Citizenship
While East Germany established an East German citizenship as part of its second constitution in 1967, a distinct West German citizenship did not exist. Instead, West Germany continued the definition of pre-WW2 German citizenship for all ethnic or naturalised Germans in West Germany, East Germany or any part of Berlin. So while West Berlin was not unanimously regarded as part of the Federal Republic, its citizens were treated like West German citizens by West German authorities, save for the limitations imposed by West Berlin's legal status.
This meant that West Berliners could circumvent some of these limitations if they had a second home in West Germany proper. For example, they could vote in Bundestag elections and they could be conscripted into West German military service.
Read more about this topic: West Berlin
Famous quotes containing the word citizenship:
“Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter we are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great title is AMERICANS—our inferior one varies with the place.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)
“To see self-sufficiency as the hallmark of maturity conveys a view of adult life that is at odds with the human condition, a view that cannot sustain the kinds of long-term commitments and involvements with other people that are necessary for raising and educating a child or for citizenship in a democratic society.”
—Carol Gilligan (20th century)
“Bohemia is nothing more than the little country in which you do not live. If you try to obtain citizenship in it, at once the court and retinue pack the royal archives and treasure and move away beyond the hills.”
—O. Henry [William Sydney Porter] (1862–1910)