German Interior Ministry regrets identity theft in citizenship fraud case and promises action

Germany’s Interior Ministry has promised action after an investigation revealed that alleged fraudsters used stolen identities and fabricated family histories to obtain German passports.

The applicants, many reportedly from China, applied for naturalisation through the Federal Office of Administration in Cologne. They allegedly posed as descendants of Jewish people who had been persecuted and forced out of Germany under Nazi rule, invoking Article 116 of the German Basic Law, which allows the restoration of citizenship to Nazi victims and their descendants.

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We will undertake everything necessary to uncover acts of fraud that have occurred in restitution proceedings.

The Düsseldorf public prosecutor’s office and Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office are investigating 32 suspects. Several members of the Bundestag have expressed shock at the passport fraud allegations.

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Identity theft

A ministry spokesperson told Der Spiegel that the ministry regretted the “identity theft” and said the applicants had “fraudulently used the biographies of victims of Nazi persecution.” The ministry said the Federal Office of Administration would “immediately initiate revocation proceedings” once it had enough information in cases involving citizenship obtained through fraud. That could lead to the suspects losing their German passports.

The alleged scheme involved invented family links to real Nazi victims. In one example, an alleged Chinese family named Wong claimed descent from the Jewish couple Karl Siegfried and Gertraud Süßkind, who fled Germany for Palestine during the Nazi dictatorship. Investigators say the fraudsters often used forged Israeli birth certificates and passports showing new names and places of birth. Notaries certified the documents before applicants submitted them to German consular officials, while the Cologne office received only notarised copies.

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Fraudulently used the biographies of victims of Nazi persecution.

The ministry defended the general review procedures at the Federal Office of Administration, saying staff are regularly briefed about detected or suspected forgeries and possible methods of manipulation. The office had previously declined to comment on the ongoing investigations.

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Immediately initiate revocation proceedings