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VOMI
The ''Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle'' or VoMi (Coordination Center for Ethnic Germans) was a Nazi Party agency in Nazi Germany founded to manage the interests of the ''Volksdeutsche'', the population of ethnic Germans living outside the country. Under ''Allgemeine-SS'' administration, it became responsible for orchestrating the Nazi ideology of Lebensraum ( en, living space) in Eastern Europe. Formation It was founded in 1937 under the command of SS-''Obergruppenführer'' Werner Lorenz as a state office of the Nazi Party. Its headquarters were on Unter den Linden, Berlin (this changed to Keithstraße in 1943 due to Allied Bombing). VoMi's primary task was the resettlement of German peoples outside Germany. Between 1939 and 1942, VoMi had resettled half a million ethnic Germans into the newly occupied territories of the Reich under the slogan "Heim ins Reich" (Home into the Empire). These territories included the Reichsgaue of the German Reich; these included Wartheland ( Posen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 j ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heim Ins Reich
The ''Heim ins Reich'' (; meaning "back home to the Reich") was a foreign policy pursued by Adolf Hitler before and during World War II, beginning in 1938. The aim of Hitler's initiative was to convince all '' Volksdeutsche'' (ethnic Germans) who were living outside Nazi Germany (e.g. in Austria, Czechoslovakia and the western districts of Poland) that they should strive to bring these regions "home" into Greater Germany, but also relocate from territories that were not under German control, following the conquest of Poland, in accordance with the Nazi–Soviet pact. The ''Heim ins Reich'' manifesto targeted areas ceded in Versailles to the newly reborn state of Poland, various lands of immigration, as well as other areas that were inhabited by significant ethnic German populations, such as the Sudetenland, Danzig (now Gdansk), and the southeastern and northeastern regions of Europe after 6 October 1939. Implementation of the policy was managed by VOMI (''Hauptamt Volksd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allgemeine-SS
The ''Allgemeine SS'' (; "General SS") was a major branch of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany; it was managed by the SS Main Office (''SS-Hauptamt''). The ''Allgemeine SS'' was officially established in the autumn of 1934 to distinguish its members from the ''SS-Verfügungstruppe'' (SS Dispositional Troops or SS-VT), which later became the Waffen-SS, and the ''SS-Totenkopfverbände'' (SS Death's Head Units or SS-TV), which were in charge of the Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps. SS formations committed many war crimes against civilians and allied servicemen. Starting in 1939, foreign units of the ''Allgemeine SS'' were raised in occupied countries. From 1940 they were consolidated into the Directorate of the Germanic-SS (''Leitstelle der germanischen SS''). When the war first began, the vast majority of SS members belonged to the ''Allgemeine SS'', but this proportion changed during the later years of the war after the Waffen-SS op ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polish Areas Annexed By Nazi Germany
Following the Invasion of Poland at the beginning of World War II, nearly a quarter of the entire territory of the Second Polish Republic was annexed by Nazi Germany and placed directly under the German civil administration. The rest of Nazi-occupied Poland was renamed as the General Government district. The annexation was part of the "fourth partition of Poland" by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, outlined months before the invasion, in the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.Maly Rocznik Statystyczny (wrzesien 1939 – czerwiec 1941), Ministerstwo Informacji i Documentacji, London 1941, p.5, as cited in Piotr Eberhardt, Political Migrations in Poland, 1939–1948, Warsaw 2006, p.4 Some smaller territories were incorporated directly into the existing Gaue East Prussia and Silesia, while the bulk of the land was used to create new '' Reichsgaue'' Danzig-West Prussia and Wartheland. Of those, Reichsgau Wartheland was the largest and the only one comprising solely the annexed terr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Occupied Europe
German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 and 1945, during and shortly before World War II, generally administered by the Nazi regime, under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler.Encyclopædia Britannica German occupied Europe.World War II. Retrieved 1 September 2015 from the Internet Archive. The German Wehrmacht occupied European territory: * as far east as the town of Mozdok in the North Caucasus in the Soviet Union (1942–1943) * as far north as the settlement of Barentsburg in Svalbard in the Kingdom of Norway * as far south as the island of Gavdos in the Kingdom of Greece * as far west as the island of Ushant in the French Republic Outside of Europe proper, German forces effectively controlled areas of North Africa in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia at times between 1941 a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reichsgau Wartheland
The ''Reichsgau Wartheland'' (initially ''Reichsgau Posen'', also: ''Warthegau'') was a Nazi German '' Reichsgau'' formed from parts of Polish territory annexed in 1939 during World War II. It comprised the region of Greater Poland and adjacent areas. Parts of ''Warthegau'' matched the similarly named pre-Versailles Prussian province of Posen. The name was initially derived from the capital city, Posen (Poznań), and later from the main river, Warthe (Warta). During the Partitions of Poland from 1793, the bulk of the area had been annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia until 1807 as South Prussia. From 1815 to 1849, the territory was within the autonomous Grand Duchy of Posen, which was the Province of Posen until Poland was re-established in 1918–1919 following World War I. The area is currently the Greater Poland Voivodeship. Invasion and occupation of Poland After the invasion of Poland, the conquered territory of Greater Poland was split between four '' Reichsgaue'' a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plantation (settlement Or Colony)
In the history of colonialism, a plantation was a form of colonization where settlers would establish permanent or semi-permanent colonial settlements in a new region. The term first appeared in the 1580s in the English language to describe the process of colonization before being also used to refer to a colony by the 1610s. By the 1710s, the word was also being used to describe large farms where cash crop goods were produced, typically in tropical regions. The first plantations were established during the Edwardian conquest of Wales and the plantations of Ireland by the English Crown. In Wales, King Edward I of England began a policy of constructing a chain of fortifications and castles in North Wales to control the native Welsh population; the Welsh were only permitted to enter the fortifications and castles unarmed during the day and were forbidden from trading. In Ireland, during the Tudor and Stuart eras the English Crown initiated a large-scale colonization of I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Germanization
Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In linguistics, Germanisation of non-German languages also occurs when they adopt many German words. Under the policies of states such as the Teutonic Order, Austria, the German Empire and Nazi Germany, non-Germans were often prohibited from using their native language, and had their traditions and culture suppressed in the goal of gradually eliminating foreign cultures, a form of ethnic cleansing. In addition, colonists and settlers were used to upset the population balance. During the Nazi era, Germanisation turned into a policy of genocide against some non-German ethnic groups. Forms Historically there are different forms and degrees of the expansion of the German language and of elements of German culture. There are examples of complete a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reichskommissariat
''Reichskommissariat'' ( en, Imperial Commissariat) is a German word for a type of administrative entity headed by a government official known as a '' Reichskommissar'' ( en, Imperial Commissioner). Although many offices existed, primarily throughout the Imperial German and Nazi periods, in a number of fields (ranging from public infrastructure and spatial planning to ethnic cleansing) it is most commonly used to refer to the quasi-colonial administrative territorial entity established by Nazi Germany in several occupied countries during World War II. While officially located outside the German Reich in a legal sense, these entities were directly controlled by their supreme civil authorities (the ''Reichskommissars''), who ruled their territories as German governors on behalf of and as representatives of Adolf Hitler. The introduction of these territorial administrations served a number of purposes. Those established or planned to be established in Western and Northern Europe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reich Commissioner For The Consolidation Of German Nationhood
The Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood (german: Reichskommissar für die Festigung deutschen Volkstums, RKF, RKFDV) was an office in Nazi Germany, which was held by ''Reichsführer-SS'' Heinrich Himmler. Adolf Hitler in his 7 October 1939 order ''Erlaß des Führers und Reichskanzlers zur Festigung deutschen Volkstums'' appointed Himmler to carry out the following duties: *Overseeing of the final return to the Reich of the ''Volksdeutsche'' and '' Auslandsdeutsche'' ('' Reichsdeutsche'' who live abroad) *Prevention of "harmful influence" of populations alien to the German '' Volkstum'' *Creation of new populated areas settled by Germans, mostly by the returning ones. The commissioner was therefore responsible for the return, repatriation, and settlement of ethnic Germans who lived abroad, into Nazi Germany and German held territories.Zentner, Christian and Bedürftig, Friedemann, '' The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich'', p. 768, Da Capo Press, New York, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reichsführer-SS
(, ) was a special title and rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945 for the commander of the (SS). ''Reichsführer-SS'' was a title from 1925 to 1933, and from 1934 to 1945 it was the highest rank of the SS. The longest-serving and most noteworthy office holder was Heinrich Himmler. Definition was both a title and a rank. The title of was first created in 1926 by the second commander of the SS, Joseph Berchtold. Julius Schreck, founder of the SS and Berchtold's predecessor, never referred to himself as . Yet, the title was retroactively applied to him in later years. In 1929, Heinrich Himmler became and referred to himself by his title instead of his regular SS rank of . This set the precedent for the commander of the SS to be called . Prior to the Night of the Long Knives, the SS was an elite corps of the (SA or storm troopers), and the was subordinate to the SA's operating head, the . On 20 July 1934, as part of the purge of the SA, the SS was made ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the Chancellor of Germany, chancellor in 1933 and then taking the title of in 1934. During his dictatorship, he initiated European theatre of World War II, World War II in Europe by invasion of Poland, invading Poland on 1 September 1939. He was closely involved in military operations throughout the war and was central to the perpetration of the Holocaust: the genocide of Holocaust victims, about six million Jews and millions of other victims. Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn in Austria-Hungary and was raised near Linz. He lived in Vienna later in the first decade of the 1900s and moved to Germany in 1913. He was decorated during his Military career of Adolf Hitler, service in the German Army in Worl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
