Nazi Party

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Ursula Michel, the accused in 1939 in front of the children's transport to Britain

A British lawyer, the German government violated The Constitution of the country by refusing the restoration of the citizenship of thousands of people, the victims of The Nazis . He argues that The Law began, incorrectly applied, under the continuing influence of former national socialists in the 1950s and 60s, and that it was applied are still wrong today.

James Strauss lived his whole life in New York , But in The 1930S His Family to an Inn and butcher's shop business in the city of Gunzenhausen in the South of Nuremberg. It was here that an event took place known as the Bloody Palm Sunday pogrom in March 1934, with The Inn at its epicenter. As The Nazis rampaged in the city, two Jews killed, and Julius Strauss, James ' father, was beaten unconscious, and imprisoned in the city prison.

The pogrom is recognized by historians as one of the worst anti-Semitic incidents in Germany before the Kristallnacht attacks in November 1938.

The leader, Kurt Baer, a member of a Nazi paramilitary Force , known as the SA tried, was imprisoned, But soon released again, to judge from a Nazi-sympathy.

then back to The Inn , to take revenge, to shoot and seriously, the 27-year-old Julius and the assassination of his father, Simon injured. (Baer was later sentenced to life in prison, But pardoned After four years. )

Before the pogrom - the beer garden at the Strauss inn, as soon as he was able, Julius Germany, fled In Fear of his life and settled in New York , where he met and married a fellow German-Jewish refugees. But he has never fully recovered from The Attack , as The Lead of the bullets could not be removed from his body, and he died as a result of his injuries in the year 1956, on his son James ' s ninth Birthday .

Julius Strauss in the 1950s, Almost 60 years later, in the year 2015, James Strauss decided to take a trip to Gunzenhausen. "There I met a lot of nice Young People from the junior High School , and local officials had worked hard to be in this terrible incident," he says. "I was Blown Away by your knowledge. "

Strauss in the United States with "good feelings" about modern Germany and decided to "honor his father and the positive work that has been carried out in Gunzenhausen," he would assert his right to have made The Family 's German citizenship again.

James Strauss at the Gunzenhausen museum, He thought, he had a waterproof case, if he has his application in the year 2017. "But when I then get the papers to the New York Consulate, was to me, it was a problem," he says. Strauss was told he was not eligible because his father became an American in 1940 - before he had officially his German citizenship stripped.

the legislation was already passed in 1933, so to be that for the German Jews, deprived of their citizenship - through the publication of their names in a newspaper - in many cases, it is only happening in the mass denatura lization of all the Jews who had fled the country in November 1941.

article 116 of Germany's post-War Constitution says that The Descendants of people stripped of their citizenship during the Nazi-time "will have on the application, the citizenship Restored ", But the German authorities refuse, The Descendants of people like Julius Strauss on the grounds that they left "voluntarily". It is an argument that flies in The Face of historical realities. Julius Strauss had remained in Germany, he would have perished in the Dachau concentration camp, which, together with The Other Jewish inhabitants of Gunzenhausen.

Strauss is intense and is definitely a challenge for the rejection. "This is a betrayal of not only My Family , But the new Germany and The School children who have worked so hard," he says.

For The Past year, London lawyer Felix Couchman has to work overtime, back and forth, to fly, to persuade Germany and the compilation of the case - or Force - to stop the German government, without the different categories of the Jewish People under article 116.

James Strauss is one of More Than 100 descendants of Nazi victims, their applications, and attempts have rejected, Couchman help. Scattered about the globe in the UK, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Israel and the United States, you are come to together in Couchman the pressure of The Group , the article 116 of the exclusions in The Group , in order to fight your case, if necessary, all the way to the German Constitutional Court .

Felix Couchman with his wife and comrade-in-arms, While Isabelle Strauss was inspired by an admiration for the new Germany, in the United Kingdom 2016 EU referendum prompted a sharp increase in applications.

2018 1,506 applications for German citizenship were in the UK, compared to 43 in the year 2015. But Couchman says that, while Leaving The Catalyst in the galvanizing collective action was not, it is just a Brexit is a Problem. The UK's EU-exit has only served to show a practice, which is the "morally and ethically wrong," he says. to be

by The way, article 116, designed, been, has gone against The Spirit of The Constitution , he argues, and ignored ", how much these people are suffering under the Third Reich .

Judith Rhodes mother, Ursula Michel, came to Britain in 1939 on a kindertransport, an operation that brought thousands of Jewish children to safety, while their parents remained behind. "Her life was broken, and it was never said about the guilt of the survivors," Rhodes. Her family, who were killed all in The Holocaust .

Rhodes, who lives in Yorkshire, is now active in Holocaust education in your mother's house city of Ludwigshafen on the Rhine - it shows students the small suitcase that her mother was with her.

in order To make it easier to continue the German citizenship do, After Brexit, to apply for a Rhodes decided. But it was rejected.

Judith Rhodes, with the possession of their mother, she brought to the children's transport-Rhodes application was rejected on the grounds that she was born before 1. April 1953 to a German mother, married to an Englishman. Around it would have been different, and her father is of German, it is likely that your application would have been given.

"I'm angry because I think that the ruling discriminates against women. This is the 21St Century , and this type of discrimination on the grounds of sex should not be allowed," she says.

"I think that the attitude of the German government, the Jews should have remained in the Third Reich and not with safety fled. It is like an insurance, a house owner, you would not pay, because you remain in your home as it burned to the ground, fighting The Fire . "

Ursula Michel, children's transport Pass Felix Couchman ' s mother also came to the UK on the Kindertransport. He advised the article 116 of the exclusions, group, if, as Judith Rhodes, one of his brothers was not recommended by the German Consulate General in London, that he apply for German citizenship. Although article 116 says that The Descendants of the German state shall be deprived of citizenship". have their citizenship Restored ", the Consulate argued that under the German naturalization law, citizenship could only be passed on by The Father , until the 1970s.

Although Couchman had not considered applying for German citizenship, the self and never had before in campaigns, this inspired to implement it in practice.

"Although My Mother died in 2001, I was aware of what you can expect to do with me," he says.

"I think the German government began to think, we were a group of little old ladies drinking tea," he laughs, "But the moral backbone of our campaign means that we are away. They were surprised by our determination. "

As the German government, article 116Automatic law on citizenship denied to people:

interest in The Campaign has jumped to. Couchman's wife, Isabelle, deals with The Hundreds of people, the contact with The Group . "Some are very old, and very much suffered," she says. "Some of them lost their entire family in The Holocaust . "

During Couchman, and Cambridge University, PhD student, Nick Courtman, lobby Political Parties in Germany, Isabelle leads a support network. "People are very emotional and often cry on The Phone when you contact with me," she says. "It can take months for them to decide, if you want to track your Battle . "Some are elderly Holocaust survivors, for example children's transport children who are still traumatized by their experiences.

Central Couchman against the German government, the atmosphere was implemented in the article 116. "We have said, from various sources of the Nazi influence on the way The Law was interpreted in the 1950s and 1960s," he says.

The Head of The Interior Ministry Department which deals with residence and asylum at the time, Kurt Breull, a former Nazi had made his anti-Semitic views clear in The 1930S .

said After The War , Kurt Breull, is lying about the day he joined the NSDAP a

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Source of news: bbc.com