This path is opened by §100 Abs. 4 BVFG, the provision of which allows granting the status of late resettler/expelled person of German ethnicity to holders of a resettlement permit (Aufnahmegenehmigung) issued before July 1, 1990. Additionally, the prerequisites of §1 Abs. 2 Nr. 3 BVFG must be fulfilled.
The resettlement permit is the predecessor of the current admission decision (Aufnahmebescheid). They began to be issued to citizens of the USSR of German origin shortly after the visit of Federal Chancellor K. Adenauer to Moscow in 1955. The first permits were issued in 1956, the last in 1990. During this period, tens of thousands of Germans from the USSR requested it from West German authorities - it granted the right to resettle in the FRG.
In most cases, such a resettlement permit was indeed issued by the FRG authorities, and it was sent to applicants by mail. Usually, all family members were included in it. But at that time, mail from the FRG very often simply did not reach the addressee - it was intercepted. Recipients of permits to leave for the FRG were subjected to psychological processing by the KGB authorities, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. They were forced to renounce their right to resettle, threatened with serious troubles for all family members. Those permits are kept in German archives and retain their legal force to this day.
Admission to the FRG under such resettlement permits has a number of features. The most important thing is that the application and the applicant's identity are considered under the old law "On Refugees and Expellees," which was in effect until the early 1990s. According to it (§1 Abs. 2 Nr. 3 BVFG), affiliation with the German people under §6 was established according to relaxed criteria; in particular, knowledge of the German language was not mandatory. It was enough only to prove that the applicant was raised in a German family, in the traditions of German culture, and also has German ancestry. The old law provides an expanded list of exceptions justifying the inclusion of persons of non-German ethnicity in the applicant's documents.
For late resettlers living in the FRG with status under §7 BVFG who also have a resettlement permit, this has certain advantages. They can even now apply to the Office for Expellees and demand recognition in the category of expelled persons of German ethnicity/late resettlers under the old legislation. In practice, a German who has long lived in the FRG (§7 BVFG) can demand their readmission to Germany under the old resettlement permit. The Office for Expellees must conduct an official investigation. The law permits such action. If the applicant is recognized as a late resettler/expelled person of German ethnicity under the old law, then when calculating their German pension, their foreign work experience must be credited.
The resettlement permit is of great importance for those who acquired German citizenship during the war or inherited it from their ancestors. As is known, hundreds of thousands of Russian Germans in 1943-1944 were resettled by the German occupation authorities to the territory of Poland and Germany, where they were quickly naturalized and granted German citizenship. Such naturalizations remain valid to this day, and citizenship acquired during the war is often inherited. German citizens who have an old resettlement permit can petition for recognition in the category of "expelled person of German ethnicity." The application should be submitted to the local Office for Expellees (Vertriebenenamt). In combination, the resettlement permit together with citizenship acquired during the war also grants the right to retain experience acquired before relocation.
It is important to know that old resettlement permits can benefit all holders, including those who were included in them as infants in 1957. Many eligible applicants are now well over 50 years old and unaware of the existence of a resettlement permit issued in their name. Often, for caution, adults did not tell their children about their attempts to resettle in the FRG. Therefore, we recommend all interested persons to ask older relatives about a possibly existing old permit and about the family's attempts to move to Germany.
A personal inquiry to the archive can also be useful. If such a document is found, then under the law "On Pension for Foreign Work Experience," many German resettlers without pension rights may be able to claim crediting of time worked in the former USSR. This will bring them a tangible improvement in pension provision.
Thomas Pue, German lawyer.
Specially for "Zagranitsa."