European Citizenship

European citizenship laws are generally based on “jus sanguinis” (right of blood) as opposed to the American model of “jus soli” (right of soil). What this means is that children (and grandchildren, etc.) of European citizens are automatically citizens of that country, even if they were not born there or had never even been there for that matter. In the United States, being born anywhere on American soil gives that child American citizenship automatically (even if both parents are tourists, visitors, or even illegal aliens in the U.S.), which is not the case in Europe.

As a practical matter what this means is that children and grandchildren (great-grandchildren, etc.) of holocaust survivors (or other former residents of a European country) are legally citizens of their parents/grandparents original country of citizenship. Of course these countries don’t even know most of these people exist (since their births were never registered at their embassies) but if such persons so chooses they can obtain a Passport from the countries embassy or consulate in the U.S. (or wherever they live) as a citizen of that country. Doing so is not “naturalizing” as a citizen of that country, but rather recognizing that one is a citizen by birth of that country.

Whereas this wasn’t much use for American citizens until recently, now that most of the European countries are in (or soon will be in) the European Union (EU) — which gives citizens of those countries the unlimited right to travel, or even live and work, in that or any other EU country — it may be useful for some folks.

To document your status as a citizen of one of these European countries you’ll need to get a “citizenship clarification” form from their embassy (in Washington) or consulate (New York, Los Angeles, and sometimes Chicago) in person or by mail. You fill that out and attach your parent’s/grandparent’s birth certificate (issued when he lived in Europe — if you don’t have it, the embassy/consulate can request a duplicate), along with your own birth and marriage certificates. Afterwards (assuming all goes smoothly) you get a “citizenship certificate” from them that you can use to obtain a Passport from that country via their embassy/consulate.

Each country has certain quirks. For Hungary your parent/grandparent had to leave Hungary after 1929 to qualify, Poland after 1918, etc. Also, generally speaking until the 1950’s (the specific year depends on which country it is) the citizenship only transferred to a child through his father (and not his mother), women automatically became a citizen of her new husband’s country of citizenship, and women lost their citizenship if they married a non-citizen. The embassy or consulate (and often their website) can provide more detailed information if you call them.