People whose ancestors were persecuted by the German NS regime between 1933 and 1945 for political, racial or religious reasons or who lost their German citizenship through deprivation have a good chance of acquiring German citizenship.
Article 116 paragraph 2 sentence 1 of the German Constitution stipulates that persons whose ancestors
- gave up or lost their German citizenship or
- have given up or lost their habitual residence in Germany
due to the NS terror from 30 January 1933 to 8 May 1945 are entitled to apply for German citizenship.
The application due to loss of habitual residence is only possible if this residence was already established before 30 January 1933 or as a child after this date.
The ancestors must have lived in the territory of the German Reich as at 31 December 1937.