Kaufmann v Augustenborg Town Council

• Docket Number: Case No. 140
• Date: 07 June 1923
• Court: Southern Provincial Court (Denmark)

Denmark, Southern Provincial Court.

Case No. 140

Kaufmann

and

Augustenborg Town Council.

Nationality — Option — Form of Application —“Habitually Resident”— Article 113 of the Treaty of Versailles — Interpretation.

The Facts.—Article 113 of the Treaty of Versailles makes provision for the declaration of options for Danish and German nationality respectively in connection with the cession of Northern Schleswig to Denmark. The Danish Law No. 474 of 5 September, 1920 (Lovtidende, p. 1555), enacted to give effect to this Article, provided that persons who on 15 June, 1920, were in “habitual residence” in Northern Schleswig should acquire Danish nationality. Persons born in Northern Schleswig, but not resident there on the date mentioned, could opt for Danish nationality before 15 June, 1922. Detailed rules for the contents of the statement to be made by optants were given in a Danish circular No. 259 of 22 September, 1920 (Ministerialtidende, p. 335).

In May, 1920, the plaintiff left her native town of Augustenborg in Northern Schleswig from motives of economy and went to Germany, at first as a house-keeper, and later as a guest of her relatives. She owned a house at Augustenborg, and her furniture was still there, stored in a room, whilst the rest of the house was let to strangers. In May, 1922, she wrote to the Danish Ministry of the Interior requesting the Danish Government to “accept me as a Danish citizen.” This application was...