Many who wish to remain in the EU could obtain German citizenship

WITH the referendum vote calling for Britain to leave the European Union, there has been a reasonable amount of publicity concerning possible applications for Irish citizenship whereby those whose grandparents were Irish born are entitled to apply for Irish citizenship and also for UK passport holders resident in Spain, considering applying for Spanish citizenship.

One area that has seen little exposure surrounds the ability of descendants of former German citizens who lost their citizenship during the Third Reich. According to Article 116 par. 2 of the Basic Law (Grundgesetz) of Germany:

“Former German citizens who between January 30, 1933 and May 8, 1945 were deprived of their citizenship on political, racial, or religious grounds, and their descendants, shall on application have their citizenship restored. They shall be deemed never to have been deprived of their citizenship if they have established their domicile in Germany after May 8, 1945 and have not expressed a contrary intention.”

The above mentioned group of people mainly includes German Jews, and members of the Communist or Social Democratic Parties.