Descendants of victims of Nazi persecution should get a German passport easier in the future. The Ministry of the Interior intends to put two corresponding decrees into force on Friday - these will then apply immediately.
Germany must live up to its historical responsibility, said Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) in Berlin. "This is especially true for people whose parents or grandparents had to flee abroad." His ministry can decide the two edicts in isolation, as opposed to a law alone.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany welcomed the new regulations. "Persecuted and their descendants, who were previously excluded from the at least morally unjust legal situation of naturalization, now get under simplified conditions the opportunity to obtain German citizenship," said Central Council President Josef Schuster the news agency dpa. "This is finally a justice gap closed. "
Rising number of proposals by Brexit
In particular, in the run-up to the planned EU exit from the United Kingdom, the applications for naturalization of descendants of Nazi persecutees have increased significantly again. According to the Ministry, according to 43 applications in 2015, there were already 1506 applications in 2018, after a comparably high number in the previous year. In a referendum in the United Kingdom in the summer of 2016, the narrow majority of participants voted in favor of their country leaving the European Union.
Anyone who wants to acquire German citizenship as a descendant of Nazi victims and lives abroad can contact a German diplomatic mission. People residing in Germany can apply for a German passport in a regular way; the new regulation does not apply to them. The application is free, you can keep other nationalities.
Those affected must prove that their ancestors were persecuted during the Nazi dictatorship between 1933 and 1945 or belonged to groups that were persecuted.