Draft-dodging runs in their veins -Historian finds German decree banishing Trump's grandfather

[malaise]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/21/trump-grandfather-friedrich-banished-germany-historian-royal-decree
<snip>
A historian has discovered a royal decree issued to Donald Trump’s grandfather ordering him to leave Germany and never come back.

Friedrich Trump, a German, was issued with the document in February 1905, and ordered to leave the kingdom of Bavaria within eight weeks as punishment for having failed to do mandatory military service and failing to give authorities notice of his departure to the US when he first emigrated in 1885.
Kallstadt, Germany: on the trail of 'the Donald' in the Trump ancestral home
Read more

Roland Paul, a historian from Rhineland-Palatinate who found the document in local archives, told the tabloid Bild: “Friedrich Trump emigrated from Germany to the USA in 1885. However, he failed to de-register from his homeland and had not carried out his military service, which is why the authorities rejected his attempt at repatriation.”

The decree orders the “American citizen and pensioner Friedrich Trump” to leave the area “at the very latest on 1 May ... or else expect to be deported”. Bild called the archive find an “unspectacular piece of paper”, that had nevertheless “changed world history”.

Trump was born in Kallstadt, now in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, in 1869. He emigrated to the US aged 16 initially to escape poverty, attracted by the gold rush.

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Document at link

[Yonnie3]

1. Any time travelers on DU?

His Wikipedia entry is an interesting read.

Here is the kicker, he was back in Germany and it appears he was trying to stay. Can any one go back and fix it so he stays in Germany?

In May 1904, when he applied in New York for a U.S. passport to travel with his wife and his daughter, he listed his profession as "hotelkeeper". In Germany, Trump deposited into a bank his life’s savings of 80,000 marks, equivalent to $505,248 in 2016.

...

Soon after returning, German authorities determined that Trump had emigrated from Germany to avoid his military-service obligations, and he was labeled a draft dodger. On December 24, 1904 the Department of Interior announced an investigation to expel Trump from the country. Officially, they found that he had violated the Resolution of the Royal Ministry of the Interior number 9916, a 1886 law that punished emigration to North America to avoid military service with the loss of German citizenship. For several months, he unsuccessfully petitioned the government to allow him to stay.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Trump

[gordianot]

2. Most German immigrants of the same era had similar motives.

America was the Canada of the era to avoid European wars. An ancestor on one side of my family was hung precipitating the survivors to immigrate. At a family reunion I saw a letter from another side of the family bragging about avoiding the draft and low taxes.

[malaise]

3. Wow

Interesting but he returned home and was banished - were many others banished?

[gordianot]

4. No they hit the road abandoning property.

The grown children and several other relatives left via the Netherlands. Exact reasons other than not wanting to be drafted are lost in time other than Great Great Great Grandpa was hung and they needed to leave.

[malaise]

5. What a story - can't blame them for not fighting wars

I wouldn't either - I'm anti-war.