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Re: Seeking mother's passport for entrance into the US
Susannah Brooks Jan 24, 2021 7:28 PM (in response to Matthew Kirschenbaum)Could you give us her name and the name of the ship she was on?
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Re: Seeking mother's passport for entrance into the US
Matthew Kirschenbaum Jan 25, 2021 8:58 AM (in response to Susannah Brooks)Hi Susannah
Thank you for your email. I do not have the name of the ship she came to US on unfortunately-I only have the record of her 5201-A on 9-14 1948. Her city destination upon entry was Colorado Springs, CO. Where she would stay with her father, Jan Gustav Ruhtenberg before moving to NYC around 1950. Her mother's maiden name was Helmsling and her name on the her 5201-A shows as Cornelis Ruhtenberg/Helmsling. She would have gone to Sweden from Berlin after the war, but would have only been in Sweden for 1 year at the most. Probably it was shorter than a year.
There may however be another way to find her passport record. She and my father Jules Kirschenbaum were married in NYC in 1956 at which time she would also have applied for, and was granted, her US citizenship. My Father was born in the Bronx, NY March 25, 1930 to Anna Kirschenbaum/Gitlitz and Louis Kirschenbaum.
I am 95% sure she had not changed her citizenship to German during the war. Actually I do have a recollection of having her Latvian passport however if I do have it, it would be someplace in storage in Seattle, but as I am currently living in the UK and due to the pandemic, I have no possibility of traveling back to the US anytime soon to try to search for it. Thus I need some way to show proof that she was indeed still a Latvian Citizen as she entered the US.
Thank you so much for your help and response-It is greatly appreciated.
Regards
Matthew Kirschenbaum
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Re: Seeking mother's passport for entrance into the US
Susannah Brooks Jan 25, 2021 8:02 PM (in response to Matthew Kirschenbaum)When she arrived in the US she was listed as stateless, which means she was not travelling on a passport from any particular country. Most people who had been living in displaced persons camps in Europe after the war were considered stateless, because they no longer had a home (or home country) to return to.
Unfortunately the back of this card, which had some remarks is totally unreadable.
Cornelis was naturalized in the US District Court of New York on 2 May 1955.
NY City naturalizations for this time period are not on-line. With the petition number you could request her petition from the NY City Branch of the national archives, once they re-open or both her alien registration file and citizenship file from the US Citizenship & Immigration Service genealogy program Genealogy | USCIS
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Re: Seeking mother's passport for entrance into the US
Matthew Kirschenbaum Jan 27, 2021 6:11 AM (in response to Susannah Brooks)Hi Susannah
Thank you very much for this information. I will follow up with the NY Naturalization office to further my search for a record of her passport. The information you have provided is a great help and has given me a good start on my search.
Many thanks for your efforts
Sincerely,
Matthew
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Re: Seeking mother's passport for entrance into the US
Susannah Brooks Jan 27, 2021 1:11 PM (in response to Matthew Kirschenbaum)As a stateless person she would not have had a passport. She would have been issued an identity card by Sweden, if that was her last residence (although Mexico City is listed on the 5201-A card) that showed she belonged to no state. For a discussion & rules about statelessness by the United Nations go to Nationality and Statelessness.pdf (un.org)
There is also a dissertation about stateless after the two world wars at bgh49fall09 111..134 (ghi-dc.org).
The Canadian Museum of Immigration has pictures of these cards online. This is an example of one from eastern Europe in 1948 Identification Card in lieu of passport issued to Bronyslawa Bojkiwska, October 6 1948 | Pier 21
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Re: Seeking mother's passport for entrance into the US
Matthew Kirschenbaum Jan 29, 2021 6:44 AM (in response to Susannah Brooks)Hi Susannah
Since your last email I have also had a discussion with the Latvian Consulate in London which has also provided some great information on obtaining my mother's birth records online through the Latvian Ministry, which (along with the information you provided regarding her entry to the US as "Stateless") will be sufficient in proving her nationality.
The last piece of this puzzle will be to provide a record of her marriage to my father, Jules Kirschenbaum and thus showing proof of her "official" name change in the US which I can then use to verify my birthright as her son to apply for a inherited citizenship in Latvia.
Is there any way to find online her marriage certificate from NY or will I need to contact the NY dept of records directly? They were married in 1956.
Thanks again for all your help!
Regards
Matthew
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Re: Seeking mother's passport for entrance into the US
Susannah Brooks Jan 29, 2021 11:32 AM (in response to Matthew Kirschenbaum)I'm glad that you will be able to obtain the records that you need.
This is from the index to NYC marriages (note mis-spelling of his name when you make a request)
Name: Jules Kirschembaum Gender: Male Marriage License Date: 1956 Marriage License Place: Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA Spouse: Cornelis Ruhtenberg License Number: 16414 This website tell one how to request a marriage records Marriage Records - City Clerk (nyc.gov)
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Re: Seeking mother's passport for entrance into the US
Cara JensenJan 26, 2021 11:03 AM (in response to Matthew Kirschenbaum)
Dear Mr. Kirschenbaum,
Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!
We searched the National Archives Catalog and located Alien Case Files, 1944 - 2003 in the Records of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (Record Group 566) that include some digitized records and are available via the Catalog. For access to the non-digitized records, please contact the National Archives at Kansas City (RM-KC) via email at kansascity.archives@nara.gov.
We also located 2 series of Alien Case Files, 1944 - 1959 in the Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (Record Group 85) that have not been digitized. For access to these records, please contact the National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference (RDT2) via email at archives2reference@nara.gov.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to guidance received from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), NARA has adjusted its normal operations to balance the need of completing its mission-critical work while also adhering to the recommended social distancing for the safety of NARA staff. As a result of this re-prioritization of activities, you may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgement as well as a substantive response to your reference request from RM-KC & RDT2. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience.
A-Files occasionally contain passport records and can document immigration to the US. If the NARA Catalog does not contain a complete A-File for your mother, we suggest that you submit a request to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Genealogy Program to obtain a copy of her Alien Files (A-Files) using the information from the file unit located in the Catalog.
If a record is not located in the NARA Catalog, we suggest that you request an index search through the USCIS Genealogy Program to identify any naturalization records for your mother. You also may order any records using the same site.
We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your family research!
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Re: Seeking mother's passport for entrance into the US
Matthew Kirschenbaum Jan 27, 2021 6:13 AM (in response to Cara Jensen)Hi Cara
Thank for the added information and links. I will indeed follow up with both branches to further my search.
Best Regards,
Matthew
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