Already abroad and unable to return
This case is for the family whose ancestor was not in Austria when the persecution started — working abroad, studying abroad, married abroad — and for whom going home stopped being possible.
It is the narrowest of the six on citizenship: only an Austrian citizen qualifies. Successor-state citizenship and statelessness, which are enough for Cases 1, 4 and 6, are not enough here.
| Ancestor’s citizenship | Austrian only |
|---|---|
| Residence in Austria | No main home in Austria at any point between 30 January 1933 and 9 May 1945 |
| What happened | Would have had reason to fear persecution on entering or returning |
| Cut-off date | 30 January 1933 – 9 May 1945 |
The statutory text
A descendant in direct line of an individual
- who had been an Austrian citizen;
- who had not had his/her primary residence in Austria between 30 January 1933 and 9 May 1945; and
- who would have had, in case of an entry (or a re-entry) into Austria for the purpose of setting up a primary residence, reason to fear persecution
- by organs of the NSDAP (i.e., the National Socialist German Workers' Party) or the authorities of the German Reich
- or because of his/her advocacy for the democratic Republic of Austria.
The words above are sec. 58c(2)(1) of the Austrian Citizenship Act. Read sec. 58c in full
What each limb means
“Who had been an Austrian citizen”
Austrian citizenship, and nothing else, opens this case. If the ancestor held successor-state papers or was stateless, this is not his/her case — but Case 1 may still be, if he/she had a home in Austria at some point.
“Who had not had his/her primary residence in Austria between 30 January 1933 and 9 May 1945”
This is a negative, and negatives are harder to prove than positives. The window is the whole twelve years, not part of it: a main home in Austria at any point inside it — 1935, say — takes the ancestor out of this case. The date it opens is not arbitrary. 30 January 1933 is the day Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany.
“Who would have had, in case of an entry (or a re-entry) into Austria for the purpose of setting up a primary residence, reason to fear persecution by organs of the NSDAP or the authorities of the German Reich, or because of his/her advocacy for the democratic Republic of Austria”
A hypothetical, and it is meant to be one. The question is not what happened to the ancestor abroad. It is what would have happened had he/she gone back — and it is answered by who he/she was, not by anything he/she did. Being Jewish, or being a known opponent of the regime, is the answer.
What this case turns on
The whole file rests on the residence limb, and it rests on it negatively. What is needed is a continuous record of the ancestor living somewhere else across the whole window — a registration in the other country, a work permit, an immigration file, passport stamps. Gaps in that record are where this case is lost.
That you are descended from him/her in a direct line
- Your birth certificate, and the birth and marriage certificates of every person in the chain between you and him/her.
- Where a surname changed, the marriage certificate that changed it.
- For an adoption, the adoption order — and note that Austria set the age of majority at 21 until 1973 and 19 until 2001, so whether an adoption counts turns on the year.
Which citizenship your ancestor held before March 1938
- Old passports and travel papers.
- A citizenship certificate — Heimatschein or Staatsbürgerschaftsnachweis.
- The right-of-domicile record (Heimatrecht / Zuständigkeit) of the home municipality.
- For statelessness, a Nansen passport or an alien’s registration.
Why your ancestor was at risk
- IKG Vienna community records; Yad Vashem; the Arolsen Archives.
- Restitution and compensation files — Opferfürsorge, Hilfsfonds, Nationalfonds, Claims Conference.
- The 1938 property declarations (Vermögensanmeldung).
- For the political limb: party, Schutzbund or trade-union records, and police or court files.
Where your ancestor was living in the 1930s, and why he/she could not come back
- Residence registration, work permits or the immigration file in the country he/she was living in; passport stamps.
- A point of law to settle with it: sec. 58c(2)(1) requires that he/she had no main home in Austria at any time between 30 January 1933 and 9 May 1945. If he/she still had a home in Austria in, say, 1935, Case 1 is the one to look at instead.
Whether you have ever held Austrian citizenship yourself
- Any Austrian passport, citizenship certificate or registration among the family papers — people are sometimes citizens without ever knowing it.
- The naturalisation record of the country whose citizenship you took, and its date.
- Sec. 58c(5) keeps the route open for a person who did not know he/she was an Austrian citizen when he/she acquired the other citizenship, so what was known at the time matters as much as the dates.
How this case differs from the ones next to it
Case 1 — Fled Austria
Case 1 is for an ancestor who had a home in Austria and left it. The two cases are mutually exclusive on exactly that point, and it is the first thing to establish.