Austria extends citizenship to descendants of Jews who fled Nazi terror
Starting Tuesday, a new law will allow British citizens who are descendants of Jewish refugees who fled persecution in Austria to apply for Austrian citizenship — and an EU passport.
The Guardian reports that after the Nazis took power in Austria in March 1938, about 120,000 Jewish people fled the country, many of whom resettled in the U.K., making it the second most common destination after the U.S. In 1945, up to 20,000 refugees had been registered there.
The Austrian state at the time did not allow dual citizenship and, once someone was registered in a new country, it considered them foreigners.
From the early 1990s, however, more conversations around the country’s responsibility relating to Nazi-era crimes began to take place, resulting in a cleared path for former refugees to reclaim Austrian citizenship. Only 10 per cent of survivors, though, took the opportunity.
The new law, however, differs in that it allows descendants of refugees to apply for dual citizenship. It has been a tough law to get over the line because Austrian parliamentary circles have in recent years turned more toward the far right, the Guardian reports.
A key factor in its success was Sebastian Kurz, chancellor of the rightwing Austrian People’s Party, who brought his party’s supporters into line. Since his election in 2017, Kurz has stressed Austria’s duty toward victims of Nazi rule.
Bini Guttmann, Austrian president of the European Union of Jewish Students, sees potential in the new law. “Unfortunately, the far right is on the rise again in Austria, assisted by politicians who have adopted its discriminatory agenda,” he told the Guardian. “As a result, many among Austria’s minorities feel that they are not welcome here.”
Hannah Lessing, secretary general of the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism, applauded the law, telling the Guardian: “This law is an important step that says Austrian society is finally ready to welcome the families that it drove away. However, like other gestures, it can never truly make amends for the Holocaust.”
Lessing is pushing for the law to include a greater number of descendants, such as those who may not have been able to settle in Austria after the war, and who subsequently left.
The Jewish community in Austria once numbered 200,000 people. Now its Jewish population is approximately 10,000. This new law could drive a new surge in citizenship applications from British people with a Jewish background, of which the Austrian government estimates there are a minimum of 200,000 eligible descendants.
Becca West, 26, said she would apply for the dual citizenship status. Her grandfather was a refugee who escaped Austria in 1939. “EU citizens’ rights are important,” she said. “But my grandfather had a strong Austrian identity despite his suffering. Citizenship is mainly a way to know his character better.”
Since 2016, Germany has seen 6,000 applications under similar legislation to restore citizenship.
However, though Austrian citizenship comes with political rights in that country, it’s expected that many applicants will instead be focused on the benefits of EU citizenship. In the wake of the U.K.’s ongoing long divorce from the EU bloc, many of its citizens have sought to acquire citizenship from countries that are remaining in the EU.