Getting citizenship …as fast as possible…for lots of people THOUGH NOT FOR ME… I WAS BORN GERMAN BUT HAD NO CERTIFICATE, IS ALL!!!
It…isn’t about lack of commitment… But of taking risks on behalf of a commitment to something a bit bigger praps, than nationality. i.e.
… Commitment to EUROPE. to living and working …in peace…with a bunch of individual nations, that in the past have cut each other to fragments.
Nothing clever, brave or upstanding…in avoiding the opportunity to belong to a larger ID than the one with the little ticket that gave you the right to stay on home territory!
And no, it was not a joke. Not for anyone… anywhere, being considered for potentially losing all they have/need.
I WAS BORN GERMAN BUT HAD NO CERTIFICATE, IS ALL!!!
Thinking about it… I’m somewhat surprised you have not needed a certificate until now… 
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If you have another nationality the question doesn’t arise unless eg you are liable to do military service.
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It never occurred to me that *Now"…needed any other certificate than a British Passport. I have two nationalities. Born in London with half German family. I felt very sad that the German half went through such incredibly horrible times, but that never occurred to me much either, until recent years, reading more about it, discovering how it feels to be an immigrant…Not allowed to work then, and now, , many put into camps…then and now… …many drowned when deported, a big ship full was sunk. Drowning commonplace, now. Often barely noticed.
No one told me anything, much… because it was always a half secret, ‘pretend to be French, if anyone asks’…One aunt never ever allowed anyone to talk about our German ness…
So 7/8 plus, years ago, I joined ‘Ancestry’ and got my grandfathers birth cert. From his village, that must have been very much like my villages, close by, now. Now? I’m not an enthusiastic reader of politics. I know more about USA than UK, because most of my pals are Americans, and other nats. Suddenly, I was getting quite urgent sounding messages, from the Germany Embassy, I thought…eight years must be long enough for anyone to file old bits of paper about my grandpa. But, instead, what was happening, was not a clear out of old files, but the big upsurge of interest in becoming European… My files went with the tide, I suppose thousands of dual nationality people, were maybe insisting…"get it all sorted before no deal!!
They were all so nice…I got matey letters from offices in Germany …in German…which can be translated pretty well, by Google, and I thought it was like a club. They asked me for last bits of information, about my father, about me… I didn’t think anything more would come of it…because there had never been any suggestion that I would get a German certificate, let alone a full European passport…based on my opinion that I was half German, without the documents to prove it. However the last couple of rushed-through bits…were all it took.
I suppose I could have fixed it years ago…but just left the process in their hands. So I was amazed when they sent my declaration! It was a kind of last minute reprieve, from being cast out of Europe, that I had never dreamed of! I have only begun to understand a bit more about how that can affect my life, quite recently…seeing the prefecture people, giving it all a second look! Amazing!
Well! wonderful! I think about the horrible stuff my dad had to bear as an infant, and his family, and I’m sure it would make them all very happy, to know I’m better taken care of, now. Anyway…can’t wait, now to trip over and take a look around. But here in my tiny ex watermill… as real European, is “home”…
Sorry… forgot you had a British Nationality already… and the lack of the German document obviously never arose in your “past”…
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Jeanette the real reason that the take up of dual nationality was such a rush in Germany is that it is only available to citizens of other EU countries.
After the Brexit vote all those living and working in Germany with a British passport had to move quickly.
This included our elder daughter who lives and works in Munich.
Obviously, they had no idea that the whole performance would be so tortuous and strung out and that we would still be in the EU.
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…gosh…you mean that I was a whole lot luckier than I could ever dream of?!
Although…I think its true…that the rule will continue that anyone with German parentage, will be German whatever happens, still.
I don’t know for sure, but the embassy bloke said my son and the Grandchildren, (maybe wife too)…would all inherit my German-ness.
…it used to be only German fathers, that counted…
But anyone hoping to acquire German nationality, in the other usually available ways, like living/working in Germany xyz years …speaking OK German…won’t be able to get dual nationality, any more? That’s going to be a mess for so many. It wouldn’t have occurred to me to do anything about it. I still don’t really know what diffs it makes…
I investigated possible “bad” outcomes…but could find only one.
German is a top pop ID to carry… 177 countries welcome that passport.
Our daughter has been there for over twenty years and is married to an Austrian .
She has had two boys and is the Managing Director of an investment subsidiary of Allianz, the huge insurance company.
She had to take a language exam despite having a 1st class honours degree in International Business with German .
Even with her track record she had to prove that she was integrated.
Obviously, you have the German ancestry, but the ruling that you can only apply for dual nationality if you are a citizen of another EU. Country meant that there was a huge rush to get in before the UK leaves the EU.
All totally mad and causing so many people to take a path that they believed would never be necessary.
Those who voted for Brexit have a lot to answer for.
I’m sorry …it must have been very stressful, for all of you. Germany seemed to be one of the most helpful nations, in the matter…but living the reality, is never as it just ‘appears’… The current glee in welcoming Nigel Farage, looks worrying, but I have small idea about the issues that seem to trouble everyone most. One reason I think I love best, France …is its laïcité (?) Toleration of all religions, but no political involvement? That’s just an impression!
. UK seemed to me to be creating a Brexit, in mixing religion with politics. Yes! The horrendous costs of all of it, although I’m glad to see that …inspite of so much fuzzy thinking, more people than I can ever remember, are talking, thinking, getting into ‘taking part’…?
Apathy …subservience…high handedness/superiority…can it all be fading away? 
…no I suppose not…
In a word, no.
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