From the DW:
“Germany lifts restrictions
for descendants of Nazi victims to get citizenship”
The German parliament, the
Bundestag, has voted to eliminate restrictions that denied citizenship to some
descendants of German Jews and others persecuted by the Nazis. British-based
campaigners are relieved. Early Friday morning the German federal parliament
passed a bill with support from all parties except the far-right Alternative
for Germany. It grants German citizenship to descendants of Jews, Roma and
Sinti, and political opponents whom the Nazis had stripped of citizenship or prevented
from acquiring it.
Article 116 of Germany's post-war
constitution, or Basic Law, states: "Former German citizens who, between
30 January 1933 and 8 May 1945, were deprived of their citizenship on
political, racial or religious grounds and their descendants shall, on
application, have their citizenship restored." But for over six decades obstacles kept many
descendants of German-born ancestors from claiming that right.
The new bill that was brought
into parliament in March and has now been passed, makes it possible for a large
number of descendants of Nazi victims to obtain German citizenship. This
affects descendants of those who were stripped of their citizenship or lost it
when they took on the nationality of their new home, or who were denied
citizenship arbitrarily by the Nazis. It removes deadlines and abolishes
previous restrictions. Under the new rules, German citizenship is now also
available to descendants of German mothers and to children born out of wedlock.
British lawyer Felix Couchman was
one of the people who had been lobbying for years for a change in legislation. "It is a milestone that the law has
passed. It has taken a long time for people to get where we are today" he
told DW on Friday after the bill had passed. Couchman first learned about the restrictions
denying the descendants of German Jews citizenship after his brothers looked
into applying in 2018. Their mother had been sent to Cornwall from Wiesbaden
when she was 8 in 1939 on a"Kindertransport" — a program that brought
Jewish children from Germany to stay with sponsors in the UK — after her grandfather
was attacked in the pogrom in November 1938 (euphemistically termed the night
of broken glass, or "Kristallnacht") and suffered injuries he
eventually died of. Couchman qualified for German citizenship even
with the previous restrictions but vowed not to apply until they were lifted as
a matter of principle. He and his wife Isabelle created their lobbying
organization, the "Article 116 Exclusions Group," to push for the
change. He says he has been motivated by his desire to honor his mother who
died in 2001 and her sense of justice by restoring to people who had lost everything
"their right to be called German."
In the wake of Brexit, their
initiative quickly grew as Britons faced the reality of being cut off from the
EU. "There are those who just want
to have a passport. I wouldn't argue otherwise. But for a significant number,
the importance is not a piece of paper, not a passport, but a recognition that
a wrong was done to them and their family members and forebears and that is now
finally being acknowledged and being corrected," Couchman said. The
organization also grew quickly outside the UK, attracting members from EU
countries such as France and Italy as well as further afield countries such as
Canada and Australia.
One of the lives the campaign
affected was that of 31-year old Londoner Danny Harries. Harries' grandfather
had grown up near what is today's German parliament in a neighborhood later
destroyed by Hitler for a never-completed vision of Berlin. His grandfather was
sent to Britain on a Kindertransport in 1939.
Some seventy years later Harries
traveled to Berlin and worked near where his grandfather once lived. "I
felt a connection to the place. A home I had never been to," he said.
"The whole experience was reconnecting to that German side of me. My
grandfather actually passed away whilst I was there." When Harries returned to London he and his
sister began to work on their German citizenship applications. But they learned
that because their parents never married they didn't qualify. That was when
they turned to the group. "I think it's wonderful news. I truly
believe that justice has been done for my family and the other members of the
group. I think my grandfather, who suffered so much, would be proud of what's
been achieved today,” Harries told DW after the vote. "It's a real sign of
reconciliation. And an example of what Germany can be going forward, open,
progressive with a greater understanding of its past than many comparable
countries. It's a historic moment of reconciliation."
Over years the Couchmans and
other members worked to organize descendants and raise awareness about the
rejection of citizenship applications. They reached out to German diplomats and
politicians and experienced their first major success in 2019, when the German
interior ministry removed many requirements by issuing the first of two decrees
facilitating the regaining of German citizenship. Those decrees and a decision
by Germany's highest court allowed Harries to qualify, but activists worried
the reforms would be too easily undone unless they were put in legislation.
This has been rectified with the new bill.
The newly qualified One
of the individuals who has now become eligible for German citizenship is Robert
Swieca of Sydney, Australia. Swieca's mother was born in Berlin in 1921 but she
did not become a German citizen at birth because of Germany's lack of
birthright citizenship. She would have been able to become a naturalized German
citizen but she and her family fled to France in 1933 as the situation for Jews
worsened in Germany and then emigrated to Australia after the war. Swieca
himself went to the German consulate and was told he didn't qualify for German
citizenship. This has now changed. "I am very happy," he said
upon hearing the news of the legislative changes. "You can't change
history but you can try and make amends.”
His mother celebrated her
100th birthday in May. He says she doesn't intend to apply but he will. "History
has twists and turns. This is a way of straightening out one of
them." "This is not just about putting
things right, it is about apologizing in profound shame," German Interior
Minister Horst Seehofer had said about the bill back in May. "It is a huge
fortune for our country if people want to become German, despite the fact that
we took everything from their ancestors."
^ It only took Germany 76 years
to fix this wrong. ^
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