In the mid-1930s, 10 million ethnic Germans lived in countries outside the three great, totally or partially, Germanophone states, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The most important, in this respect, were Czechoslovakia, the USSR and Poland, followed by the French regions of Alsace and Lorraine. Additionally, there were Germanophones in Yugoslavia, Romania, Hungary and Italy (Alto Adige), as well as in the Baltic countries, eastern Belgium, and in southern Denmark.

From a Nazi point of view, all these groups – the Volksdeutsche – were of ‘German blood’ and, ideally, ought to be united in a Greater German Reich. However, the right to speak on behalf of the German minorities was fraught with internal struggles over power and responsibilities among various Nazi institutions. The primary contenders were Alfred Rosenberg's Außenpolitisches Amt (APA), the party's foreign department, Auslands-Organisation der NSDAP (AO) and not least the foreign ministry, Auswärtiges Amt, under Joachim von Ribbentrop. The latter forged an alliance with Himmler and the SS in order to clip the wings of APA, Rosenberg and AO. Moreover, a number of private organisations wielded their influence. One of these the Verein für das Deutschtum im Ausland was an establishment that, since the days of the Weimar Republic, was co-operating with the German state.

In 1935, Rudolf Hess, Hitler's party deputy, ordered that a new party office be set up to cover this area. The SS member, Otto von Kursell, became head of this office. While he purposively implemented the Gleichschaltung – Nazi regimentation – of the organisations of the German minorities, he tried to keep aloof of the conflicts. To Himmler, the appointment of Kursell became a means to increase the influence of the SS and, gradually, his office managed to out-manoeuvre other players in this field. In 1936, however, a disagreement arose between Kursell and Himmler. Consequently, in 1937, Kursell was dismissed as the head of the office, which, from then onwards, was designated Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (VOMI).

Although VOMI was never integrated in the SS, in reality, from the mid-1930s, it functioned as a de facto SS office with Himmler as the top boss. Like his predecessor, the new head, Werner Lorenz, as well as his chief of staff, Hermann Behrends, were highranking SS officers. In particular after Himmler's appointment as Reichskommissarfür die Festigungdeutschen Volkstums in 1939, VOMI became involved, under SS control, in activities concerning Volksdeutsche in the occupied countries – predominantly recruitment for the Waffen-SS.