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Germany: Greens, citizenship to those who fled the Nazis

Especially for religious reasons. Jews council welcomes proposal

29 July, 21:43
(by Francesco Bongarrà) (ANSA) - BERLIN, JULY 29 - Germany's Greens intend to present to the Bundestag a bill to allow German naturalization, along with the acquisition of citizenship, to Jews but also to all those who have fled from Germany to escape the Nazi persecution, as well as their descendants. The proposal will be presented after the parliament's summer break. The law on citizenship in Germany grants the Germans who were formally expelled by the Nazi regime the right to repatriation. The most impressive case is that of Willy Brandt, Social Democratic mayor of West Berlin, who lived with his baptismal name, Herbert Frahm, during the Third Reich as a dissident in Norway and was sent into exile by the Nazi authorities. This right is not granted, however, to those German citizens who, mainly because of their religious affiliation, fled from Germany to other countries during the Nazi regime and later acquired a new citizenship. Most of these people are Jews, but some of them are members of other religious and ethnic minorities persecuted by the Hitler regime. "This is a regulatory gap which is completely unacceptable", explained Filiz Polat, underlining that "naturalization for those who have left our country because a totalitarian regime threatened their life and that of their families is only a reparation compared to National Socialist injustice". The Central Council of German Jews welcomed the initiative. "The government coalition should quickly accept this proposal to determine a more equitable legal situation", said the President of the Central Council Josef Schuster. (ANSA).

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