German Laws Concerning The Expellees
Between 1953 and 1991 the West German government passed several laws dealing with German expellees. The most notable of these laws is the "Law of Return" which granted West German citizenship to any ethnic German. Several additions were later made to these laws.
A central issue addressed by the Law of Return is the inheritability of refugee status. According to the Federal Expellee Law Par. 7/2, "the spouse and the descendants" of an expellee are to be treated as if they were expellees themselves, regardless whether they have been personally displaced. The Federation of Expellees has steadily lobbied to preserve the inheritability clause, as a change might deeply affect its ability to recruit new members from the post-WWII generations.
Read more about this topic: Federation Of Expellees
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