Shalom, so a few days ago I filled a questionnaire on behalf of my girlfriend to apply for an Austrian passport, based on the „Austrian Citizenship Act“ that went in effect on May 1st, 2022. Her great-great-grandfather Leon/Leib Rubinstein was born in Boian near Czernowicz on March 1st, 1886. Him and his younger brother Pinus „Ben Saar“ Rubinstein were both fighting in WWI for the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and lived in Czernowicz until 1945.
While Pinus, his wife Pepi and their sons Bubi (Mordechai) and Edi (Eliyahu) managed to emigrate to Israel, Leon and his wife Jeanette Hochman died in Romania in 1946 (Bacau-Jeanette) and 1947 (Leon-Bucharest). However, while their son Max was murdered by German soldiers on May 3rd, 1945, both daughters Fanni (Gotlieb) and Naomi (Ziegler) managed to emigrate to Israel with their husbands. Fanni‘s daughter Rina (Keynan) is my girlfriend Daphne’s grandmother. A short while ago Mr. Mykola Kushnir managed to find a few documents in the archives of the Jewish Museum in Czernowicz, including the „Gewerbescheine“ (business licenses) of Leon and Pinus. Both brothers opened a business as hair dressers in Czernowicz, the documents were issued on November 13th, 1918 (Leon/Leib) and February 5th, 1919. Both of their „Staatsangehörigkeit“ (Nationality) are listed as „Österreich“. To my understanding, this would justify for my girlfriend to get Austrian citizenship, however, things are much more complicated. As far as I know, citizens of the former „Austrian-Hungarian Empire“ were not automatically be granted Austrian Citizenship. They had the so called „Heimatrecht“, and in 1919 they could apply for Austrian Citizenship. This was confirmed to me today by someone working for the National Archives of Austria. I could imagine that both brothers did in fact apply, but unfortunately there is no one still alive to confirm if they did. Is there anyone here who has successfully applied for Austrian citizenship? Does someone here know how to find out and where to look? ******************************************************************************* This moderated discussion group is for information exchange on the subject of Czernowitz and Sadagora Jewish History and Genealogy. The opinions expressed in these posts are the opinions of the original poster only and not necessarily the opinions of the List Owner, the Webmaster or any other members or entities connected with this mailing list. The Czernowitz-L list has an associated web site at http://czernowitz.ehpes.com that includes a searchable archive of all messages posted to this list. Beginning in 2021, archived messages can be found at: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To send mail to the list, address it to <[email protected]>. To remove your address from this e-list follow the directions at https://it.cornell.edu/lyris/leave-e-lists-lyris To receive assistance for this e-list send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
