Nationality

Ethnicity generally means that a person belongs to a people or a nationality or an ethnic group through characteristics such as language , origin and cultural background ( ethnicity ). Ethnicity must match the nationality not be identical.

German ethnicity

While German citizenship is constitutionally regulated in the Basic Law , there is no definition of German nationality. Rather, it is the Federal Refugees Act regulated (BVFG), where according to § 6, as amended in 1987 German people Related, who "in his homeland for German ethnic known, has provided this confession by certain characteristics such as ancestry , language , education , culture is confirmed. "

Concept history

The term “ Volksdeutsche ” came up after the First World War and found itself in the National Socialist term “ Volksdeutsche ” ; this was understood to mean people of German descent who lived abroad . According to the historian Dieter Gosewinkel , this coining of the term narrowed the variety of meanings of the word people , which under constitutional law also meant the state people of democracy , “to a substance concept of ethnic-cultural homogeneity . The conceptual reduction from people to nationality corresponded to the narrowing of citizenship to nationality ”.

In German legislation, however , the term has no longer been used in the understanding of National Socialist ethnology since 1949 , but serves to ensure the legal equality of expellees and ethnic repatriates with German citizens.

Legal regulation in the Federal Republic of Germany

Federal Expellees Act

According to Article 116.1 of the Basic Law , anyone who has German citizenship or who has been accepted as a refugee or expellee of German nationality in the territory of the German Reich as of December 31, 1937 ( status German ) is a German within the meaning of the Basic Law .

The legal definition of German ethnicity results from Section 6 of the Federal Expellees Act.

According to Section 6 (1) BVFG in the version that has been in effect since 1987, a German national within the meaning of the Federal Expellees Act is anyone who “has professed German ethnicity in his home country, provided that this commitment is confirmed by certain characteristics [...].” Before this change was made the sentence: "[...] who is descended from a German citizen or a German national and has professed German nationality". The regulation applies to persons born before January 1, 1924.

For those born after December 31, 1923 but before January 1, 1993, Section 6 (2) BVFG applies to the question of German ethnicity .

The characteristics of German ethnicity to be met cumulatively in accordance with Section 6 (2) BVFG are:

the German ancestry and
the commitment to the German nationality in the resettlement area
- a declaration of nationality or
- attribution to German nationality according to the law of the country of origin (confession surrogate) or
- the commitment to German nationality “in a different way” and
Confirmation of the confession or the confessional surrogate through the ability to have a simple conversation in German at the time of the administrative decision on the application for membership.

Descent in the sense of the regulation is only the physical descent, so it does not exist in the case of stepchildren, adopted or foster children. However, it is sufficient that the grandparents were German citizens or German people.

The confession of German nationality in the form of a declaration of nationality took place in the Soviet Union on the occasion of the issue of the first (domestic) passport according to the Soviet passport ordinance of October 21, 1953. A person's own confession presupposes the maturity of confession and is generally based on the law of the Country of origin. As a rule, it can be assumed that the person is ready to confess from the age of 16 if, according to the law of the country of origin, the ability to declare a nationality has been reached at this point in time. Persons unable to confess can be represented by their legal guardians when submitting a confession of German nationality.

The commitment “in a different way” can in particular be provided by proof of sufficient German language skills corresponding to level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages or by proof of family-related knowledge of German. The language test to prove sufficient knowledge of German can be repeated. The other commitment can also be expressed, for example, through pronouncements to government bodies or participation in ethnic German associations if these correspond to a declaration of nationality to the authorities in terms of weight, expressiveness and verifiability.

The determination of the ability to have a simple conversation in German, which is required to confirm the commitment, is carried out by hearing the applicant in the admissions process. A simple and limited exchange of ideas is assumed. Thematically, simple life issues from the family area (childhood, school, customs, customs), everyday situations and needs (living conditions, shopping, leisure time, travel, weather, etc.), occupation or employment (without the use of exact technical terms) come into consideration.

Lusatian Sorbs

Ethnic affiliation to the Sorbs or Wends resident in Upper and Lower Lusatia is based solely on a confession.

In Saxony, the Sorbian Act of 1999 replaced the Act on the Protection of the Rights of the Sorbian Population of March 23, 1948.

According to Section 3 Paragraph 1 Clause 2 of the Brandenburg State Election Act, the parties, political connections and list associations of the Sorbs, such as the Lusatian Alliance , are exempt from the threshold clause (5% hurdle) in the election to the Brandenburg State Parliament .

Minorities in Schleswig-Holstein

The constitution of Schleswig-Holstein protects national minorities and ethnic groups in Art. 6 .

According to this, a minority or ethnic group is a numerically inferior group of people who are also citizens of this state, but who do not occupy a dominant position compared to the majority population. They have ethnic , religious and cultural characteristics that set them apart from the rest of the population. Minorities preserve their own culture, tradition, religion or language and thus their identity within the majority .

The Danish minority , the Frisian ethnic group and the Sinti and Roma resident in Schleswig-Holstein are considered national minorities in Schleswig-Holstein .

There is also a German minority in Denmark . The Bonn-Copenhagen Declarations of 1955 mutually guarantee equal treatment with the respective national majority population.

The parties of the Danish minority are exempt from the five percent hurdle in accordance with Section 3 Paragraph 1 Clause 2 of the State Election Act.

The denomination of Danish ethnicity, like that of other national minorities, is free and may not be officially examined or questioned. Nobody may be disadvantaged on the basis of this commitment.

literature

Karl A. Otto : Westward - Home? Resettlers policy between "German tinkering" and "constitutional mandate". AJZ 1990, ISBN 3-9216-8084-0 .
Ulrich Reitemeier: Resettlers meet locals. Fool 2006, ISBN 3-8233-6200-3 .

Individual evidence

↑ § 6 BVFG in full

↑ Dieter Gosewinkel: Naturalization and Exclusion. The nationalization of citizenship from the German Confederation to the Federal Republic of Germany . 2nd edition, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2003, p. 367.

↑ See guidelines for the care of repatriates: Recognition of the status of expellees , decree of the Federal Ministry of the Interior of October 30, 1987 on the application of § 6 of the BVFG, p. 29.

↑ Cf. on this Ingo von Münch : The German Citizenship. Past - present - future . De Gruyter Recht, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-89949-433-4 , p. 109 ff. , Here p. 110, 116.

↑ See section 4 BVFG-VwV, General Administrative Regulation for the Federal Expellees Act (BVFG-VwV) , No. 2.2.3. Legal status February 23, 2016.