Jews Who Applied for Naturalization In Prussia (1800-1933)
Introduction by Alexander Odinius

BACKGROUND

The Secret Prussian State Archives in Berlin (Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz) house the files on individuals who applied for naturalization. These included immigrants as well as individuals who had already lived in Germany for an extended period and had lost their citizenship. They were stateless.

Before the founding of the German Empire in 1871, German states such as the Kingdoms of Saxony and Bavaria processed their naturalization applications based on their own laws and regulations. Bavaria and Prussia created the first legal regulations and defined citizenship for their respective jurisdictions. On June 1, 1870, the Reichstag of the North German Confederation passed the "Federal Law on the Acquisition and Loss of Federal and State Citizenship," which was extended to all of Germany upon the founding of the German Empire in 1871. The law was subsequently replaced by the "Reichs Citizenship and Nationality Act" (RuStAG), which came into force on January 1, 1914. Subsequently, the individual federal states (Saxony, Prussia, Bavaria, etc.) processed applications for naturalization from applicants residing in their jurisdiction, but in doing so, they were guided by the RustAG.

Due in particular to pogroms in Russia, the number of Jewish refugees seeking refuge in Western Europe increased significantly. This initially affected the Austrian province of Galicia, located on the border with Russia, but also Germany. After World War I, the number of naturalization applications increased significantly due to the territorial cessions agreed upon in the Treaty of Versailles. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, the naturalization laws were abolished.

The data published here concern applicants of Jewish faith or converts who applied for naturalization in Prussia. Due to the war, the remaining files are no longer complete. The database contains only individuals who can be identified based on the documents still available. In total, this includes over 4,700 individuals. Since the applications generally included all family members, the actual number of individuals registered is far higher, more than 10,000 individuals.

DATABASE

This database includes 4,741 family groups who applied for naturalization in Prussia between 1800 and 1933.

The fields for this database are as follows:

• Surname – Including maiden and alternate surnames (See Note A)
• Given name (See Note A)
• Date of birth
• Place of birth
• Occupation (See Note B)
• Religion
• Residence
• Nationality (See Note C)
• Spouse
• Children with notes (may include dates and place of birth when available)
• Signature
• Year of application
• Comments

Note A

Within the “Surname” and “Given Name” fields are the following German terms:

• false - discrepancy between names used
• geborene / geb. - maiden / birth name       
• genannt / gen. - called
• geschieden / gesch. - divorced
• kunstlername - stage name
• recte - legal / official name       
• vel - also known as
• verwitwete / verw. - widowed

Note B

For help translating German occupations to English, please see JewishGen’s InfoFile at https://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/germanoccs.htm 

Note C

The following are translations of entries in the “Nationality” field:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The information contained in this database came from the Prussian State Archives (GStA - Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preuischer Kulturbesitz) Contact information at Kontakt - Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preuischer Kulturbesitz  The collection signatures are I. HA Rep 77 Tit 227 and I. HA.Rep.77 Tit 2770. The database was created by Alexander Odinius.

Thank you to Nolan Altman, Director of Data Acquisition and Coordinator of Holocaust Database, for his continued devotion and dedication to JewishGen's important work.  

This database can be searched via the JewishGen Holocaust Database or the JewishGen Unified Search

August 2025