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

[Richard Benert]

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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