Australian politician might have to resign due to his Hungarian ancestry

Australian Energy and Resources Minister, Josh Frydenberg might need to resign due to recent allegations that he is a dual citizen, theaustralian.com.au reports. Frydenberg’s mother was born in Hungary but left the country during World War II and entered Australia as a stateless Jew. According to the law, dual citizens cannot hold political office in Australia.

Frydenberg’s mother was born in Hungary in 1943, and she spent some time in a displaced persons’ camp. She had to flee the Holocaust, so she left Hungary as a child and arrived in Australia as a stateless Jew.

Problems emerged for Frydenberg due to a certain Hungarian citizenship law which was designed to address the stateless status of Jews, who were driven out of Hungary during World War II. According to this law, anyone who was born in Hungary between 1941 and 1945 is automatically considered a citizen. Hungarian citizenship act also states that: “The child of a Hungarian citizen shall ­become a Hungarian citizen by birth.”

Frydenberg claims that he investigated this issue when it was first raised months ago. At the same time when the dual citizen issue became prominent in Australia.

“It was very clear to me then, as it is now, that in order to become a Hungarian citizen, you actually have to take active steps to go through an interview process, to provide all the relevant documentation, to be considered as a Hungarian citizen. Neither of those steps were taken in my case, or on my behalf.”