Ich bin Nick Ross: Former Crimewatch presenter becomes a German citizen – 85 years after his Jewish father fled the Nazis
- The BBC broadcaster had no awareness of his German roots as a youngster
- Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, he felt need to ‘go back and learn’
- He applied for German citizenship under laws designed for wartime refugees
Former Crimewatch presenter Nick Ross has become a German citizen 85 years after his Jewish family sought refuge from the Nazis in England.
The broadcaster had no real awareness of his roots as a youngster but ‘resolved to go back and learn’ after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
He has now decided to ‘reclaim his past’ after deciding the German people had faced up to the ‘terrible deeds’ committed in their name during the Second World War.
After recent visits to the country and more detailed research into his past, the 71-year-old applied for German citizenship under laws designed for wartime refugees and their descendants.
Former Crimewatch presenter Nick Ross has become a German citizen 85 years after his Jewish family sought refuge from the Nazis in England
The BBC broadcaster said: ‘I know there are some descendants of Nazi victims who can never forgive what happened in Germany’s darkest times, but I also know that virulent anti-Semitism was rife in many other countries too.
‘I know the Germans perfected industrial mass murder, but throughout recorded history humankind has indulged in terrible bouts of slaughter, torture and wiping out whole populations.
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‘Yet I know of no other country whose people have faced up to their terrible deeds as have the vast majority of Germans.’ Ross admitted the Brexit vote ‘may have tipped the scales’ in favour of him applying for a German citizenship, but said his decision predated the poll.
After receiving his passport he sent a personal thank you to Angela Merkel praising her country’s ‘astonishing moral resilience’ and said his citizenship was the ‘ultimate proof of the failure and rejection of National Socialism’.
John Caryl Ross, formally Hans Rosenbluth, in British Army in April 1945
Days later he was startled to receive a message of personal thanks from the Chancellor’s top aide. The broadcaster, who grew up in Surrey and who presented Crimewatch for 23 years, does not appear to have openly spoken of his German heritage before. His relatives, including his father Hans and grandparents, fled Berlin after Hitler became Chancellor in 1933. Intimidated in Germany as Jews before the outbreak of war, they were then treated as dangerous aliens in Britain.
A recent decision to delve deeper into his past proved the catalyst in his determination to ‘reclaim his past’. Ross retraced his roots to his grandfather Felix Rosenbluth’s home in the eastern town of Finow. There he was shown a memorial to First World War dead which had excluded the name of his great uncle Max because the Nazis had expunged the names of Jews.
But new street signs now bear Jewish names or honouring those who defied the Nazis. ‘I wished my father and grandmother could have seen them.’ Ross wrote in The Times.
Roots: Nick Ross’s grandparents Felix Ross and Anni pictured in January 1915
Further research revealed the family’s woes had not ended once in the UK. In 1940 his father Hans was deemed a ‘friendly alien’ and sent by ship to Australia in what became an infamous case of wartime maltreatment.
Ross said: ‘Initially only known Nazi sympathisers were interned, but in May 1940, with imminent risk of a German invasion, even so-called friendly aliens were rounded up – including the 55,000 Jews who had fled from Nazi persecution.
‘Even before it set sail it became clear that this was not to be a simple ferry ride. It was later called a floating concentration camp.’
Hans was held at a remote camp 250 miles north of Melbourne for ten months. He later changed his name to John Caryl Ross and enlisted in the British Army, insisting the internment incident was an ‘aberration’ in the UK’s otherwise fair treatment.
Germany’s Basic Law, approved in 1949, restores citizenship to those persecuted by the Nazis. Applications reportedly rose in the wake of the Brexit vote.
- More pupils will visit the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in a Government drive to curb a rise in anti-Semitism. An extra £1.7million will go towards charities that organise visits to help challenge ‘increasing cases of Holocaust denial, distortion and hate’.
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