Einbürgern und Ausschließen. Staatsangehörigkeit und Bürgerrecht in Deutschland während des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts

Abstract

Abstract Naturalizing and excluding. Nationality and citizenship law in 19th and 20th century Germany. Nationality law in Germany came up as a legal institution of German federal states at the beginning of 19th century and underwent a process of nationalization. The principle of descent (Abstammungsprinzip), which was – before a legal reform in 2000 – hegemonic, was used to define German nationality primarily as a community of ethno-cultural descent. This restrictive use of German nationality law did not establish, however, a direct line of conceptual and political continuity between ‘ethno-cultural’ and ‘racial’ criteria, and it was primarily based on a politico-social constellation of political, demographic and national instability, not on a specific German national discourse.