Editing Right of return (section)

=== Germany ===
{{see also|German Citizenship Project}}
[[German law]] allows (1) people descending from [[Reichsdeutsche|German nationals]] of any ethnicity or (2) people of ethnic German descent and living in countries of the former [[Warsaw Pact]] (as well as Yugoslavia) the right to "return" to Germany and ("re")claim German citizenship ({{lang|de|Aussiedler/Spätaussiedler}}, "late emigrants"). After legislative changes in late 1992 this right is ''[[de facto]]'' restricted to ethnic Germans from the former Soviet Union. As with many legal implementations of the right of return, the "return" to Germany of individuals who may never have lived in Germany based on their ethnic origin or their descent from German nationals has been controversial. The law is codified in paragraph 1 of Article 116 of the [[Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany]], which provides access to German citizenship for anyone "who has been admitted to the territory of the German Reich within the boundaries of December 31, 1937, as a refugee or expellee of German ethnic origin or as the spouse or descendant of such person".<ref name="Germany Basic Law">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bundestag.de/blob/284870/ce0d03414872b427e57fccb703634dcd/basic_law-data.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304075359/https://www.bundestag.de/blob/284870/ce0d03414872b427e57fccb703634dcd/basic_law-data.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Basic Law|archivedate=March 4, 2016}}</ref> Those territories had [[Poles in Germany|a Polish minority]], which also had German citizenship and [[Territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II|after World War II lived in Poland]]. These Polish people are also {{lang|de|Aussiedler}} or {{lang|de|Spätaussiedler}} and came [[History of Poland (1945–1989)#Final decade of the Polish People's Republic (1980–1989)|especially in the 1980s]] to Germany, see [[Emigration from Poland to Germany after World War II]]. For example [[Lukas Podolski]] and [[Eugen Polanski]] became German citizens by this law.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.expolis.de/schlesien/texte/simonides.html|title=Gibt es ein oberschlesisches Ethnikum?|access-date=15 July 2016|archive-date=15 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180715235805/http://www.expolis.de/schlesien/texte/simonides.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Paragraph 2 of Article 116 also provides that "Former German citizens who between 30 January 1933 and 8 May 1945 were deprived of their citizenship on political, racial or religious grounds, and their descendants, shall on application have their citizenship restored".<ref name="Germany Basic Law"/> The historic context for Article 116 was the eviction, following [[World War II]], of an estimated 9 million foreign ethnic Germans from other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Another 9 million German nationals in the [[historical eastern Germany|former eastern German territories]], over which [[Joseph Stalin]] and eastern neighbour states extended military hegemony in 1945, were [[expulsion of Germans after World War II|expelled]] as well. These expellees and refugees, known as {{lang|de|[[Heimatvertriebene]]}}, were given refugee status and documents, and&mdash;as to foreign ethnic Germans&mdash;also West German citizenship (in 1949), and resettled in West Germany. The [[Federation of Expellees|discussion of possible compensation]] continues; this, however, has been countered by possible claims for war compensation from Germany's eastern neighbours, pertaining to both Germany's unconditional surrender and the series of population transfers carried out under the instruments of [[Potsdam Conference|Potsdam]]. Between 1950 and 2016 it is estimated that up to 1,445,210 {{lang|de|Aussiedler/Spätaussiedler}} and their family members, including many [[Polish people|ethnic Poles]] according to Deutsche Welle<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/pl/emigracja-z-polski-do-niemiec-liczna-i-prawie-niewidoczna/a-16181647|title=Emigracja z Polski do Niemiec liczna i prawie niewidoczna|publisher=Deutsche Welle|access-date=28 June 2019}}</ref> (for example [[Lukas Podolski]] and [[Eugen Polanski]]), emigrated from Poland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bpb.de/61643|title=Zuzug von (Spät-)Aussiedlern und ihren Familienangehörigen|date=1 April 2018|publisher=[[Federal Agency for Civic Education]]|language=de}}</ref>