Citizen Letter
The citizen's letter was a document that was issued on application by many European cities and municipalities in the period between the Middle Ages and the beginning of the 20th century , in order to give immigrant residents the opportunity to acquire full civil rights .
An emigrant song that has been handed down in Switzerland proves the role of the citizenship letter. They sang “You want to tear up the citizen's letter that the expensive highlands gave you ...”, evidenced in a printed collection from Aargau in 1911 and in numerous records from oral tradition, e.g. B. from Bern in 1860 (emigration to America), from the Basel area in 1914 and as a soldier's song. The citizen's letter is the proof of civil home rights; it is awarded today in Switzerland upon reaching the age of majority and after naturalization. The emigrant renounced (at that time) with the disruption of the social security provided by the home community.
Web links
http://www.genealogus.de/bevoelkerung/buergerbrief/index.html
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cf. Otto Holzapfel : Lied index: The older German-language popular song tradition ( online version on the Volksmusikarchiv homepage of the Upper Bavaria district ; in PDF format; ongoing updates) with further information.