ROME (EJP)---Umberto Vorchheimer, a 72-year-old Philadelphia resident, left Italy at the age of 7 after being expelled from the country and losing his citizenship for being a Jew.
65 years later, Vorchheimer would like to claim his Italian citizenship back, but things seem to be more complicated for him, a former Italian, than for other people who have never been citizens before.
The son of a wealthy German businessman who was naturalized Italian in 1936, Vorchheimer was born in Milan in 1933. In November 1938, Mussolini’s racial laws against the Jews came into effect.
As a result, Vorchheimers’ Italian citizenship was cancelled and Umberto’s father was forced to quickly sell his hat shop. Umberto was raised by his grandmother in his school years, and, at the age of seven, he emigrated to the United States.
When Italy introduced the dual citizenship four years ago, Umberto decided to claim his lost passport back. His application still lies on a desk of the Italian citizenship offices of the Interior Ministry in Rome.
He is apparently not the only case of this kind. Another Italian Jew, Giorgina Vitale, 82, who now lives in Connecticut, has been trying to fulfil the same dream 15 years ago, but in vain. “It is easier to obtain a citizenship if you were never Italian than to regain a lost citizenship,” she told Italian daily Il Corriere della sera.
In the past decade, the Italian passport offices have been granting an increasing number of passports to the descendants of Italian emigrants, especially from the United States, regardless of their intention to move to Italy.
The process usually takes one to two years. According to the Italian Deputy Deputy Consul in Philadelphia, Renzo Oliva, “Had he applied for a new citizenship, Vorchheimer would have his passport by now.” “Regranting a citizenship is a long and complicated process and the ministry is three years behind,” he said.
The ministry disagrees with the consulate, claiming instead that its responsibility is only marginal.
“Citizenship is granted automatically upon the applicant’s declaration in the person’s last Italian municipality of residence," it said.
In the meantime, Vorchheimer and Vitale – neither of whom have the intention to claim for properties their families lost under Fascism – still await.
