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Pathway

German Citizenship for Nazi Persecution

Germany Citizenship
Pathway overview

At a glance

Germany's Section 15 StAG route is for people whose German citizenship was lost, denied, or never acquired because of Nazi-era persecution, and for their descendants. It generally covers persecution-linked cases that do not fit the narrower Article 116(2) restoration route.

Type
Citizenship restoration
Restoration fit
Families affected by historical citizenship loss
Core records
Family line, citizenship loss, and historical records
What to know
Historical rules can be record-heavy
What it gives
Successful applicants are naturalized in restitution.
Main limit
This is not the first route to use when a German citizen was formally deprived of citizenship by the Nazi regime.

Summary

This route may help people whose family lost German citizenship, a chance to become German, or a home in Germany because of Nazi persecution. Their descendants can also qualify.

The persecution must have occurred from 30 January 1933 through 8 May 1945 for political, racial or religious reasons. Unlike an ordinary naturalization application, this route does not require the applicant to live in Germany or pass a German-language test.

Pathway fit check

Eligibility

Because of the persecution, the affected person must have experienced at least one of these outcomes:

  1. The person gave up or lost German citizenship before 26 February 1955, including through foreign naturalization, release, or marriage.
  2. The person was prevented from becoming German through marriage, the former rules for children born outside marriage, or a group naturalization process for ethnic Germans.
  3. The person was not naturalized after applying, or was generally excluded from naturalization that otherwise would have been possible on application.
  4. The person gave up or lost ordinary residence in Germany that had been established before 30 January 1933 or, if the person was a child at the time, after that date.

The affected person and their descendants can apply. An applicant must document the parent-child chain and the persecution connection; shared ethnicity or residence in Germany alone is not enough.

The statute excludes a person who has a final sentence of at least two years' imprisonment or youth custody for one or more intentional offenses, has preventive detention ordered with the latest final conviction, or falls under Section 11 security exclusions.

There is also an important post-war limit. A person who held German citizenship after 8 May 1945 and later gave it up or lost it is generally excluded. A child born or adopted only after that loss is generally excluded as well. A narrow exception covers certain historical losses through marriage or the former rules for children born outside marriage.

What This Route Allows

Successful applicants are naturalized in restitution. Citizenship normally takes effect when the naturalization certificate is handed over, after which the person may apply for a German passport.

German residence, a language test, and surrender of another citizenship are not ordinary Section 15 requirements. Every applying descendant still needs an individual application and supporting civil records.

What This Route Is Not

This is not the first route to use when a German citizen was formally deprived of citizenship by the Nazi regime. Article 116(2) should be checked first because it is the specific constitutional entitlement for that event.

It is not a general remedy for every historic nationality problem. Sex-discrimination cases arising after the Basic Law took effect may fit Section 5, while an ordinary uninterrupted citizenship chain may fit citizenship by descent.

Section 15 grants citizenship through naturalization; it does not declare that every applicant was already German from birth.

Next Steps

  1. Write a date-by-date account of the affected person's citizenship, residence in Germany, persecution, departure, marriage and later citizenship history.
  2. Identify which of the four outcomes above occurred. If German citizenship was formally taken away by the Nazi regime, compare Article 116(2) first.
  3. Gather evidence of the persecution ground and the covered consequence, using civil, residence, emigration, naturalization, restitution, and archival records as available.
  4. Build the civil-record chain from the affected person to every applicant.
  5. Follow the Federal Office of Administration's current Section 15 information sheet and form package. It may request a criminal-record document in an individual case.
  6. If living abroad, submit through the responsible German mission or directly to the Federal Office of Administration. If living in Germany, contact the local citizenship authority.
Compare your options

Other routes in Germany.

Sources