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Claiming German citizenship - advice needed

(31 Posts)
Rowantree Thu 15-Mar-18 18:56:49

My father was a refugee from Nazi Germany and came over with the Kindertransport in July 1939.

His parents didn't get out - my father couldn't raise enough money in time to help them. They were murdered in Auschwitz.

Like many other children of holocaust survivors I am entitled to claim German citizenship (dual). I don't want to
lose my British citizenship. However, I'm at a loss to know where to begin. Contacting the German embassy is very difficult. I finally found a phone number and spoke to someone who gave me an email address. I emailed with my requests, saying that I have all necessary documentation from my father, signed by a solicitor. I've heard nothing, not even an acknowledgement that my email has been read.
This is a long shot, I know - but does anyone know of a better way of contacting an appropriate person in the Embassy and talking to a human being?

maryeliza54 Fri 23-Mar-18 15:33:06

Rowantree you can just report the post - I did respond to it with a sarcastic comment but wish now I’d reported it - sorry.

maryeliza54 Fri 23-Mar-18 15:36:11

I know it’s a stereotype but the Germans are/were very well organised - when I went to the Jewish Museum in Berlin some of the most heartbreaking exhibits were the neatly written lists of page after page of the names of people admitted to the camps.

Fennel Fri 23-Mar-18 16:18:45

We have a very common Jewish/German family name.
About 15 years ago we had a phone call from an organisation in Germany asking if our ancestors had ever owned a house in Berlin. I told them not that we knew of, and asked why.
The person said because they were trying to trace the owner of a particular house, owned by someone of our family name before WW2.

MargaretX Fri 23-Mar-18 17:45:43

A lot of property lost in the war was in the Russian zone and after the fall of the Berlin wall a lot of people in the West were able to claim possession of their property. There was a lot of bad feeling as you can imagine and it was a fight to get a house back after so many years.
I am sure you will be helped (pm me if you need help filling in application forms) and I know that a good standard of German is required, but I feel there must be a special case for the children of deported Jews.

You would be well advised to get in touch with a Jewish organisation as there are a lot of Jewish people returning.
I'll see what I can find out.

Viel Gluck!

Jalima1108 Fri 23-Mar-18 18:11:19

I've just finished a novel about a painting which went missing in WW1; we think of the loss of life in the trenches but French citizens had an appalling time and 1 in 20 were killed.