Thank you for this post, Ruth. My experience isn't connected with one of the countries you've mentioned, but yes—I have reclaimed German citizenship. Your essay prompted me to re-read one of mine on the subject (originally published 1997), and I'm now reflecting on the further evolution of my attitudes toward my citizenship, and Germany, since I first wrote it. The essay is linked within this post (itself already a decade old): https://www.erikadreifus.com/2014/01/wednesdays-wip-memories-my-german-passport-me/
Ruth, thank you for telling this story about your family -- I was moved to read about your reconnection to your Polish roots. I visited Auschwitz this summer with my family because I want my children to understand how so many have suffered. We are Christians and multi-generational Americans, and our family doesn't have the same stories to tell. I wrote an essay about our experience that's on my Substack and thought you might enjoy reading it. https://katesusong.substack.com/p/is-anything-worse-than-this-election?r=2iyrll
This is fascinating. I know many Israeli Jews have sought out citizenship from the countries their parents/grandparents fled from in order to have options to travel/leave, as needed (both families who were victims of WWII but also Sephardim who can trace their family roots to the Spanish Inquisition and thus have the right to access Spanish or Portuguese citizenship). But I was not aware of the phenomenon for American Jews.
I can't believe you read an Anne Frank book :D No need for a little gap? :D Sometimes when I deal with a subject matter for a long time I need something SO different.
And from my long-ago trip to Poland (the Israeli one you can take in high school to visit the camps) I remember Krakow the most fondly. But that was also 20 years ago.
And yes, a dual citizenship, but I'll tell you more about it next time we meet :D
I just secured Polish citizenship for me and my kids -- it took two years. I've never been to Poland.
My grandmother and her family were in Auschwitz, my grandfather a resistance fighter in the Polish woods. They met and married in a US relocation camp in Backnang, Germany.
Things just feel different in the US than they did when I was growing up. (I was born in 1978.) Bad-outcome scenarios remain unlikely, but they are off the zero bound in a way that they weren't in the 1990s.
I've begun to think that the best time to be a Jew in all of history was in the USA from ~1950-2015.
My feelings of Poland were different. When I visited (you) in Poland I never felt at ease. The ghosts were lurking around every corner and constantly after me. I distinctly remember a painting on a wall of a gallows and written under it was “kill all the Jews”. I did not feel at ease until the train crossed into Germany, a cleaner and more modern country. Only then I could relax. The ghosts seemed to have vanished or at least were out of sight.
What a beautiful story, and I love the way you write about Poland and the way things have changed there. I’m American and I also have an Irish passport, I originally got it just because I could, having an Irish grandfather, and being very proud of my Irish heritage. But now it does feel like a lifeline if I need to get out of the United States which is very sad.
I had that same sense of belonging when I first went to Latvia, the country my parents fled during WWII. Many of us born-in-exile kids experienced the shock of recognition. I have a Canadian and Latvian passport and so do my kids. I moved my family there for 14 years and the country often dominates my imagination.
As part of the Austrian government's reparations with Jews, my mother found out that not only would she receive some funds (I don't know the exact amount) but her children and even a grandchild could apply for Austrian citizenship. This would have been far easier if I lived in the US, and it proved just too difficult (particularly because this all came up during COVID). I would have had to have many documents (birth certificates, marriage license, police and other security inquiries) processed and obtaining multiple 'apostiles' without several trips to Ottawa, and besides, I was already a dual citizen of the US and Canada, and the only practical reason to pursue Austrian citizenship in addition to the 2 passports I already had was if I wanted to work in Europe, since Austria, like Poland, is now a part of the EU. If I were 20 years younger, then it might have made more sense, but now in my 60s, it's a less likely scenario, especially since my wife would have no such option. My niece, named after my mother's Austrian name 'Renata' (not Ruth as she went by after her arrival in New York), did go for it and now could probably work anywhere in Europe if she wanted to.
So, depending on how the US election goes next week, my niece might very well end up moving (back?) to Europe, although I doubt anywhere will be far enough away from the US should Trump take the throne. The fact that the political climate to the south of us in Canada appears at least to me very much like Germany of the 1930s is very troubling, to say the least. However, I'm afraid that it will be people from Latin America who will end up in 'the camps', this time rather than the Jews. It gives me no great pleasure to see imminent suffering of another group rather than the one I happened to have been born into; a different decade and things would be very different.
I realize that this is somewhat of a tangent to your posting, but you got me thinking about it again.
I have had almost exactly the same experience. I too have just received my Czech citizenship "by descent" and will be picking up my Czech passport next week after several years, a Prague lawyer, and much wrangling of apostilles. I too traveled to Czechoslovakia (and Poland) in the late 1980s, although in the bleakness of the communist era I did not feel the kinship you describe. But recently I have discovered via the online genealogical site Geni that my father's ancestors have been documented going back to the 16th century in what's now the Czech Republic, and (allegedly) include Rabbi Loew ben Bezalel (my 12th great grandfather), Kafka (super distant cousin), and a host of other famous rabbis. After last week's election, I will be glad to have the passport. Maybe we'll be in Europe the next time we meet ...
My father was a concentration camp survivor born in Czechoslovakia. I briefly investigated how to get citizenship but was appalled at how it seemed like the process didn’t account for the holocaust—No, I don’t have his records, and no, my father didn’t renew his passport, are you kidding me? The person I spoke with was appallingly blank on this issue. Perhaps I dropped it too early bc I was interested for the same reasons you were…but I ended up getting Irish citizenship through my mother’s side of the family instead. :)
Hi Ruth! This is Alex from Park Slope! Co-founder of the famous Park Slope babysitting cooperative.
I really enjoyed your tale about rediscovering your Polish roots and now getting Polish citizenship. Congratulations for that.
I am leaving a comment because Kristi and I are now living in Portugal, where we are on a pathway to Portuguese citizenship. We did not discover our roots. We just invested a fair amount of money in designated Portuguese funds. This qualified us to live here and eventually get citizenship if we learn Portuguese well enough.
Themotivation, though, has some similarity with yours. While we mostly just enjoy living in Europe, and raising our second child here, it is good to have an escape hatch if things get too ugly in the United States and we don’t feel like choosing one side or the other and fighting it out.
Thank you for this post, Ruth. My experience isn't connected with one of the countries you've mentioned, but yes—I have reclaimed German citizenship. Your essay prompted me to re-read one of mine on the subject (originally published 1997), and I'm now reflecting on the further evolution of my attitudes toward my citizenship, and Germany, since I first wrote it. The essay is linked within this post (itself already a decade old): https://www.erikadreifus.com/2014/01/wednesdays-wip-memories-my-german-passport-me/
Ruth, thank you for telling this story about your family -- I was moved to read about your reconnection to your Polish roots. I visited Auschwitz this summer with my family because I want my children to understand how so many have suffered. We are Christians and multi-generational Americans, and our family doesn't have the same stories to tell. I wrote an essay about our experience that's on my Substack and thought you might enjoy reading it. https://katesusong.substack.com/p/is-anything-worse-than-this-election?r=2iyrll
This is fascinating. I know many Israeli Jews have sought out citizenship from the countries their parents/grandparents fled from in order to have options to travel/leave, as needed (both families who were victims of WWII but also Sephardim who can trace their family roots to the Spanish Inquisition and thus have the right to access Spanish or Portuguese citizenship). But I was not aware of the phenomenon for American Jews.
I can't believe you read an Anne Frank book :D No need for a little gap? :D Sometimes when I deal with a subject matter for a long time I need something SO different.
And from my long-ago trip to Poland (the Israeli one you can take in high school to visit the camps) I remember Krakow the most fondly. But that was also 20 years ago.
And yes, a dual citizenship, but I'll tell you more about it next time we meet :D
I just secured Polish citizenship for me and my kids -- it took two years. I've never been to Poland.
My grandmother and her family were in Auschwitz, my grandfather a resistance fighter in the Polish woods. They met and married in a US relocation camp in Backnang, Germany.
Things just feel different in the US than they did when I was growing up. (I was born in 1978.) Bad-outcome scenarios remain unlikely, but they are off the zero bound in a way that they weren't in the 1990s.
I've begun to think that the best time to be a Jew in all of history was in the USA from ~1950-2015.
Fabulous recollection and retribution.
My feelings of Poland were different. When I visited (you) in Poland I never felt at ease. The ghosts were lurking around every corner and constantly after me. I distinctly remember a painting on a wall of a gallows and written under it was “kill all the Jews”. I did not feel at ease until the train crossed into Germany, a cleaner and more modern country. Only then I could relax. The ghosts seemed to have vanished or at least were out of sight.
Poland never was and never will be my home.
What a beautiful story, and I love the way you write about Poland and the way things have changed there. I’m American and I also have an Irish passport, I originally got it just because I could, having an Irish grandfather, and being very proud of my Irish heritage. But now it does feel like a lifeline if I need to get out of the United States which is very sad.
I had that same sense of belonging when I first went to Latvia, the country my parents fled during WWII. Many of us born-in-exile kids experienced the shock of recognition. I have a Canadian and Latvian passport and so do my kids. I moved my family there for 14 years and the country often dominates my imagination.
As part of the Austrian government's reparations with Jews, my mother found out that not only would she receive some funds (I don't know the exact amount) but her children and even a grandchild could apply for Austrian citizenship. This would have been far easier if I lived in the US, and it proved just too difficult (particularly because this all came up during COVID). I would have had to have many documents (birth certificates, marriage license, police and other security inquiries) processed and obtaining multiple 'apostiles' without several trips to Ottawa, and besides, I was already a dual citizen of the US and Canada, and the only practical reason to pursue Austrian citizenship in addition to the 2 passports I already had was if I wanted to work in Europe, since Austria, like Poland, is now a part of the EU. If I were 20 years younger, then it might have made more sense, but now in my 60s, it's a less likely scenario, especially since my wife would have no such option. My niece, named after my mother's Austrian name 'Renata' (not Ruth as she went by after her arrival in New York), did go for it and now could probably work anywhere in Europe if she wanted to.
So, depending on how the US election goes next week, my niece might very well end up moving (back?) to Europe, although I doubt anywhere will be far enough away from the US should Trump take the throne. The fact that the political climate to the south of us in Canada appears at least to me very much like Germany of the 1930s is very troubling, to say the least. However, I'm afraid that it will be people from Latin America who will end up in 'the camps', this time rather than the Jews. It gives me no great pleasure to see imminent suffering of another group rather than the one I happened to have been born into; a different decade and things would be very different.
I realize that this is somewhat of a tangent to your posting, but you got me thinking about it again.
I have had almost exactly the same experience. I too have just received my Czech citizenship "by descent" and will be picking up my Czech passport next week after several years, a Prague lawyer, and much wrangling of apostilles. I too traveled to Czechoslovakia (and Poland) in the late 1980s, although in the bleakness of the communist era I did not feel the kinship you describe. But recently I have discovered via the online genealogical site Geni that my father's ancestors have been documented going back to the 16th century in what's now the Czech Republic, and (allegedly) include Rabbi Loew ben Bezalel (my 12th great grandfather), Kafka (super distant cousin), and a host of other famous rabbis. After last week's election, I will be glad to have the passport. Maybe we'll be in Europe the next time we meet ...
My father was a concentration camp survivor born in Czechoslovakia. I briefly investigated how to get citizenship but was appalled at how it seemed like the process didn’t account for the holocaust—No, I don’t have his records, and no, my father didn’t renew his passport, are you kidding me? The person I spoke with was appallingly blank on this issue. Perhaps I dropped it too early bc I was interested for the same reasons you were…but I ended up getting Irish citizenship through my mother’s side of the family instead. :)
Hi Ruth! This is Alex from Park Slope! Co-founder of the famous Park Slope babysitting cooperative.
I really enjoyed your tale about rediscovering your Polish roots and now getting Polish citizenship. Congratulations for that.
I am leaving a comment because Kristi and I are now living in Portugal, where we are on a pathway to Portuguese citizenship. We did not discover our roots. We just invested a fair amount of money in designated Portuguese funds. This qualified us to live here and eventually get citizenship if we learn Portuguese well enough.
Themotivation, though, has some similarity with yours. While we mostly just enjoy living in Europe, and raising our second child here, it is good to have an escape hatch if things get too ugly in the United States and we don’t feel like choosing one side or the other and fighting it out.
Come visit us here.