[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Former East German Immigration

[Richard Benert]

Marlis,

I don't know the answer to your question, but you might try writing to the
Bundesverwaltungsamt in Braunsfeld, Germany.  They seem to be the government
office in control of citizenship documentation.  Trouble is, they don't like
to do "merely" genealogical research, and they prefer to be contacted by an
official with power to act for a private person (such as, I suppose, someone
from your local German consulate).  You could write to Sabrina Wolf at
SabrinaWolf at bva.bund.de .  She reads English, but I'm not sure she can
respond in English.

If any of your relatives became involved with the "Deutsche Volksliste"
proceedings of the Nazis during the war (you said "before 1947"), there may
be records of their applications at the Bundesarchiv in Koblenz.  But if you
write to them, they'll only relay your request to the Bundesverwaltungsamt,
with the same restrictions (i.e., a legitimate "interest" and a legal
representative acting for you).  Some of the DVL records (apparently those
from the Danzigerland, Gothenhafen and Strassburg areas of Poland, are in
the State Archives in Poland, but scattered around among various local
branches.  I don't know exactly how you'd go about accessing these Polish
records of the DVL.  They're not complete, and I'm not at all sure that
they're indexed.  Maybe all you can do is write to the State Archives in
Warsaw.  If you read German, I can forward to you the various letters I've
received on this.

It all sounds pretty daunting to me.   I hope you can find a better way!

Dick Benert
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marlis Nebel" <erdeterre at yahoo.ca>
To: "Ger-Poland-Volhynia Digest" <Ger-Poland-Volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2003 5:19 PM
Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Former East German Immigration


> Hello,
>
> I have had a number of relatives including my parents
> who left Poland for Germany "illegally."  In Berlin
> and Pirna they were registered as "Vertriebne" or
> "refugees."  This all occurred before 1947.
> I was told that Germans who left later (in the early
> 1950s), got special permission from the Communists to
> settle in the "new" communist East Germany.  My
> question:
> Did they fill out any type of documentation such an
> immigration form or relocation form?  Would this be
> stored in any of the German of Russian archives or be
> still under the control of a Government Ministry?
> Does anyone have the address?
> Which government ministry processes citizenship and
> refugee claims today?
>
> Names that I am researching:  Krueger (Kruger),
> Kriese, Strzembski, Leder, Lessing, Schultz, Schmidt,
> Filipp, Nebel, and Mueller.
>
> Thank-you,
> Marlis Nebel
> Toronto, Ontario
>
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