Dear all,

This question about people who emigrated >from what is know Latvia, as well
as other areas of the former Russian empire, and didn't receive a
citizenship in their new country might be unusual for descendants in USA,
but for people like me who are living in Scandinavia this is not at all
uncommon. Many of the Jewish immigrants who arrived in Scandinavia around
1900 (before the fall of the Russian empire) never became citizens in their
new country. I will examplify with my great grandfather, Samuel Katzeff, who
was born in 1875 in Pärnu (today in Estonia, back then in Livland
guberniya).

Samuel Katzeff came to Sweden in 1897. Here he stayed until 1913 without
applying for Swedish citizenship. >from 1913 he lived in Denmark and during
that period he applied for citizenship twice:

*In 1931 he sent away an application to the government in Estonia applying
for Estonian citizenship. He's said to have had a Russian citizenship that
was lost when the Russian empire fell into pieces after the Russian
revolution. If he had lived in Estonia when they got their freedom in 1918
he would automatically have become an Estonian citizen, but as he lived in
Denmark in 1918 he instead became stateless! Samuel's application in 1931
was rejected as he didn't live in Estonia.
*In 1941, one year after the Germans had occupied Denmark, he applied for
Danish citizenship. He's then referred to as being stateless and to prove
that shows the Estonian papers >from 1931. Samuel's application >from 1941 was
also rejected, so when he died in Copenhagen, Denmark i 1946 he was an alien
without any citizenship!

I'm sure many other Scandinavians with Eastern European roots can tell
similar stories about their ancestors. In Scandinavia, and certainly also in
other Western European countries, it wasn't that easy to become a citizen of
the new country as in the US!

Best regards,

Adam Katzeff,
Malmoe, Sweden

adam.katzeff@...

Researching:
GOLDBERG: Papile, Lithuania; Cesis, Latvia; Tallinn, Estonia; Glasgow,
Scotland; Sweden; Denmark; PA+WI, USA.
KATSEV/KATZEFF/KATZOFF/KACEV: Papile, Lithuania; Cesis+Riga, Latvia;
Pärnu+Tallinn, Estonia; Glasgow, Scotland; Sweden; Denmark; MA+GA+NY+CA,
USA.
NEMCHENOK/NEMCHENKO: Yanovichi+Surazh+Velizh+Vitebsk, Belarus; Paris,
France; Sweden; Denmark; NY, USA.