32 Suspects Investigated for Faking Holocaust Descent to Obtain German Passports
October 11, 2026 · Frisian News
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Germany has suspended naturalisation certificates worldwide after Düsseldorf prosecutors opened an investigation into 32 suspects, at least 28 of them Chinese nationals, who allegedly bought fabricated Jewish family histories to claim citizenship under a postwar restitution law. German passports had already been issued in roughly half the cases.
Thirty-two people, at least 28 of them Chinese nationals, are under investigation in Germany for buying fabricated Holocaust family histories to obtain citizenship under a postwar restitution law, Düsseldorf prosecutors and the Federal Criminal Police Office confirmed. German citizenship had already been granted in roughly half the cases before investigators moved.
The fraud targets Article 116, Paragraph 2 of Germany's Basic Law, which entitles former German nationals stripped of citizenship between January 30, 1933, and May 8, 1945 for political, racial or religious reasons, and their descendants, to naturalisation on application. Applicants need not live in Germany, speak the language or pay a fee. That combination of moral obligation and low verification thresholds made the route attractive to people with no connection to Nazi persecution at all.
According to the investigation detailed by Der Spiegel in early September, the network identified real Jewish couples who genuinely qualified under the law, then invented two or three additional sons for them and matched those fabricated lineages to paying clients. The service was advertised on Chinese-language social media. One case illustrates the method: an Israeli psychiatrist received German citizenship in 2017 after claiming Karl Siegfried and Gertrud Süsskind as her parents. Documents show the Süsskinds arrived in Mandatory Palestine in 1936. When Der Spiegel asked her when they had arrived, she said 1948 or 1949. Liu H., a Chinese national separately investigated for kidnapping and murdering two businessmen, had also claimed descent from the same couple, obtaining citizenship in 2024 under the name Derrick Wong before U.S. authorities handed him over to Beijing on July 20.
Most suspects were already wanted in China, many for allegedly defrauding banks and individuals of large sums. A German passport opens borders across dozens of countries and offered a new identity that shielded holders from international arrest notices. Suspects now live in Cyprus, Israel, Britain and the United States. Der Spiegel's reporters received a WhatsApp threat from a British number weeks before publication: "Our revenge will be terrible, swift, unpredictable and irreversible."
Germany's Interior Ministry, led by Alexander Dobrindt of the Christian Social Union, has ordered consulates worldwide to withhold citizenship certificates under the restitution route "until further notice" and to postpone ceremonies. The ministry described the suspension as a temporary measure to protect the integrity of the process. It added that the Federal Office of Administration will "immediately initiate withdrawal proceedings" once sufficient evidence is assembled. Unlawful naturalizations can generally be revoked within 10 years.
The scale of the legitimate programme puts the fraud in context. More than 101,000 applications were filed between early 2021 and the end of March 2026, and more than 52,000 people were naturalised on this basis, according to the Interior Ministry's response to a parliamentary question from Left Party MP Ferat Kocak, as reported by The New German. The Bundesverwaltungsamt's 31-person unit in Cologne received 14,148 applications in 2025 alone, Der Spiegel reported. Officials reportedly try to assist applicants rather than requiring them to produce every original document, a practice rooted in the law's reparative purpose. Investigators say that goodwill created the gap the scheme exploited.
Prosecutors in Düsseldorf have sought legal assistance from authorities in Israel and Canada. British immigration authorities searched a suspect's residence in London earlier this year. The probe began roughly a year ago after a London resident tipped off Düsseldorf authorities about a Chinese national who had allegedly fabricated a Holocaust family tie.
Legitimate descendants may now face delays while prepared certificates are held and files are rechecked.
Published October 11, 2026 · Frisian News