Article 116(2) German Citizenship Restitution

Art. 116(2) applies to former German citizens stripped of citizenship between January 30, 1933 and May 8, 1945 on political, racial, religious, or ideological grounds — and to all of their descendants. The communities commonly covered include:

• •Jewish families denaturalized under the 1933 and 1941 laws stripping German Jews of citizenship, or who fled persecution under the Nuremberg Laws.
• •Political opponents of the Nazi regime — Social Democrats, Communists, trade unionists, and others — who were individually denaturalized or forced to emigrate.
• •Roma and Sintistripped of citizenship as part of the regime's persecution.
• •Religious dissenters— including Jehovah's Witnesses and other groups — persecuted for their faith.
• •Mixed cases involving loss of citizenship through forced emigration — for example, a family that emigrated under duress in the 1930s and acquired a new citizenship abroad. The German government generally treats this as a form of Nazi-era deprivation, not a voluntary §25 loss.

An Art. 116(2) application must establish that the original ancestor was deprived of German citizenship (or forced to emigrate) between January 30, 1933 and May 8, 1945 on one of the protected grounds. Common types of evidence:

• •Denaturalization records — the Reichsanzeiger published lists of individually denaturalized persons throughout the 1930s. These lists are the single strongest evidence of Art. 116(2) deprivation.
• •Flight and emigration records — passenger manifests, HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) files, Joint Distribution Committee records, and visa records showing emigration during the persecution period.
• •Property confiscation records — Reichsfluchtsteuer (Reich Flight Tax) records, forced-sale documents (Judenvermögensabgabe), and restitution case files showing loss of property under the Nuremberg Laws.
• •Concentration camp and internment records — records showing persecution, deportation, or internment.
• •Post-war restitution claims — successful Wiedergutmachung (restitution) case files can serve as strong corroborating evidence that the German government has already recognized the loss.

Art. 116(2) applications are filed on form E15 (Einbürgerungsantrag nach Artikel 116 Absatz 2 Grundgesetz). Applications are submitted through the nearest German consulate, which forwards to the Bundesverwaltungsamt in Cologne — specifically to a separate BVA department dedicated to Art. 116(2) cases, distinct from the §4 Feststellung queue.

• •Fee: Free under §38(2) StAG.
• •Deadline: None. Art. 116(2) is a constitutional right with no time bar.
• •Processing time: Often faster than §4 Feststellung — many applicants report 6–18 months, reportedly due to political priority after the 2021 federal apology for slow Art. 116(2) processing.
• •Documents: Long-form birth certificates for every generation from you back to the ancestor who lost citizenship, evidence of Nazi-era deprivation, and sworn German translations of all non-German records.

Art. 116(2) is often described online as a subset of German citizenship by descent. In practice it is better understood as its own constitutional remedy — with its own statutory basis (Art. 116(2) Basic Law, not §4 or §5 StAG), its own BVA department, its own fee rules, and its own evidentiary standards. Many Art. 116(2) applicants do not qualify under §4 or §5 and would not otherwise be eligible for German citizenship.

If your family history involves Nazi-era persecution, Art. 116(2) should be explored first — not as a fallback after §4 and §5, but as a primary constitutional right.