Welcome
Loss of German citizenship
German passports, © colourbox
German citizenship can be lost automatically by law or by renouncing citizenship.
The most common reason for losing German citizenship is by applying for and receiving a foreign citizenship. Acquiring another citizenship automatically at birth on the other hand does not impact German citizenship.
German citizens can also renounce their citizenship voluntarily if they they also have another citizenship.
The most important reasons for loss of citizenship are:
Between January 30, 1933, and May 8, 1945, there were essentially two laws that deprived Germans of their citizenship. Under the “Law on the Revocation of Naturalizations and the Deprivation of the German Citizenship” of July 14, 1933, some Germans lost their citizenship after their names were listed and published in the Reich Law Gazette (“Reichsgesetzblatt”).
The vast majority of former German citizens affected, however, lost their citizenship when the “Eleventh Decree to the Law on the Citizenship of the Reich” came into effect on November 25, 1941. This law stated that Jews living outside Germany could not be German citizens, and mainly affected Jews who had left Germany in the years before or shortly after the beginning of the Second World War.
If you lost your German citizenship because of either one of these two regulations, you are entitled to apply for renaturalization according to German law. This also applies in most cases to your descendents.
Further Information regarding restoration of German citizenship can be found here.