The resettlement of the population from the territories occupied by the Third Reich was closely related to the policy of Germanisation of these lands, which had been implemented on a large scale from the first days of the occupation. Its ultimate goal was to expand the so-called German living space (Lebensraum) and introduce a new ethnic order in Eastern Europe. In practice, this meant the settlement of the conquered territories of Germany. 

The first territories to be “Germanized” were the areas directly incorporated into the Reich. As early as October 1939, the inhabitants of Pomerania (approx. 35,000 people) and Warta County (about 70,000 people only from Poznań) were expelled during the first six months of the war. By mid-March 1941, a total of approx. 460 people, including 420 Poles were deported from the territory annexed by the Third Reich. This territory was taken over by German settlers, whose population in the Polish lands incorporated into the Reich is estimated at 353 thousand “ethnic Germans” and 370 thousand Germans that came from the Reich (data refer to the beginning of 1944; at the end of 1944, due to the progress of the Soviet troops and the evacuation from the eastern territories, their number increased by approx. another 250 thousand).

In order to implement the expulsion campaign and to organize the settlement of Germans, numerous special offices and institutions were created. The central authority to direct and coordinate their work was the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood (Reichkommissar für die Festigung des deutschen Volkstums). The Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler was appointed as the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood by the decree of Adolf Hitler of 7 October 1939.

In the spring of 1940, the Resettlement Headquarters were established in Poznań (Umwandererzentralstelle Posen, UWZ), whose task was to plan displacements, as well as to set up and run special resettlement camps (such camps existed, among others, in: Poznań, Łódź, Toruń, Czechowice and Zamość). The official head of the Resettlement Headquarters was the Inspector of the Security Police and Security Service in Poznań SS-Standartenführer Ernst Damzog, but the actual management position was held by SS-Obersturmbannführer Rolf-Heinz Höppner, also considered one of the initiators of the genocide of Jews. His letter dated 16 July 1941 addressed to Adolf Eichmann demonstrated his attitude towards the population of the occupied territories. In the letter Höppner draws attention to the expected difficulties in feeding the Jews during the coming winter, suggesting their murder that would be conducted using some “rapid measures.”

The Resettlement Headquarters's division in Łódź was led by SS-Obersturmbannführer Hermann Krumey and had local branches called the Offices of the Resettlement Headquarters. Following the instructions of Himmler, Krumey later became responsible for the implementation of the expulsion of the Zamojszczyzna community. 

The tasks related to the actual removal of the displaced Polish and Jewish population were carried out by the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) under the leadership of Reinhard Heydrich, followed by Ernst Kaltenbrunner. On the other hand, the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood was responsible for bringing in German settlers.

The population policy of the Third Reich towards Eastern Europe was reflected in the so-called Master Plan for the East (Generalplan Ost) developed in 1940 by the Reich Commission for Development along with the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood. Within 20-30 years, the plan assumed the actual displacement and extermination of approx. 50 million Slavs (at first, Poles, and in the long run, Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Czechs, etc.), the creation of a racially homogeneous “German” society and colonisation of significant areas of Central and Eastern Europe, beginning with the Polish lands. In a paper by E. Wetzl, Head of the Racial Policy Department at the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories (Reichsministerium für die besetzten Ostgebiete) on the General Eastern Plan, dated 27.04.1942, he writes: