The number of descendants of Nazi victims granted German citizenship increased by 61% in 2025
BERLIN – The number of people naturalized in Germany through restitution laws, which restore citizenship to people dispossessed by Nazi Germany and their descendants, rose 61 percent last year to 12,000, according to data released Wednesday by the Federal Statistical Office.
The restitution laws enable Jewish descendants of Holocaust victims to obtain German citizenship.
German authorities have not provided a breakdown of who gained citizenship under the system.
Overall, Germany granted citizenship to a record 332,500 people last year, a 14% increase, with Syrians making up the largest group for the fifth year in a row.
One in five people naturalized in 2025 was Syrian. However, the number of Syrians receiving German citizenship has fallen by 21% compared to 2024.
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Many Syrians who arrived as refugees in 2015 and 2016 will be eligible for naturalization in 2024.
A Syrian girl walks down a street with a Syrian opposition flag in Berlin, December 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
The office attributed the increase to June 2024 reforms that reduced residency requirements for naturalization from eight to five years and allowed individuals to hold dual citizenship.
After Syrians, the largest naturalization groups were Turks (10% or 34,100 people) and Russians (6% or 19,700 people).
Bosnians (126% or 8,800 people), the United States (100% or 6,600 people) and Albanians (97% or 6,100 people) also recorded particularly strong year-on-year growth.
According to a Euronews report last month, the number of descendants of Holocaust victims applying for citizenship has increased significantly. It quoted the German Interior Ministry as saying that 2,485 Israeli citizens were naturalized in 2021, but that number rose to 4,275 by 2024.
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