More Than 50,000 Affected By Nazi Laws Gain German Citizenship

BERLIN, June 5 (dpa) -- More than 50,000 people have become German citizens since 2021 after their citizenship - or that of their relatives - was stripped or denied due to the policies of Nazi Germany, the Interior Ministry said on Friday.

The information stems from the ministry's replies to parliamentary questions from Left Party parliamentarian Ferat Koçak. 

The number of people who applied for this type of compensatory naturalization was more than double the citizenship actually granted, suggesting relatively long processing times.

Figures show that a total of 101,180 applications for compensatory naturalization were filed by those affected and their descendants between the start of 2021 and the end of March this year. 

Over the same period, 52,180 people received German citizenship on this legal basis.

Very few applications were rejected. The group of those eligible was expanded in 2021 through a change in the law.

Those eligible for compensatory naturalization do not have to prove German language skills and do not have to meet some other requirements that normally apply to naturalization. 

The authorities assume that those affected lost German citizenship through no fault of their own or, for example in the case of children of German mothers and foreign fathers, never received it because of discriminatory laws.

--NNN-dpa