To get a German passport I have to trace where my German-ness comes from. To write my mother’s side of our family’s history down is harder than I thought. It is connected to this passport, but I feel it needs more consideration than I am giving it right now. I know the full story with all the terrible details. And I know my grandpa would want it to be shared. My grandma is different. I think she struggles to know how she feels about Germany. She is very German. And has been persecuted for being Jewish by the Germans. I think she is happy with her British passport and quite alright not thinking about having to have a German passport anymore. My mother never thought about her German passport. She lived in Hamburg for 6 months when she was younger. I didn’t know that until I text her saying I was there last summer. She replied saying, head to the fish market in the early hours of the day. Is nationality a bit like religion? Does it skip a generation? My mother is not Jewish or German. She would kill me if she saw I wrote that. Maybe I will edit this text tomorrow.
I need to prove my grandparents are German. I then need to prove my mother is their child. And that I am her child. So I need birth certificates. Lots of them.
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