Otto consciously rejects initiating the process to attain US citizenship. If you’re a US citizen, how did that make you feel? If you’re an immigrant who has attained citizenship or is in the process of obtaining it, how did you feel about his decision?
I felt really sorry for Otto about rejecting the process of obtaining citizenship. I have taught immigrants how to pass that test, and I’ve read the application they have to fill out. If you came to the U.S. primarily for economic reasons, I think that might make you less willing to reject your native country. I don’t think that makes you a less valuable person in the country. After all, he had relatives there, and family matters.
This makes me think about my own ancestors who came to this country from England and Wales about six generations ago. I guess I have always assumed that they were eager to become U.S. citizens, but perhaps it was a bigger decision than I realized. This story certainly points out how crazy things can become in wartime.
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Some of my ancestors were in this country before the American Revolutionary War. They came for various reasons, e.g. to escape, to renew, to risk, to realize. Not all became citizens once that option was available, but the later generations took pride in being an American even though they weren’t legally a citizen and spoke Norwegian as their first language. To them being an American citizen wasn’t a piece of paper but a commitment to our country and values.
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I wish I’d been able to speak with my Hungarian grandparents about this. At least two of them barely spoke English, so I’m wondering if in their case there was a language barrier to becoming citizens. In fact, I’m not even sure if any of my four grandparents were citizens.
In Otto’s case, no, I guess I don’t really understand why he was so reluctant to obtain citizenship in the country he was living in. Then again, I imagine it was a more challenging process before the computer age.
The process might have been more challenging. The issue Otto faced was giving up his German citizenship. If he could have kept it, too, he might have become an American. I don’t understand the circumstances allowing some people to retain both their birth citizenship and American citizenship. I’d appreciate knowing how this is possible in U.S. Anyone have examples or experiences?
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I think I understand Otto’s decision. If it became difficult or impossible for me to stay in the United States for political reasons, and I immigrated to another country, I would always have strong ties to America and hope I would be able to return to my homeland when the political situation changed.
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It is a challenge to give up a person’s homeland. Dual citizen wouldn’t work for the Austs in this book. If I had to leave the US, I would not want to adopt a new country for many years.
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To the degree that homeland is intertwined with personal identity (consciously or unconsciously), I think the decision to take the seemingly irreversible step of allegiance to another country in terms of citizenship will always be a complicated decision. I understand Otto.
As an American who recently obtained residency in another country, with the hopefully eventual opportunity to become a citizen, I know it is not a decision I will make lightly. Only time will tell.
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It was hard for me to understand why Otto did not want to become a citizen especially during this time period meaning the events of century, He could have made a more secure life for himself and his family. I know my parents appreciated their citizenship after being able to escape Germany.
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I agree, I fully understand Otto’s decision. Loyalty was a key quality of his personality, so taking an oath to a new country was more of an oath against his family and love of tradition and history of his former home. I think it is so much easier if you are born in a country, then you don’t have that strong pull to your former home,
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