[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] When was German citizenship granted ?

[George Shoning]

I am not sure if this will shed any light on this matter, but I was issued an identification card (Volkstumausweis) in June 1943 by the office of the Korosten (Volhynia) Regional Commissioner which certified that I was an ethnic German (Volksdeutscher) and was under the protection of the larger German Reich.  My parents received similar identification cards. These cards were used more than a year later to support our claim of German citizenship at one of the German Immigration Centers in Poland. 

 

George

 

 
> From: benovich at imt.net
> To: GHBoehm at ish.de; ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
> Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:35:31 -0600
> Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] When was German citizenship granted ?
> 
> If I may add a bit to this rather confused picture, my reading of Robert 
> Koehl, "RKFDV: German Population and Resettlement Policy, 1939-1945", (1957) 
> tells me that (p. 120) the Interior Ministry on July 3, 1940, issued an 
> order on the acquisition of citizenship, but then Himmler stepped in in 
> September and ordered the construction of a Volkslist that would distinguish 
> between true Germans and pretenders. As everyone knows, this produced 4 
> categories of people, from good Germans to rejects. It seems as though the 
> first category of people got citizenship fairly quickly, and this could have 
> happened, I would guess, already in early 1940. Probably for people in the 
> second category (who had 50% or more of German language and culture but had 
> not fought "actively" for it), had to wait a bit to be approved. It appears 
> that many people got "conditional" citizenship. People in Class 3 (persons 
> of "some or doubtful German origin"), apparently didn't get citizenship (or 
> only "conditional") but could at least keep their belongings. As the war 
> dragged on and the need for recruits grew, the bar was lowered. In 1942 and 
> 1943 (p. 197), more and more people were moved from "conditional" to 
> "unconditional" status, making them eligible for the army.
> 
> I'm wondering, Günther, whether the ordinance of 19 May, 1943, may have been 
> related to this broadening of acceptable categories of people. I don't 
> think (I could be wrong) that this means that before this date citizenship 
> was not granted to people from the Ukraine area. The impression I get from 
> Koehl is that citizenship was granted all along since perhaps late 1939 on a 
> case by case basis. I'm wondering, Roland, if in all the confusion between 
> various organs of the government, someone could have granted your uncle 
> citizenship upon his arrival. Then, perhaps, it might have been called into 
> question. Or, if this didn't happen, then the date of his citizenship would 
> almost certainly have depended on his position in the DVL. If he was a 
> good, true German (as I'm sure he was!), he might have been granted 
> citizenship well before May, 1943. If, heaven forfend!, he was not, then it 
> may have been May, 1943.
> 
> I'm just guessing here. What do you think, Günther?
> 
> Dick
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Günther Böhm" <GHBoehm at ish.de>
> To: <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 6:34 PM
> Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] When was German citizenship granted ?
> 
> 
> Günther Böhm schrieb:
> > The former Ukrainian Germans were granted the German Citizenship by 19
> > May, 1943 ("Verordnung über die Verleihung der deutschen
> > Staatsangehörigkeit an die in die Deutsche Volksliste der Ukraine
> > eingetragenen Personen." Vom 19. Mai 1943, Reichsgesetzblatt Teil I, 
> > S.321).
> 
> Ronald,
> ...but the original text says:
> 
> "[...] erwerben ohne Rücksicht auf den Tag ihrer Aufnahme mit
> Wirkung vom 21. Juni 1941 die deutsche Staatsbürgerschaft."
> 
> *Sorry*, I must correct myself a second time (the citizenship was
> retroactively granted by *21 June, 1941*, the day of the German
> aggression against the Soviet Union).
> 
> Günther
> 
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