INTERNATIONAL LAW-STATUS OF GERMANY-NATIONALITY LAWS-VOTING IN GERMAN ELECTION AS FORFEITURE OF UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP

Petitioner, an American citizen living in Germany, voted in the January 27, 1946 election of local officials in Rodach, Germany, American Zone of Occupation, held under the direction and with the approval of the Office of Military Government for Bavaria. Petitioner was issued a certificate of loss of nationality, based on section 801(e) of the Nationality Act of 1940, which provides that American nationality is lost through "voting in a political election in a foreign state." Held, petitioner had not lost her citizenship. The Rodach election was held in "territory then ruled and governed by the United States and was held by permission and under the direction and by the authority of the United States" and was not a political election in a foreign state within the meaning of section 801(e). Brehm v. Acheson, Secretary of State, (D.C. Tex.

1950) 90 F. Supp. 662.