Currently, the German Federal Criminal Investigation Office (BKA) and the Dusseldorf Prosecutor's Office are investigating 32 suspects, half of whom have obtained German passports through fraud, and the rest have submitted applications for naturalization.
The alleged fraudsters took advantage of a special provision in Germany's constitutional Basic Law. Article 116 of the law stipulates that anyone who was deprived of German citizenship during Nazi Germany and their descendants can apply for and regain German citizenship. Moreover, according to a 2020 judicial interpretation by the German Federal Constitutional Court, even illegitimate descendants of Nazi victims can obtain German citizenship in accordance with this provision. The information that applicants need to submit includes: an existing passport used to prove their identity, a birth certificate, the name of an ancestor who was deprived of German citizenship by the Nazis, and any documents that can prove the blood relationship between the applicant and the ancestor.
Compared with other naturalization pathways, the procedure for obtaining a passport in accordance with Article 116 of the German Basic Law is much simpler, and all handling fees are waived. Applicants do not need to live in Germany, speak German, prove stable legal income, or give up their original nationality.
According to charges filed by German prosecutors, the suspect falsified his biography and family tree and applied for German citizenship with the help of several other Israeli citizens. The Federal Administration (BVA), which handles such applications, also accepts notarized copies. Investigators believe it's at this point that fraud suspects discovered and exploited the vulnerability.
"Der Spiegel" noted that it seems that multiple Israeli notaries have notarized copies of forged documents, but it is temporarily unable to verify whether this was an oversight or deliberate action. The report also pointed out that the market for intermediary services for German naturalization in Israel is huge, and various law firms and notary offices are vying to advertise the benefits of obtaining a German passport and try their best to attract customers.
"Der Spiegel" also pointed out in the report that the fraud suspects seemed to take advantage of the Germans' historical guilt: Government staff who accept naturalization applications from descendants of Nazi victims usually approve them quickly.
The whole series of immigration fraud cases were exposed and were also attributed to a murderer named Liu from China. In 2024, he kidnapped and killed two Chinese businessmen in the Philippines. One of the victims had American citizenship. The FBI discovered during the investigation that the German passports of Liu and his family seemed to have been obtained through fraud. In October 2024, Liu was arrested in the United States. During interrogation, he admitted that he could quickly naturalize in Germany in more than a year by spending only $600,000.
Liu and other fraud suspects used real life information of Nazi victims. In Germany, these materials are generally publicly available. Liu claimed that he was the grandson of Karl Siegfried Süßkind and Gertraud Süßkind.
"Der Spiegel" quoted investigators as saying that multiple fraud suspects were "affiliated" under the name of the same "ancestor." For example, the couple Karl Siegfried Süßkind and Gertraud Süßkind were assigned a "daughter" named Rosa, and she married a Chinese man named Wang and raised eight "children." The fraud suspect's method was not seamless, but rather rough: two of the eight "children" were "born" at the end of February and the end of November 1969, only 9 months apart. However, this apparently still fooled the staff of the Federal Administration.
"Der Spiegel" also found the real descendants of the Süßkind couple. They had never heard of Rosa and her Chinese husband named Wang, and expressed great indignation at the behavior of the fraud suspects.
Investigators also found that another Chinese fraud suspect also told his accomplices in a mobile phone chat that even if he was suspected by border inspection officials because he did not speak German, there was no need to worry. He only needed to explain that the passport was issued in accordance with Article 116 of the Basic Law, "because this involves the privacy of the Jews who were persecuted during World War II."
In July this year, Liu, who committed the murder, was handed over by the United States to the Chinese police and arrived in Beijing. "Der Spiegel" pointed out that the 32 suspects involved in the current investigation are likely to be just the tip of the iceberg.
