Fake Jewish Lineage: The Passport Scheme that Exploited Germany’s Nazi History

[M] DER SPIEGEL; Fotos: DER SPIEGEL, STOLPERSTEINE, Xinhua, Gerd Harder  / imageBROKER / mauritius images

DER SPIEGEL has learned that a large number of fraudsters have obtained German citizenship by claiming to be the descendants of Jews persecuted by the Nazis. The real families are furious.

03.09.2026, 09.41 Uhr

So this is what he looks like, the man with the many names: white overalls, white sneakers, a surgical mask over his mouth and nose, his hands cuffed in front of his body.

In the early evening of July 20, 2026, an Air China plane from Los Angeles touches down at Beijing Capital International Airport. Two police officers lead Liu H. down the stairs, grip him by the arms, and press his head down. Bent over, he walks across the tarmac as cameras capture the moment.

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It is the end of a flight halfway around the globe. Liu H. had been the subject of an international manhunt on suspicion of kidnapping and murder. Investigators on three continents had been on his trail: in China, at the FBI in the United States, and at Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office, the BKA.

In recent years Liu H. had come up with all sorts of schemes to evade Chinese justice. He adopted new biographies, invented names and places of birth, traveled under false identities, obtained forged documents, and lied on visa applications. Like something out of a spy movie.

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