Deborah's father was 16 when he fled Nazi Germany during a rescue effort of Jewish children known as the Kindertransport. He later raised a family in Australia and almost never spoke German anymore. Deborah and her siblings didn't consider claiming German citizenship until well into their adult lives. In this episode, Deborah shares why she finally decided to apply for a German passport under Section 15 of the Nationality Act, which allows victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants to become naturalized German citizens.

Show Notes

Historical Context

Nuremberg Laws (Wikipedia)
Kristallnacht (Holocaust Encyclopedia)
9 November in German history (Wikipedia)
Kindertransport (Wikipedia)
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (Vimeo)

1948 German Basic Law & Eligibility Clause

German Citizenship Restoration (Wikipedia)
German citizenship for descendants of Nazi victims (DW)

Why Children of German Jews Would Apply for Citizenship

Process for Application for German Citizenship

Amendment to German citizenship law (Federal Office of Administration)

Searching for Your Berlin Ancestors

Berlin address books (Digitale Landesbibliothek Berlin)
How to search for family in Berlin (Landesarchiv Berlin)
List of Berlin financial compensation applied for by German Jews, deprived of
their business and homes in WW11 (WGA Datenbank)

Genealogy Sites

Ancestry: paid subscription, has a good collection of German records
My Heritage: paid subscription, has millions of records, including Jewish & Israeli
records
Myers Gazetteer – includes information on German place names & locations from
1871-1912
Family Search: free, millions of records
Geni: basic subscription is free

Specific Sites for Information about Jewish Family

Arolsen Archives: free site, includes information about trnasports to concentration
camps
Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database (US Holocaust Memorial Museum)
Israel State Archives
JewishGen – mostly free
JRI Poland (Jewish records for towns that were in Poland)
Leo Baeck Institute: a New York-Berlin research archive with a focus on German-Jewish history
World Jewish Relief Fund
Yad Vashem – an Israel site for Holocaust records

Contribute: everyone.berlin/contribute

Reclaiming Your Birthright: How to Get German Citizenship in the Context of Restitution

Everyone Is Moving To Berlin