Some time ago, I acquired a Staatsangehoerigkeitsausweis ("Certificate of Nationality") to prove German nationality. Boy, do not go searching for that word wit

Some time ago, I acquired a Staatsangehoerigkeitsausweis ("Certificate of Nationality") to prove German nationality. Boy, do not go searching for that word without some additional terms around it. That certificate seems to carry with it, at least by mention, a lot of baggage around "being declared a citizen of the Reich" and so on. I found a whole 20-page thread about how to hassle the BVA (Bundesverwaltungsamt, or "Federal Office of Administration") into issuing someone a certificate that didn't say "Im Auftrag" ("On behalf of") because having those words on it means it isn't "real." Fortunately, the German Mission to the U.S. has risen in search results so the meaningless cruft is pushed down below the useful information.