Spur

Chance at German citizenship

If you had a German ancestor, we look for their naturalization document and cross-check archives with church books for a trail toward German citizenship by descent.

Check my line How it works

Why so many cases exist

In 1941–1945, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans went through German naturalization. Surviving personal files cover about 2 million people — for some, descendants can still build on that trail.

~2M

personal naturalization files (estimate from surviving 1939–1945 holdings; peak filings 1941–1945)

1 anchor

a documentary trail for the ancestor — the start of your line check

How the line runs

Citizenship follows a birth chain: an ancestor with status, then generations down to you.

  1. Ancestor
  3. Grandparent
  4. Parent
  5. You
  6. Descendants

Where descendants’ citizenship can come from

If an ancestor’s Einbürgerungsurkunde survives — the naturalization certificate, official proof they were admitted to German citizenship — under the law that status could pass to children and further by birth.

Spur looks for that anchor and helps assemble a file for Feststellung der deutschen Staatsangehörigkeit (short: Feststellung): the German procedure that confirms a descendant’s citizenship through the ancestor’s line.

How we search

  • Name/surname (often in different spellings) and year or range.
  • Church books — German and local name forms next to the date.
  • German and Soviet archival naturalization records.
  • Matching surname variants and year windows across the records.

Report: found / not found / similar name or surname. On “not found” we return 40% of the donation.

What you get

A concrete result on your ancestor, and a clear next step if a trail exists.

  1. German archive and church-book cross-check A factual answer: found / not found / similar record.
  2. Ancestor details from the archive If found — key data and references for the Einbürgerungsurkunde / naturalization file.
  3. Fast document request from the German archive We can continue with you: request the ancestor’s naturalization certificate and prepare a Feststellung package.
  4. Online walkthrough of the Feststellung file What authorities usually ask for, and how to find birth records and extracts further down the line.
  5. Ongoing work together If you want — we keep going until the document set is complete.

How it works

  1. Leave a name and years — even approximate.
  2. Donate — it covers review time; amount affects turnaround.
  3. Get the report by email.

Request & donation

Donation covers review time. Higher amount → earlier in the queue. Minimum 5 000 ₽. If we find no records, we return 40% of the donation.

Amount & priority

Check my line