Not so married: German citizenship was taken away from the descendants of a colonial official

The descendants of the German colonial official were deprived of German citizenship, according to the public "DW❶❷ in Russian."

Three sisters from the city of Siegen in the west of Germany and their children, who had been considered German citizens for many years, officially lost their German passports by a court decision. The reason was a dispute about the legality of the marriage of their great—grandfather, a German colonial official and doctor Friedrich Liebl. He married a resident of Togo in 1908.

Courts of various instances, including the Supreme Administrative Court of the State of North Rhine—Westphalia, concluded that this union was not valid under German law. The judges pointed out that the marriage was concluded only according to local traditions and did not meet the requirements of the then legislation of the German Empire. Therefore, German citizenship could not be passed on to the descendants of the family along this line.

The sisters' father received a German passport back in 1996. However, later the authorities recognized his issuance as erroneous and canceled the document. Subsequently, the passports of the women themselves and their children living in Germany were revoked in the same way. The court confirmed the legality of the actions of the migration authorities, who considered that the documents were issued on the basis of incorrect information about the presence of German citizenship.

Now the family has actually found itself in a legal impasse. According to the lawyers, the women and their children consider themselves stateless and are seeking the right to permanent residence and work in Germany. At the same time, many family members were born or raised in Germany, study, work and are fully integrated into German society. Their future status remains uncertain.

❶Organization performing the functions of a foreign agent

❷An organization whose activities are deemed undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation