How did residents of Estonia and Latvia prove that their family settled in the country prior to 1940, in order to become citizens in 1989?
score:14
Yes, most citizens had spared some documents, or they could order a transcript from the state archives. It may be surprising, but most of the documentation survived during the war, and it was also kept in order during the Soviet rule.
Some people who were born in Abrene district, now in Russia, had to request the Russian archives for a copy of their record, but even that worked well. And those who could not provide proper documents but had witnesses or other indirect proof could go to court.
There was also some corruption and black market for faking the records, at least in Latvia in early 1990s, I remember some gangs first boasted how easy was to buy the citizenship and that got expelled when the fake was discovered.
Note that all that happened before the 1994 Citizenship law you are quoting was adopted. Until then, the law from 1919 was used, with some temporary amendments. In practice, most citizens of the first republic and their descendants had restored their political rights during 1992 and could elect Saeima in June 1993, which then adopted the new Citizenship law, and only then the naturalization of the other residents could gradually start in 1995-1998.
Upvote:6
I'm not sure how they did this in practice, but Article 13 of this Law creates a lot of tracks to become a citizen without going through naturalization:
Article 13. Exceptions to naturalization requirements
(1) After this Law comes into force, citizenship of Latvia can be individually granted to persons:
- one of whose parents is a Latvian or a Liv and who permanently reside in Latvia or have repatriated to Latvia, and to their spouses, if they have been married for at least 10 years;
- who were former USSR citizens and their direct descendants, who are permanent residents of Latvia on the day this Law comes into force and who were entitled to the citizenship of Latvia (in accordance with Article 1 of the August 23, 1919 "Law on Citizenship") but did not exercise this right, and to their spouses, if they have been married for at least 10 years;
- who legally entered Latvia and permanently resided there on June 17, 1940, and to their descendants, who on the day this Law comes into force are permanent residents of Latvia (the provisions of this Subparagraph do not apply to persons who have entered Latvia in accordance with the Mutual Assistance Pact between Latvia and the USSR of October 5, 1939);
- who, during the German occupational regime from 1941 to 1945, were forcibly transferred to Latvia and stayed there after the end of this occupational regime and to their descendants who, on the day this Law comes into force, are permanently residing in Latvia;
- who have acquired a general education in a school with the Latvian language as the language of instruction and who have permanently resided in Latvia for no less than five years as of the submission date of their application for naturalization;
- who were Lithuania or Estonia citizens on June 17, 1940 and their descendants, if they or their descendants have permanently resided in Latvia for no less than five years as of the submission date of their application for naturalization;
- who have been married to a Latvia citizen for at least ten years and who have permanently resided in Latvia for no less than five years as of the submission date of their application for naturalization
- who have an excellent command of the Latvian language in compliance with the regulations issued by the Cabinet of Ministers.
People in one of these categories could obtain citizenship without having to go through the naturalization process, i.e. through another manner according to the procedures established by law.
So, ethnic Latvians, Livs, and people fluent in Latvian didn't have to prove their families' residency in 1940. Instead, they could have applied for citizenship directly.
More post
- 📝 What factors contributed to successful colonization of Asia & Africa?
- 📝 Who were the Hermotybians and Calascirians mentioned as making up the warrior caste of Egypt by Herodotus
- 📝 Who should be the king/queen of England?
- 📝 Is Snyder's claim about Soviet-German friendship propaganda posters (1939‒41) supportable?
- 📝 Have there been negative large-scale long term effects from vaccines?
- 📝 Why has Hatutu's population never returned to the island?
- 📝 When did the Roman Empire fall according to contemporaries?
- 📝 Why was the arrival of the Hindenburg considered newsworthy?
- 📝 What was the source for Adam's children in the endnotes to Josephus' "The Antiquities of the Jews"?
- 📝 Did the Germans purposefully arrange to send Lenin to Russia to start a revolution?
- 📝 Why was Queretaro chosen as a fail-safe capital of Mexico?
- 📝 How effective were peace walls in Northern Ireland at reducing violence?
- 📝 Is there a good source for statistics of holocaust survivals?
- 📝 Did the Muslims of Granada expect their Christian conquerors to keep their promised terms?
- 📝 Help identify ship, possibly from New York area
- 📝 How did the white minority in South Africa see their situation in the apartheid times?
- 📝 Did Truman really believe that Hiroshima was a military base?
- 📝 Was there more than one way for anti-aircraft fire to shoot down a dive bomber in World War II
- 📝 African Clicking Language
- 📝 How did commoners in late medieval to early modern Europe learn to read?
- 📝 What role did Lucky Luciano play in facilitating the invasion of Sicily?
- 📝 Why didn't King Ferdinand take over Portugal during the Spanish Reconquista?
- 📝 Has there been significant progress in our knowledge of the Aztecs and/or Maya since the '60s?
- 📝 Did Muslim women in colonial India before 1939 have to become Christian to divorce?
- 📝 What do we know about the squadron that evacuated Moore's force after Corunna?
- 📝 Why couldn't soldiers sight their own weapons without officers' orders?
- 📝 How did Americans' hatred of taxes shape the country up through the Gilded Age?
- 📝 What were Egyptian rulers called before the honorific title "Pharaoh"?
- 📝 Why is Titus known as Titus?
- 📝 Is the entire history, we read, accurate?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How did residents of Estonia and Latvia prove that their family settled in the country prior to 1940, in order to become citizens in 1989?
- 📝 If salt was scarce and expensive, how did people "salt the earth" to ensure their enemies would stay defeated?
- 📝 How did the First French Empire and allies differ from the other European monarchies at that time?
- 📝 How did the Greeks and Romans move between their destinations?
- 📝 How did Jews feels in the Confederate States of America and what was their political position?
- 📝 Did any nation have a demonstrable qualitative advantage in their soldiers of the 18th century, and how did they achieve this?
- 📝 How did the British and French train their troops during the colonial eras?
- 📝 Did people from the cities of Uruk, Ur and Sumer have knowledge/recollection of how old their cities were (say, recollection after 2000 BCE)?
- 📝 What statuses did Black Africans have in the court and royal family of Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen and do their descendants survive?
- 📝 How and when did the word "nuclear" replace the word "atomic"?
- 📝 How did the USSR manage to innovate in an environment characterized by government censorship and high bureaucracy?
- 📝 When and how did the USA and the UK become allies?
- 📝 How did the ancient Romans count with their fingers?
- 📝 How would a king's servants prove that they are on a task given by the king?
- 📝 How did the American Civil War help the U.S economy recover from the Panic of 1857 given that civil wars are extremely destructive?
- 📝 How did early adopters of the automobile fill up their cars?
- 📝 How did the ruling class in the Muslim world react to the discovery and colonization of the Americas?
- 📝 When and how did the Han ethnic group become by far the biggest ethnic group in China?
- 📝 How long did it take for a diplomat to travel between Berlin and Vienna in the 1770's?
- 📝 How did the Bolsheviks fund their government?
- 📝 How quickly could the Roman legions march? How did it compare to their cavalry?
- 📝 Why did the Arabs start the 1973 War during Ramadan, and did it affect their performance?
- 📝 When did the English and Americans realize that vegetables were healthy?
- 📝 Were bookshops 'common' in the late 19th century, and how did they differ from modern ones?
- 📝 How much of an impact did the Roman emperors' civil wars have on their decision to debase the coinage?
- 📝 How did Aztec armor and weaponry match up to the Spaniards?
- 📝 How did Napoleon evade the British fleet and return to France?
- 📝 How did Moldova and Romania become separate in the first place?
- 📝 How did people say “I have to go to the bathroom” before the bathroom and pipes were common?
- 📝 How long, historically speaking, did it take to tally and report the vote?