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As head of Luxembourg’s civil administration, Simon was the country’s absolute ruler. His mission was to lead Luxembourg “home to the Reich”. As part of his germanization policy, all democratic institutions in Luxembourg were abolished by the end of 1940. French was banned, as were symbols of French culture such as the beret. French-sounding names, for instance of people and streets, had to be germanized. French citizens and other foreigners were forced to leave the country. At first Jews were also forced to leave, but starting in October 1941 they were deported to ghettos in the East and murdered. Simon wanted to make Luxembourg “judenrein”, or cleansed of Jews. With the help of the Gestapo, he also had political opponents and resistance fighters persecuted and murdered. Their families, the intellectual elite, and families of deserters were resettled in Poland or Czechia, their property confiscated. Under Simon, Luxembourg was de-facto annexed to Germany. Simon left Luxembourg on 9 September 1944, shortly before the country’s liberation. He hid under a false name but was later arrested, and he committed suicide on 18 December 1945.