Dual(national)ity Tanya Ury 2000 English version

At the end of 1999 I moved to another flat. I had already been living in Cologne for some time. After the move I had a load of cardboard boxes left.

My neighbour, the artist Bageritz, called round to collect them.

I wanted him to have them, because he and his girlfriend were also about to move.

We sat for a while, drinking tea and chatting. He noticed the postcards lying on the table.

I said: "There's a series of these gratis postcards distributed by the German government, about the German citizenship laws that came into force in the year 2000. I collect them.

I'm interested in them, because I already have English/German dual-nationality, which is unusual.

I got it even before I had ever lived in Germany because my parents were German Jews.

The new laws are not very promising. If so-called 'foreigners', who may have been living in Germany for many years, choose to opt for German citizenship, they would have to give up rights in their country of origin."

He said: "You know the woman pictured on the postcard is an old girlfriend of mine... we were together for several years.

She's also an artist. Her name is Soon-Sa, but hardly anyone could pronounce her name here.

So she decided to re-name herself. She calls herself 'Chris' now."
I said: "The name Chris sounds very Christian."

He answered: "She comes from South-Korea where there are a lot of Buddhists, Shamans but also a lot of Christians. Chris is a Christian."

He continued: "The guy on the photo isn't really her boy-friend. She's together with someone else.

The people who made these postcards, found her boyfriend too 'foreign'-looking; he had dark hair... he didn't look 'German' enough, although he really is German.

Yes well... and the guy on the photo who's supposed to be so 'Typically German', ‚Typisch Deutsch'... you know... he isn't even German; he's Italian."