u/Middle-Food3763

So I just received a response from Budapest today. I hadn’t heard anything in almost 9 months after my verification of citizenship meeting.

Out of the blue they denied Hungarian citizenship verification application by descent, and I’m waiting on the formal legal reasoning from Budapest.

Based on the wording from the consulate, I suspect they may argue that my grandfather lost Hungarian citizenship under postwar legislation affecting ethnic Germans (possibly Act X of 1947 or related laws).
I’m trying to understand how this would legally apply to a case like his.

Facts:

Grandfather born in Hungary: 29 November 1932
Ethnic German family from Hungary
Expelled/forcibly relocated to Soviet-controlled Germany in 1947, before his 15th birthday (so age 14)
He did not voluntarily move to Germany
As far as I know, he never acquired East German/German citizenship
Later records continued to identify him as Hungarian, including:
IRO / Arolsen refugee-emigration records (1951)
U.S. immigration records (1951)
U.S. naturalization documents (1957)

My questions:
If Budapest cites Act X of 1947 (or related postwar citizenship laws), would those provisions automatically have applied to a 14-year-old minor expelled with his family?

Did these laws automatically terminate citizenship, or were some of them primarily about expulsion/property/confiscation?

Would forced relocation to Soviet-controlled Germany by itself have caused loss of Hungarian citizenship, even if the person later continued to be documented internationally as Hungarian and apparently never became German?

Is there any historical/legal distinction for minor children expelled with their parents?

I’m hoping to appeal the decision and just trying to understand everything in the process.

Hi everyone,

I’m researching my great-grandmother Anna Metzinger, née Gantner, born 1 August 1910 in Zsablja / Žabalj, formerly Yugoslavia, now Serbia. Her husband was Adam Metzinger, born 1 October 1908, also from Zsablja / Žabalj.

Adam died in German military service on 24 August 1944. His death was formally registered by Standesamt I Berlin, Sterbeurkunde No. 1026/1945. After the war, Anna and her children were expelled from Yugoslavia, spent time in the Ulm area of Germany around 1946–1950, and emigrated to the United States in March 1950.

I am trying to locate Anna Metzinger’s German war widow pension / BVG / Versorgungsamt file. Family history and German records indicate she received a German widow’s pension for decades, including after moving to the United States.

A Bundesarchiv grave-registration card contains a later notation dated 17 November 1960 referencing:
Versorgungsamt Bremen
File reference: 7/22-M.0483

I already tried one Bremen email address, but it bounced. I have now contacted the likely successor office, but I’m wondering whether anyone here has experience locating old German Versorgungsamt, BVG, war widow pension, or overseas pension payment files.

I am especially trying to determine:
Which Bremen authority or archive may now hold old Versorgungsamt Bremen pension files

Whether BVG war widow files were transferred to a state archive, municipal archive, or retained by successor social offices

Whether files for pension recipients living abroad, especially in the United States, were handled by a special office

Whether the reference 7/22-M.0483 looks like a pension/Versorgungsamt file number

Any tips for wording the request or identifying the correct successor authority

Related records I have already located/requested:
Standesamt I Berlin death registration for Adam Metzinger

Bundesarchiv Gräberkartei records

Arolsen Archives displaced-person documentation

SS Veendam passenger manifest listing the family as stateless in 1950

Bundesarchiv Invenio Lastenausgleich files for Anna and Adam Metzinger

Requests pending with Bundesarchiv, Arolsen, DRK, and other German archives

Any guidance on where old Versorgungsamt Bremen / BVG widow pension records might be held today would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I’ve spent the last few years specializing in a particularly tough niche: 20th-century German archival research, specifically focusing on the post-WWII era.

I recently finished a deep dive into the records of my own family tracing their journey from Yugoslavia through German displacement camps and eventually to the U.S. In the process, I’ve become very familiar with navigating:

• Arolsen Archives and DP camp registration.
• Heimatvertriebene (Expellee) documentation and transit records.
• German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv) and military-related inquiries.
• Navigating German privacy laws (Personenstandsgesetz) for 20th-century birth/marriage/death certificates.

If you have ancestors who were "stateless" after the war or were part of the Danube Swabian diaspora and you've hit a wall, I’d love to help you dig into the archives.

Feel free to send me a DM if you'd like to discuss a specific search or need advice on which German archive to contact!