Three Days Later

I was now 20 years old.  I had spent over 2 years in conflict with the US Army over insisting I had to take human life.  I had won the war only on a technicality but I lost all peace in my life in the process.  Part of this was the relentless stress of being hounded by the Army but equally was the fear I would die as Boston had died (my friend whom died for not revealing where I was).  I was seeing the handwriting on the wall and I knew ‘the man’ was going to win - eventually. 

As I arrived back at my apartment, on the day of the judgment, not with joy but with utter exhaustion – all I wanted was peace.  Instead, I found an invitation to attend a hearing at Immigration and Naturalization in Seattle in three days.  It sure looked like the US government was not done with me yet!

I filled out the reams of paperwork as best I could, in triplicate, and three days later appeared again in Federal Court.  I fully expected to be expelled from the country, I could think of no other reason for this command appearance.  With resignation I knew they were going to send me to East Germany, a country I did not know, but where a future country would be that my father had been captured in at the end of WWII.  I was filled with dread.

Instead of the judge I had faced for two years, this one was a woman apparently with no knowledge of what I had just gone through.  The hearing it turned out was to strip me of my German citizenship!  This had to have been instigated by the Army, as I could of no other reason for this to happen at this particular time.  Had they expected to get me if I was no longer a German citizen?  I was very confused now…

But, the judge was confounded because I fell under several exception clauses concerning US citizenship.  In 1946, the British, Canadians and US had cut a deal with German scientists – they and their children could be citizens of one of those nations, as well as, retaining their German nationality at 21 years old – if the father’s supported the Allied cause.  But, having grown up in West Germany I had  the required number of years to proclaim German citizenship independent of treaty as both conditions had been met.  To further complicate matters, my grandfather (mother’s father) had been born on the Umatilla Indian Reservation!  So I bore Native American status.  Nothing about my life is easy!

Now, I was born on Federal soil, but not on US soil, so the US citizenship part was not automatically granted – under the pre-1982 INS laws for a child of foreign parents.  Under a 1922 Congressional Law, I was automatically a US citizen for being over ¼ American Indian and being born on Federal soil – but not US soil.  And because of these exceptions, I have no birth certificate – just a NATO declaration of being born to foreign parents on US soil!  Plus mother was a British citizen.  What a mess!

I was called in before the judge:

“Do you renounce your German citizenship?”

“This is not required under the US treaty of 1946.”

“Do you renounce your other citizenships?”  Here she was referring to my status as a member of the Umatilla Nation, since she did not know I was also a Swiss national by birth – which is what tipped me off that the Army was behind this.

Again my answer was the same but by Congressional decree of 1922 this time.  (My college admissions counselor had told me about this one!)

“Very well, then.  I have the power to grant your petition for US citizenship, “ (was that what I filled out?)  “…and to grant you status as a multi-national.  However, your retaining your German citizenship is a problem, because we have gone to war twice in this past century with Germany and there is no reason to expect we will not do so again!  So, in the event of a third war with Germany, I can promise you that you will be the very first (insert very rude language here!) to be tossed into a POW camp!”  This last part was issued screaming, while standing and pointing her gavel at me.  Someone was having a bad hair day apparently…

I was very relieved to suddenly have my US citizenship status addressed.  I was now a real American citizen, which I was supposed to have been all along.  Too weird…  But, then nothing in my life has been very normal.

Dutchman and Swede both really enjoyed the part of the tirade about putting me into a camp!  Preferably one where “long sleeved white coats are issued…”, they teased.

The next day, back at school, I found out the government, as a parting shot, had managed to get my scholarship canceled and me fired from my job.  I assumed this was due to Army prompting, as the only reason I was given was that “they” had told them to!  I was on a BIA educational grant – so it was yet another complication I had to address.  My teachers all allowed me to continue my classes and take the tests until the mess was straightened out so I would not lose the semester.  I managed to get the grant back within a matter of weeks but the job part was to be a real problem to overcome in 1975’s economy.