u/Foreverlearnin97

GGM:
Date, place of birth: 1915 (probably Austro-Hungary)
Ethnicity and religion: Polish, Jewish maybe German
Occupation: Unknown
Allegiance and dates of military service: None
Date, destination for emigration: 1950→ USA
Date naturalized: After 1950 (exact date unknown
Date, place of death: 1988 USA Michigan

GF:
Date, place of birth: Dec 5 1936, Stanislawow Poland (Currant day: Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine)
Date married: 1960-70s
Citizenship of spouse: USA
Divorced: yes
Allegiance and dates of military service: United States, Air Force late 50s early 60s
Date, destination for emigration: 1950 New Orleans
Date naturalized: naturalized but unknown
Date, place of death: May 4, 2026 USA

Parent:
Sex: Male
Date, place of birth: 1976, USA
Date married: [optional]
Date divorced: N/A

You:
Sex: Male
Date, place of birth: 1997, USA

I believe I might be eligible for a Polish citizenship, but I am missing birth records for my grandpa and great grandmother. I’m very new to this so any advice would be greatly appreciated on where to start and where to spend my time. Or If I’m even eligible. Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,
I’ve been researching a possible German citizenship restitution case under Section 15 StAG and wanted to get some opinions from people here who are more experienced with these applications.
My family was Jewish and lived in Stanislawów (then in Galicia/Poland, today Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine) during the Nazi occupation in WWII. They were forced into the ghetto, later went into hiding, survived the war, spent time in DP camps, and eventually immigrated to the US in early 1951.
What caught my attention is the situation in Distrikt Galizien between 1941–1944. From what I’ve read, the Nazi administration carried out collective naturalizations (Sammeleinbürgerung) through the Deutsche Volksliste, granting German citizenship to large numbers of local non-Jewish residents.
My understanding is that Jews living in the exact same jurisdiction were categorically excluded from those mass naturalizations solely on racial grounds. Section 15 Nr. 2 StAG seems to specifically address exclusion from collective naturalizations, and I found the BVerwG 1 C 18.99 case, which appears to say that discriminatory exclusion of Jews from regional mass naturalizations can create a restitution claim.
The complication is that my family had no German ancestry or “Volksdeutsche” background at all — they were Polish Jews from Galicia. So this would not be a standard Article 116 or descent-based case.
Does this sound like a plausible Section 15 argument, or am I stretching the interpretation too far? Has anyone here seen successful claims based specifically on exclusion from Sammeleinbürgerung/Deutsche Volksliste naturalizations in occupied Poland/Galicia or any where else?
I already have most of the family records and document chain, but I’m trying to figure out whether the legal theory itself is realistic before investing further into the process.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.