwards, until June 1919, he worked as a border guard and a farmer. Soon, however, he acquired land and industrial property in Danzig. In 1929, Lorenz joined the NSDAP, and in 1931 the SS.

In 1933 he functioned as a Member of the Landtag in Prussia, and furthermore as Member of the Reichstag. At the same time, he worked at the Hamburg State Council.

In November 1933, Lorenz was promoted to SS Gruppenführer. In this position he was from 1934 until 1937 leader of the SS Upper Division North.

As of January 1937, he led the VOMI (Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle), and from October 1939 became directly subordinate to the "Reich Commissar for the Strengthening of Germanism" – Heinrich Himmler – who in June 1941 also let Lorenz have his own SS Main Office.

Alongside this, Lorenz was also plenipotentiary for international relations for the Führer's deputy, Rudolf Hess. In 1943, Lorenz succeeded in being promoted to SS Obergruppenführer.

After World War II, Lorenz was interned in England for a while, until he was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the trial for members of the SS Race and Settlement Hauptamt at Nuremberg on 10 March 1948. In 1951, his sentence was reduced to 15 years, and then early in 1955 he was released early.

As leader of the VOMI, Lorenz was responsible not only for the resettlement and "home-bringing" of ethnically German foreigners and German minorities abroad, but also for the "Germanization" of foreign children, mainly Poles and Slovenes.

Werner Lorenz was Axel Springer's father-in-law.

Dates of rank

 * SS-Sturmbannführer: March 31, 1931
 * SS-Standartenführer: July 07, 1931
 * SS-Oberführer: November 09, 1931
 * SS-Brigadeführer: July 01, 1933
 * SS-Gruppenführer: November 01, 1933
 * SS-Obergruppenführer: November 09, 1936
 * SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei: August 15, 1942
 * SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS: November 09, 1944

Notable decorations

 * War Merit Cross Second (?) and First (1942) Classes with Swords
 * Danzig Cross Second (1939) and First (1939) Classes
 * Iron Cross Second (1914) and First (1918) Classes
 * SS-Honour Ring (1940)
 * Golden Party Badge (1936)
 * Sudetenland Medal (?)
 * Anschluss Medal (?)
 * Luftwaffe Pilot Badge(?)
 * Cross of Honor (1934)
 * NSDAP Long Service Award in Silver (?)
 * Italian Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, Grand Officer (?)

Werner Lorenz Werner Lorenz