Welche Art von Ausweispapieren hätte ein Preuße, der zwischen 1900 und 1913 in Russland lebte?

[slocal]

Hallo,

Mein Ur-Ur-Ur-Großvater, August Philip Schroeter, wurde am 28. Juli 1855 in Elbing, Preußen (heute Elblag, Warminsko-Mazurskie, Polen) geboren. 1871 zog er nach Margenau, Molotschna, Russland (heute Ukraine). Obwohl er im Alter von 16 Jahren mit einem Onkel nach Russland auswanderte, behielt er Berichten zufolge seine preußische Staatsbürgerschaft und musste daher wie seine älteren Söhne in späteren Jahren nach Preußen zurückkehren, um seinen militärischen Dienst zu leisten. Aus einer Urkunde Reserve-Entschädigungs-Eidesstattliche Versicherung I wissen wir, dass er am 1. August 1876 aus dem aktiven preußischen Militärdienst entlassen wurde.

August heiratete Anna Vogt (aus Margenau) am 27. November 1882 in Margenau und hatte 8 Kinder. Mein Ururgroßvater John August Schroeter wurde am 9. Februar 1885 in Margenau geboren. Im Gegensatz zu den anderen Dorfbewohnern, die dem zaristischen Russland die Treue schuldeten, war Johns Vater preußischer Staatsbürger. Als preußischer Staatsbürger musste ein junger Mann im Alter von 21 Jahren nach Preußen zurückkehren und zwei Jahre Wehrpflicht absolvieren. Als er volljährig war, ging John 1906 nach Deutschland und absolvierte eine zweijährige militärische Ausbildung, bevor er in die Heimat auf die Molotschna zurückkehrte.

Als die Familie Schroeter (August und Kinder) 1913 aus Russland in die USA auswanderte, hatten zwei Kinder ihren Militärdienst nicht abgeleistet und konnten deshalb angeblich keine deutschen Pässe bekommen. Sie blieben in Russland, wo sie während des Ersten Weltkriegs Kriegsgefangene waren. Später gingen die beiden Kinder nach Mexiko, um abzuwarten, bevor sie in die USA kamen.

Meine Frage: Welche Dokumente, wenn überhaupt, könnten einem in dieser Zeit in Russland lebenden preußischen Staatsbürger ausgestellt werden? Ich versuche zu beweisen, dass John sein ganzes Leben lang deutscher Staatsbürger war. Seine preußische Militärakte aus dem Jahr 1906 ist meines Wissens vermutlich beim Potsdamer Brand vernichtet worden. Vermutlich wurde ihm 1913 auch ein Pass ausgestellt. Wo könnte ich danach suchen? Danke.

[Gastonian]

Hello:


I am afraid that, if your ultimate desire is to prove that John August Schroeter was a life-long German citizen, a search of the military records or even the German passport of 1913 will not help.


This is because a German citizen (except in very unusual cases) lost his German citizenship upon becoming naturalized as a citizen of another country.


In the case of John August Schroeter, I do not immediately see a naturalization record at ancestry.com, but his World War I Draft Registration Card indicates that he had declared his intention to become a U.S. citizen, and by 1932 he was registered as a voter in California for the general (federal) election, which necessarily implies that he had indeed become a U.S. citizen. [P.S.: his 1940 census record indicates that he had indeed been naturalized]


The German citizenship law of 1913 (which continued to be in force during the Weimar Republic and until 1934) provided in paragraph 25 that a German who had neither a home nor a regular presence in Germany lost his German citizenship if he upon his own application became a citizen of another country. The only exception to this was if he had, before acquiring the other citizenship, received written permission from the relevant official of his home state in Germany to retain his German citizenship (for the text of the law of 1913 in German, see http://www.documentarchiv.de/ksr/191...itsgesetz.html - this is in a form that can easily be fed through Google Translate). I do not know about the practices before World War II, but after World War II permission to retain German citizenship was granted only upon a showing that there would be significant economic hardships in the absence of dual citizenship and also that a significant connection remained to Germany.


Thus, unless you can show that John August received written permission to retain his German citizenship before becoming naturalized as an American, then the presumption has to be that he lost his German citizenship upon naturalization.


Regards


--Carl-Henry (whose own father was a German who became a naturalized American citizen and thereby lost his German citizenship in 1960)

[slocal]

Hello,

Thanks for taking the time to search the records and reply. That is helpful information. Based on this, I think it's clear John August lost his German citizenship when he naturalized (sometime between 1920 and 1930, presumably). However, his son August (my g-grandfather), was born in 1917. Assuming John August was still a German citizen in 1917, I believe citizenship would have been passed on to August. My trouble is in proving John August was a German citizen at that time (using a military record, passport, etc).

[Gastonian]

Hi:


You are correct that, if John August was still a German citizen in 1917, then his son born that year would also have been German. He would in fact have been a dual citizen, because Germany based citizenship upon descent (that is, birth to a German father), while America based citizenship upon birth location. Thus, the son would have no need for a naturalization that would have caused him to lose his German citizenship. Note also that, according to paragraph 26 of the law of 1913, he would have lost his German citizenship upon attaining age 31 if he had not made provisions for fulfilling his military service; however, this paragraph was struck in 1942 and thus does not apply to the son born in 1917.



While ancestry.com has records of American passport applications from the National Archives, I am not aware of any German archive that has equivalent records of German passports that were issued (I am in the process of trying to claim German citizenship on the basis of a German mother under the recent revision of German citizenship laws, and I suspect you may be in the same boat. I happen to know that a copy of my father's German passport still exists in an American archive, but I have not found any German source for the original issuance of that passport in 1949).



One place to look would be John August's naturalization certificate. Not only would it give you the date before which he was still a non-American, but in my experience the naturalization certificate also states the previous citizenship - so it could be used as proof that, until 1920 or whenever, he was still a German. At familysearch.org I see the applications for naturalization of John August's father August and brother August A. (which prove that those two were still German citizens as of 1918), but not for John August himself; this may require a search in the federal court records in Fresno.


P.S.: I see that the passenger lists will be of no help to you, because both the passenger list for John (arrival in New York) as well as the passenger list for his parents and siblings in Galveston (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61...K-X9FS-X?i=236) class them as Russian rather than German subjects/citizens.



Regards


--Carl-Henry

[slocal]

Hello,

Yes, that is correct; I've read about the recent revision of German citizenship laws and am working to confirm my eligibility. Thanks much for the suggestions and research. I believe I will need to submit for John's naturalization certificate with USCIS. However, I've also read that even if American records recognize him as German, that is likely not good enough for German authorities, as they would need something issued by Germany. Perhaps I'll strike gold and his USCIS file will contain a German passport or documentation. I have reason to believe he was issued emigration paperwork when he left Russia in 1913, as two of his siblings who hadn't done their military service couldn't get papers...

Interestingly, as you note, I have found the naturalization paperwork for his parents and other siblings in Galveston (his father August's petition was denied in 1920 and he never naturalized). However, John and his wife had a baby in Germany on their way to emigrate from Bremen. This separated the group and delayed their arrival until later in 1913. I haven't been able to find their naturalization paperwork...any number of things could've happened with the later arrival.

The search continues...