862.00 P.R./142
The Ambassador in Germany (Dodd) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 9.]
Sir:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3. Revocation of Citizenship. The Law for the Revocation of Citizenship of July 14, 1933 (see despatch No. 92 of August 22, 193359), has now been applied for the first time. On the basis of Section 2 of this law, the Reich Minister of the Interior, in concurrence with the Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs, has published in the official Reichsanzeiger a list of 33 Germans, resident abroad, whose citizenship has been revoked “because they have injured German interests by conduct conflicting with the duty of loyalty to the Reich and nation.” Simultaneously with the revocation of their citizenship the property of these persons was declared confiscated.
The Law for the Revocation of Citizenship applies to two groups of German citizens. In the first group are persons charged with disloyal conduct injurious to the Reich. In the second group are German citizens residing abroad who fail to return to Germany if demanded by the Reich Minister of the Interior.
The 33 persons whose citizenship has now been revoked come under the first category though they all happen to reside outside of Germany at the present time. According to the law, such revocation of citizenship can apply also to the wife or husband of the person affected, and to their children. Each case requires a separate decision by the Reich Minister of the Interior and the Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs. In the absence [Page 260] of such a decision the wife and children of a person whose citizenship has been revoked retain their German citizenship.
In announcing the initial list of proscribed political opponents, the Reich Minister of the Interior specifically stated that the Government reserved its decision with respect to the revocation of the citizenship of the members of their families. This would seem to indicate that the citizenship of the wives and children of at least some of the men in question will be revoked. It has been explained semi-officially that the decision on this point depends in large measure on the conduct of the members of the family of a person thus affected, and on whether they still live in Germany or have emigrated to another country.
The bulk of the names of the proscribed persons consists of Social-Democrats, pacifists, and Communists. The list includes the names of Georg Bernhard, the former chief editor of the Democratic Vossische Zeitung; Lion Feuchtwanger, the well-known author; Dr. Foerster and Lehmann-Russbüldt, two prominent pacifists; Helmuth von Gerlach, a former Junker who turned pacifist and was for many years editor of the Welt am Montag; Grzesinski, formerly Social-Democratic Police Commissioner of Berlin; Dr. Alfred Kerr, prominent dramatic critic; Heinrich Mann, author and brother of Thomas Mann, the Nobel prize winner; Scheidemann, the first Social-Democratic Chancellor, whose relatives, as will be recalled, were arrested, and later released, in reprisal for his article reprinted in the New York Times of July 9, condemning the Nazi régime; Robert Weissmann, for many years Secretary of State in the Prussian Ministry of the Interior, and Otto Wels, the head of the executive committee of the Social-Democratic Party, which has transferred its seat to Prague.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Respectfully yours,