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Justice for the Descendants

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A Call to the German Government: Correcting a Historical Wrong and Protecting the Descendants of Nazi Victims

To: The German Bundestag, the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the Institutions of the European Union, and Citizens.

Introduction: We, members of the second and third generation of Holocaust survivors and victims of the Nazi regime, call upon the German government and the international community to acknowledge their historical and ongoing responsibility toward us. The State of Israel, founded ostensibly as a safe haven, is becoming an unsafe place for Jews due to an ongoing state of war and systemic instability.

The Flaw in German Citizenship Law: The current German Nationality Act (StAG) creates structural discrimination: it does not recognize periods of forced labor, imprisonment, or extermination under Nazi rule as "habitual residence" for the purposes of naturalization. This is a grave historical injustice. We demand recognition of the fact that those who were uprooted from their homes, forced into labor, tortured, and murdered on German and European soil — their descendants are entitled to the right to return and settle on this continent as part of rectifying that wrong.

The Political and Zionist Context: We note that historical initiatives to grant sweeping European citizenship to Jews (as proposed in the past in East Germany and other frameworks) were blocked by political pressure from the Zionist movement, which prioritized territorial sovereignty in Israel over the personal security and freedom of choice of survivors and their descendants. Europe's unconditional support for "the world's largest Jewish ghetto" has come at the expense of those who have no safe home.

Our Immediate Demands:

1. Legislative Reform: Recognition of forced labor and imprisonment in the years 1933–1945 as grounds for citizenship for descendants, regardless of the victims' prior nationality.
2. Immediate Right to Shelter and Protection: Recognition of Israelis who are descendants of Holocaust refugees as a group entitled to humanitarian protection, permanent residency in Europe, and emergency rescue assistance - in light of Israel's failure to ensure their safety.
3. Long-Term Rehabilitation Framework: This is a right that does not derive from immigration arrangements, refugee law, or temporary protection mechanisms — but from Germany's direct historical responsibility for the crimes of the Nazi regime. The framework shall include: formal recognition of the group's status as holders of a state rehabilitation right; an expedited path to citizenship not conditioned on language proficiency, prior residency, or renunciation of current citizenship; and direct support for absorption and physical and mental rehabilitation.
4. Direct Dialogue with the People: Direct and unmediated dialogue with individuals - not over their heads with a "Judenrat" they never asked for. This is an ongoing injustice that must be stopped.
5. Foreign Policy Change: A demand that the German government cease its automatic support for the political system in Israel, and redirect those resources to direct support for Israeli citizens seeking rehabilitation and refuge in Europe.

No one owns "good" and "evil," and no one may impose an identity upon another. The coercion of the ghetto - in any form, under any name - must end. We are not asking for protection of "Judaism" as an institution. We are asking for protection of human beings - human beings whom no one asked who they are, and who were never given a choice. Not then. Not now.