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| The 'welcome' that awaited my parents |
To be honest, the fightback to preserve my identity post Brexit was going no further than a few rants on social media. And then last week I saw an article in the Guardian 'Family' supplement and everything changed. I did not know before reading it that I was entitled to apply for 'restored citizenship' thanks to a little known act passed at the end of WW2 which states:
'Former German citizens who between 30th January 1933 and May 1946 were deprived of their citizenship on political, racial or religious grounds, and their descendants, shall, on application have their citizenship restored.'
German Basic Law, Article 116, para 2
The phrase 'and their descendants' leaped out at me. The writer, also of Jewish descent, described how his feelings towards the nation who had destroyed his family had, over time, undergone a change. Like me, he had been favourably impressed by the way Angela Merkel welcomed refugees into the country, comparing her actions with the weasel words uttered by our own Prime Minister.
It is easy to point the finger at Nazi Germany and conveniently forget that this country's government did very little to help Jews fleeing persecution. The extract from the Daily Mail shows clearly the thinking of many people in the UK, an attitude that we have seen emerge once again thanks to the legitimization of xenophobia during the EU Referendum campaigning.
So here's the plan: I am going to apply for restored citizenship, given that I and my family will soon be restricted in our opportunities to work, study or live abroad by a set of mendacious politicians intent on promoting their own agenda. I have already emailed the German Embassy. Ideally, I'd like dual nationality, so that my family could take advantage of it too.
I am estranged from my family - and my parents are now dead, so I have little original documentation to support my application - no birth certificates or proof of residence, thus I am now researching on the internet, looking for any information about my father's Jewish parents~ my grandparents, whose names I know, but whose faces I never got to see in this world.
Wish me luck!
To be continued ....
'Former German citizens who between 30th January 1933 and May 1946 were deprived of their citizenship on political, racial or religious grounds, and their descendants, shall, on application have their citizenship restored.'
German Basic Law, Article 116, para 2
The phrase 'and their descendants' leaped out at me. The writer, also of Jewish descent, described how his feelings towards the nation who had destroyed his family had, over time, undergone a change. Like me, he had been favourably impressed by the way Angela Merkel welcomed refugees into the country, comparing her actions with the weasel words uttered by our own Prime Minister.
It is easy to point the finger at Nazi Germany and conveniently forget that this country's government did very little to help Jews fleeing persecution. The extract from the Daily Mail shows clearly the thinking of many people in the UK, an attitude that we have seen emerge once again thanks to the legitimization of xenophobia during the EU Referendum campaigning.
So here's the plan: I am going to apply for restored citizenship, given that I and my family will soon be restricted in our opportunities to work, study or live abroad by a set of mendacious politicians intent on promoting their own agenda. I have already emailed the German Embassy. Ideally, I'd like dual nationality, so that my family could take advantage of it too.
I am estranged from my family - and my parents are now dead, so I have little original documentation to support my application - no birth certificates or proof of residence, thus I am now researching on the internet, looking for any information about my father's Jewish parents~ my grandparents, whose names I know, but whose faces I never got to see in this world.
Wish me luck!
To be continued ....
Good luck with this endeavour. But you know that you are citing only parts of this article? 'Sie gelten als nicht ausgebürgert, sofern sie nach dem 8. Mai 1945 ihren Wohnsitz in Deutschland genommen haben und nicht einen entgegengesetzten Willen zum Ausdruck gebracht haben.' That's the second part of article 116 Abs.2. Rough translation. They are not considered denaturalised, If they took residence in Germany after the 08.05.1945 and have not declared an opposite intention. I propose get a lawyer. And, by the way, I especially like, German Basic Law. It's the declared constitution. A very good joke in my not so humble opinion. Just because the Grundgesetz was only valid until a then future unification of Germany. And should then be replaced by a constitution. But it was just without any publicity or debate declared the constitution. Very democratic. And I will certainly not comment your opinion of Mrs Merkel. The first chancellor of Germany who created an "Unwort des Jahres" (not just once, three times already)
ReplyDeleteMy lot, as I discovered ( see next blog) were born there in the late 1800s ...Most impressed with your international knowledge!
DeleteFinding any paperwork would not be that easy I guess. But maybe 'Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland'(Central Council of Jews in Germany) could be helpful. Here's the link to their English site: http://www.zentralratdjuden.de/en/
ReplyDeleteGo for it, Carol. We all love you - and everyone else who had made a home here for whatever reason. But deserting a sinking ship is fine, even if some of us have no choice but to cling to the wreckage!
ReplyDeleteI'm not intending to move abroad..just to reclaim, for my family, what was mine...
DeleteGood luck Carol. I don't know anything useful like Markus, but I'm rooting for you.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteGood luck with it Carol.
ReplyDeleteGood luck, Carol. Fingers crossed for you.jx
ReplyDeleteYou echo my sentiments, Carol. I have discovered that children (and grandchildren) of those born in Eire are automatically Irish citizens. And so like you, and thinking of the opportunities now lost to my family rather than for myself (especially as it could be a while before my royalties allow me to retire to that penthouse in Malaga or Bermuda!), I shall be applying for an Irish passport, with the intention of having dual nationality. Good luck to both of us!
ReplyDeleteKeep me posted, Teagan! And good luck indeed!!
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