Thousands of British Jews apply for German nationality as Brexit looms
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
BERLIN— Simon Wallfisch grew up in London as the grandson of an Auschwitz survivor, who had sworn to never return to the country that murdered her parents and 6 million other Jews.
But more than 70 years after the Holocaust, Brexit has prompted Wallfisch and thousands of other Jews in Britain to apply for German citizenship, which was stripped from their ancestors by the Nazis during the Third Reich.
"This disaster that we call Brexit has led to me just finding a way to secure my future and my children's future," said Wallfisch, 36, a well-known classical singer and cellist who received his German passport in October. "In order to remain European I've taken the European citizenship."
Britons holding dual citizenship from an EU country like Germany will retain the privilege of free movement and work across the soon-to-be 27-nation bloc.
Many Britons whose ancestors came from other parts of Europe have been claiming citizenship in other EU member states so they can keep ties to the continent. But
The German Embassy in London says it has received more than 3,380 citizenship applications since the Brexit referendum in June 2016 under article 116 of the German Constitution, which allows the descendants of people persecuted by the Nazis to regain the citizenship that was removed between 1933 and 1945.
In comparison, only around 20 such requests were made annually in the years before Brexit.
Wallfisch's grandmother, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, was 18 in December 1943 when she was deported to Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp in occupied Poland where more than 1 million Jews were murdered.
She survived because she was a member of the camp's girls' orchestra. As a cellist, she had to play classical music while other Jews were taken to the gas chambers.
In November 1944, she was taken to Bergen-Belsen — the concentration camp where diarist Anne Frank died after also being transferred from Auschwitz at about the same time — where she was eventually liberated by the British army in April 1945.
Lasker-Wallfisch immigrated to Britain in 1946, got married and had two children. Her career as a famous cello player took her around the world, but it took decades until she overcame her hatred enough to set foot on German soil again in the 1990s.
n recent years, Lasker-Wallfisch, 93, has become a regular visitor, educating children in Germany about the Holocaust and speaking last year during the German parliament's annual Holocaust memorial event.
On Sunday's International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Lasker-Wallfisch, her grandson Simon and her daughter Maya Jacobs Lasker-Wallfisch performed for the first time together on stage at the Jewish Museum Berlin in commemoration of their family. They played music with other members of their extended family and read letters from the past as a tribute to those who survived and those who perished in the Shoah.
Before the show, the three generations sat together on the red couch in the museum's dressing room and told The Associated Press about the emotional thoughts that went into the younger two's decision to take German citizenship.
"We cannot be victims of our past. We have to have some hope for change," said Maya Jacobs Lasker-Wallfisch, a 60-year-old London psychotherapist who is Simon's aunt and is still waiting on her German citizenship to be approved. "I feel somehow in a strange way triumphant. Something is coming full circle."
More than just retaining the ability to travel easily from country to country or maintain business ties, Jacobs Lasker-Wallfisch said there are other, more emotional reasons to acquiring German citizenship, with Britain due to leave the European Union on March 29.
"I feel an aliveness here (in Berlin) that I have not experienced before, but it totally makes sense because after all I am German," Jacobs Lasker-Wallfisch said. She added that if the country behind the Holocaust is now one that welcomes the descendants of the victims, "that's a good thing."
But Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who lived through the horrors of the Holocaust, remained skeptical and pessimistic.
"Jewish people never feel secure," she said to her daughter and grandson, reminding them of her own past. "I had German nationality — it did not buy me security."
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Maybe the threat of Brexit is only one factor. IMO the possibility of the grossly antisemitic Labour Party coming into power just might be another. However, I wouldn't consider Germany much safer, sort of like jumping from the fire into the frying pan, because of Merkel's immigration policy which is succeeding in turning Germany into what France has become, where Jews are leaving in droves for reasons I don't think I have to explain.
Totally off topic I would like to point out an anomaly in the Windows program that underlines misspelled words in red. In this case the British Labour Party is an actual name and is NOT misspelled because the British Labour Party would NEVER spell the word "labour" as "labor" (Webster's simplification of British English in order to make words easier for Americans to spell). Therefore I have ignored the red underline in order to be correct. Since my schooling was in British English, I will usually use it notwithstanding Microsoft's insistence that I'm a poor speller.
The article does not even once mention anything at all about this current Jewish migration from England being effected in any way by Muslim immigration. That is entirely your own self serving spin, but it is completely unrelated to the thesis of the author or the reality on the ground. In reality it is actually Creeping Nationalism in Britain, which is purely a rightwing phenomenon, that is a the main concern and motivating factor of these Jewish immigrants which is spurred on by the rational concerns of Briitish Jews that their freedoms of travel and of commerce will ultimately be severely limited and even threatened by Brexit.
I was informed by the article and not by any irrational fears or hatred...
You are so fucking anxious to think of me as an Islamophobe that you totally misinterpreted what I said. I said NOTHING about Muslims in England. NOTHING!!! I said that there was a possibility that the antisemitic Labour Party (and if you've been following the news at all about it you would have to agree that Coirbyn and his supporters are damn well antisemitic) would gain control, and THAT was my concern. And you have no right to tell me I can't voice my opinion about it when there could well be more reasons than what the article says for Jews to leave England. Perrie posted this, not you, so go try to control someone else's thoughts.
Oooooh creeping nationalism ...... sounds scary!
If they are attempting to flee antisemitism, imagined of otherwise, perhaps they should flee somewhere other than Germany. Germany's problem with that is arguably as bad or worse that the UK's.
Nah, this smacks of simple partisan politics to me. Nothing more.
I don't think it has anything to do with antisemitism. I think there are a lot of folks in the UK who believe having dual citizenship will give them a competitive advantage in whatever business or profession they're in. I'm sure there are plenty of folks in other EU countries who would like dual citizenship for the same reasons. These British Jews just happen to have that option available to them so they're taking advantage of it. It doesn't mean they're fleeing the UK, they're probably not moving at all it's just on paper in the same way Apple Computers pretended they were located in Ireland but all they had there was a small office building that was little more than a large PO box.
I think it is a combination of the benefits of EU citizenship AND antisemitism. That makes the reasons for leaving more overwhelming. You cannot POSSIBLY deny that the possibility of Corbyn becoming Prime Minister is not a concern to British Jews.
That is what it sounded like to me. They want to keep duel citizenship and travel freely as members of the EU. Having duel citizenship will grant them the access.
Considering the Labour party's pretty open antisemitism, leaving England for a more tolerant Germany makes sense. Always smart to keep options open.
The holocaust seared its way indelibly onto Jewish consciousness for generations to come.
Not because this is new in human history.
The concept of Judenrein (Jew Free) did not originate with the National Socialists (Nazi's) commencing with the planning at the conference Wandesee lead by Martin Bohrmann et al.
For as long as there have been Jewish People and religion there are those who have tried to exterminate us (Vermichtung) by the sin of the sword (physical destruction) and/or missionary murder (Deicide - killing off the religion). They come and go. Over time they fade into dust in the waste bowl of history. We endure. But we pay a heavy price each time this happens. This seems our Akidah (Binding of Isaac - Test of Faith).
The concern British Jews have in going to Germany has historical roots. So does staying in Britain, for different reasons and extents.
"Tefilah Teshuvah veh Gemilat Chassadim". For three things is the Almighty prepared to re-write what is in store for us all each New Year. "Prayer, Repentance and Acts of Loving Kindness". So says Machzor Rosh Ha Shanah and Machzor Yom Kippur (Prayer books for the New Year and the Day of Atonement).
Germany, the seat of the final solution in pre and WW II is also the leader in Europe in reparations thereafter.
There is still anti Jewish hatred there. It exists here too. We see it in skin heads in Virginia. We see it in those who try to kill off our heritage one attempt at conversion at a time. Nothing new or good going on.
That said, if as a collective society Germany wants to do Teshuvah (Repentance) I am of the opinion it is obligatory upon us Jewish People to accept it. Welcome them in fellowship. Forge a better future together (Gemilat Chassadim) (Acts of Loving Kindness).
It's O.K. to take yes for an answer.
Peace and Abundant Blessings to One and All (Saints and Sinners alike).
Enoch.
My grandfather's family came to England after being expelled from Spain during the Spanish Inquisition. It was a route a lot of Spanish Jews took since England needed Jews to deal with money issues. There were good times and bad times there for them over the centuries.
But during WWII, it was a safe haven for them.
My mother's family is still there. Things have gotten very bad. It's coming from the right and the left. They have to hire armed guards to protect their synagogues. Oddly enough, the government in Germany is very protective of their Jews. So are many of the people. So while there is a nationalist movement, (there is also one in England), and problems with antisemitism with the East Germans, who never had to come to terms with WWII, I can understand why relatively new English from Germany would return. What's the difference?
For my family, it is a fait accompli. They have been there for hundreds of years and think of themselves as English. There was a time they thought of coming to America, and now they wish they did. But my cousins have grown up there and their lives are set and a move would be difficult for them. I hope that at the end of the day, it works out, but I am not sure that there is any place left in Europe that is actually Jew friendly.
Yeah and at the time of their greatest expurgation, were they really welcome anywhere else? Even this great and wonderful nation of send me your tired poor hungry huddled masses rejected them.....
History is repeating itself again, there may not be columns of ash, but the result will be the same.....
Will the human race ever learn?
I may have this wrong, but I understand that Ann Frank was on her way to America when her ship was turned around. She was sent to Auschwitz but died in Bergen-Belsen of typhus.
Wasn't there a ship called the St Louis that was filled with Jewish refugees that was denied admittance to the US?
There was a ship called the St. Louis that the US would not let dock and they all died in the camps. A wonderful piece of our history. But Anne Frank was not on that ship. They were about to get out when the Germans came in unexpectedly, and that is when she went into hiding. She literally missed it by 1 day.
Yeah, and everyone knew what was happening. Not one of our more stellar acts....
But it gets even better......
If you were an educated Jew, a scientist, wealthy business person, great artist, author etc etc, you could apply at any embassy for a visa and be automatically granted one. not only just getting one, the prized one that led to direct citizenship.....
WE not only rejected the common jew, but raped their society of all it's power....
The movie "Varian's War" depicts the true story that you have referred to. At Eleanor Roosevelt's request, a man named Varian went overseas to sneak Jewish scientists, intellectuals and artists out of Germany and many were rescued, including Marc Chagall.
And of course you are fully aware of the movie about the SS St. Louis - the 1976 movie "Voyage of the Damned".
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently publicly apologized on behalf of Canada to the Jewish people for his country's turning away the SS St Louis. Will the USA do the same?
Yep, I'm well aware of it. Not a great movie but it does dare to remind us of a particularly dark spot of american history.
Because of that issue it doesn't get a lot of play........
Kinda a typical overly melodramatic movie about the Jews used as a ploy by the German Government. And it worked. They were never going to get off that ship, by orders of the German government.... Based upon a very true story unfortunately, it could have used a better script with fewer actors doing cameos and a lot more character development....
The movie claims that most of the passengers died in the camps and that is not exactly true also. Historical records show that over half the passengers survived the war and the final solution....
A huge all star cast that usually has a few cameos then disappear no longer to be seen......
One I like a LOT better is 1965's Ship of Fools...... it's about a liner going from Cuba to Germany in 1933 with a bunch of antisemites aboard.... Much better movie.......
Thank you, Perrie. It's good to see an opinion that is based on the personal experiences of those close to you in England, rather than that of someone whose opinions are slanted by personal animosity.