Their families fled the Nazis. Facing Trump, US Jews are making Germany 'Plan B'

[BlueWavePsych]

Germany is making it easier for the descendants of victims of Nazism to obtain German citizenship, and an increasing number of American Jews are applying. While some are seeking citizenship for practical reasons or as a form of reparation, others see it as a way to escape an increasingly anti-Semitic America under US President Donald Trump.

Trump’s attempts to demonize and scapegoat segments of the population – notably immigrants, “elite” institutions like universities as well as the media – are uncomfortable echoes of 1930s prewar Germany. His insistence on abject loyalty and taking control of state, independent and cultural institutions to serve his own ends have drawn comparisons to fascist and autocratic regimes. And more than one former Trump adviser has publicly made a Nazi salute – in one case, prompting a French far-right leader to cancel a planned US speech.

"This rise of authoritarianism just parallels the rise of Hitler,” Eric Podietz, a retired, Philadelphia-based IT consultant who has applied for German citizenship, told NPR. "The squelching of speech and the academic institutions being compromised. The signs are there. It's happening."

"We’ve seen an upward trend since 2017, when Donald Trump [first] became president,” David Gill, Germany’s then consul general in New York, told the German news program Tagesschau, which covered the event. And the numbers only continue to increase. The New York consulate received 350 applications in 2016 versus 1,500 in 2024, which resulted in 700 naturalizations, according to the German Consulate General NY Instagram account.

https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20250802-families-fled-nazis-facing-trump-us-jews-making-germany-plan-b-citizenship-anti-semitism



See also:

Some American Jews whose families fled Nazis are now seeking German citizenship. Here's why

'Get out': Leading scholars flee Trump's US — cite lesson of Jews escaping Nazi Germany

[unblock]

1. My daughter is applying for Austrian citizenship, I may as well

Austria provides a relatively easy path to citizenship as my mother is already on file as a holocaust survivor.

[homegirl]

3. As a 90 year old

American who remembers WW2, please hug your mother for me. As a highschool student I had classmates and later friends who escaped, and even later neighbors who survived.

[orleans]

2. this is so sad. (i understand why and i'm so angry that this country is putting people in the position where they

feel they need to or should get the hell out of here)

[homegirl]

4. And this is why...

Masked group with swastika flags marches on State House lawn in Concord

A group of masked people carrying swastika flags marched in front of the State House and tussled with passersby in Concord Saturday, according to several eyewitnesses.

Lieutenant Mark Schneible said Concord police are investigating possible criminal activity related to the marchers, but provided no other detail.

One eyewitness, Karen Mayo, said she was downtown midday when she saw about 20 people wearing black pants and red shirts, with their faces and hands covered, marching side by side in pairs onto the State House plaza. Mayo said one person had a camera and appeared to be filming the group, and another was speaking through a megaphone.

…

A photograph shared with NHPR shows the group carrying several flags bearing swastikas and a sign that read “Trump loves Epstein."

…

https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2025-08-02/masked-group-with-swastika-flags-marches-on-state-house-lawn-in-concord

[Old Crank]

5. I know at least three families

that have gotten German citizenship or are on the way to do so.
All worried about Trump's america.

[BlueMTexpat]

6. Are they

like the canaries in a coal mine?

More need to be paying attention.