Gemeinde Insider September 2020

IKG
AUSTRIAN CITIZENSHIP FOR VICTIMS OF
NAZI PERSECUTION AND THEIR DESCENDANTS
Dear Members of the Community!
On September 1st, 2020, the amendments to the Citizenship Act, that
the Jewish Community of Vienna demanded for more than 20 years,
will come into force. We are therefore pleased to inform you about the
most important points for obtaining the Austrian citizenship.
In summary, all persons who have been persecuted themselves by the
Nazis and/or are descendants in direct line to persecuted ancestors
(son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, great-grandson, greatgranddaughter,
etc.) are entitled to apply for the citizenship. The
deadline for the period of eligibility was extended until May 15,
1955. Direct descendants of victims of Nazi persecution who remained
citizens of states of the former Austro-Hungarian monarchy are
now also entitled to claim the Austrian Citizenship provided that
their main residence was in the territory of the Republic of Austria
before the Nazi persecution.
Which steps are necessary:
The start of the procedure pursuant to § 58c para. 1a of the Austrian
Citizenship Act is the so-called declaration („Anzeige“) that you can
fill in and submit at your local Austrian diplomatic representation
(Austrian Embassy or Consulate General) earliest from September
1, 2020.
• People who live abroad, please contact your competent Austrian
representative authority (Austrian Embassy or Consulate General)
(https://www.bmeia.gv.at/en/embassies-consulates/search-for-austrianrepresentations/).
You have the option of filling in an Online Questionnaire
in advance directly on the Website (see below).
• Persons who are residents in Vienna should contact the office
of the provincial government of Vienna (Municipal Department 35 -
Immigration and Citizenship - MA 35 (1200 Wien, Dresdner Strasse
89, email: 80-ref@ma35.wien.gv.at, fax: +43 1 4000 9935110). See
https://www.wien.gv.at/english/administration/civilstatus/citizenship/
citizenship-ns-victims.html.
• If you live in another province of Austria please contact the
responsible office of the provincial government. See https://www.help.
gv.at/Portal.Node/hlpd/public/behoerdenbundeslaender.
Submission modalities and procedure of the application:
• Please note that you do not need a lawyer or special legal advice
to acquire Austrian citizenship.
• As a first step, please fill in the Online Questionnaire developed
by the Ministry of Foreign Afairs and the MA 35 on the homepage
of your local Austrian diplomatic representation (Austrian Embassy
or Consulate General). The questionnaire and additional information
should be available in German, English, Spanish and partly
in Hebrew (see https://www.bmeia.gv.at/en/embassies-consulates/
search-for-austrian-representations/).
• Please also read carefully the FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions.
• After completing the Online Questionnaire you will receive a notification
with your entries and a list of all the documents you need to
prove your identity and/or your relationship to the persecuted ancestor.
• When completing the Questionnaire it is important to fill in the
exact names, dates and places of birth as well as further details of your
direct ancestor(s) which allow the Austrian authorities to locate his/
her/their identity in the Austrian registers and archives.
• In a further step the Austrian diplomatic representation (Austrian
Embassy or Consulate General) will contact you to advise you on
how to file the declaration and to discuss the further procedures with
you.
• If you need a diplomatic authentication or an apostille for your
personal documents, please contact the competent authority in your
home country that issued the document.
• At the request of the authority, documents in non-German or
English must be submitted with a German translation by a courtsworn
or certified translator.
• If you have copies of original documents from your ancestors,
please submit them, too.
• The Austrian diplomatic representation (Austrian Embassy or
Consulate General) will forward your declaration („Anzeige“) together
with all the documents submitted to the competent authority
in Austria. Then the procedure starts.
• If names, dates of birth or residential addresses of your ancestors
are not known, the competent authority in Austria will research the
necessary documents and information about your direct ancestors in
various archives as far as possible.
• Acquiring Austrian citizenship should not lead to the loss of your
previous citizenship in most countries. For legally binding information,
please contact the citizenship authority of your home country.
• The competent provincial government in Austria decides on your
declaration („Anzeige“). If anything is unclear, the responsible provincial
government will directly get in contact with you.
• As soon as the competent provincial government has approved
your declaration, it will issue an official decision („Bescheid“). This
official decision will be delivered to you via the Austrian diplomatic
representation (Austrian Embassy or Consulate General). Upon delivery
of the decision, you are an Austrian citizen.
• The granting of Austrian citizenship is free of charge. Any other
costs for services provided by the authorities in your home country
or for translations and diplomatic authentications will remain.
Become a member of the Jewish Community of Vienna:
If you are planning to settle down in Austria after obtaining the Austrian
citizenship, we kindly invite you to contact us. We are always
happy to welcome new members in our Community. Information
concerning membership can be found on our Website:
www.ikg-wien.at
Yours,
Oskar Deutsch, President
www.ikg-wien.at 37