Why does my address appear as part of my name 2510

were is the important word here.

Germany was not an orderly state before 1990.

Germany was the last major nation in Europe to be united, and there were outlying bits of Germans all over Europe. Norway , Denmark, Belguim, Holland, Luxembourg, France, Italy, Poland, Russia, Baltics, Hungary, Ukraine, Roumania and Czeckoslovakia all had german minorites of smaller or larger size.

The union between german states that existed up until WW1 did not have neat structures or borders. Just like the French with their logic, the Germans didn't apply order to the German state itself.

The right to german citizenship was woolly defined, and this right was extended along to everyone remotely connected with germany. There was also significant differences between the states that formed Germany.

This German state was crushed from the defeat in 1918 and the subsequent peace terms and currency crash. The regime from 1933 didn't solve these problems, rather to the contrary, they made them orders of magnitude worse through a rampant expansionism.

WW2 and all that.

Which led to the German State being totally obliterated. From 1945 to 1952(?) there was no german state. Then there were two, divided states on around 70% of the territory Germany perviously occupied.

Around 40 million people of German descent were refugees in this process; around half the total population.

A proper, orderly, well defined german state was only brought into existance October 3rd, 1990. The last remnants of germans outside the borders were silently given citizenships and were resettled inside the new Germany.

Now, the "aussiedlers" are history, except for a few stalewarts that refuse to leave. All the yougsters have either decided to be buttimilated or have gone "home".

-- mrr