"The first time he was a citizen of anywhere..."

"My paternal side of my family is Baghdadi. They left Iraq four generations ago as merchants and settled in India. My grandparents were born in Mumbai under British occupation, and therefore had British subject identification.

Their desperate attempts to assimilate with the British are the reason why my great aunts are named Elizabeth and Mary, and why my middle name is Regina, after my great-grandmother.

My grandparents left India prior to the Second World War and settled in Kobe, Japan, for business. During the War, the Germans were pressuring the Japanese to do something about the very small population of Jews in Japan. While the Japanese were reluctant to take action against most of the Jews living in Japan, my grandfather’s family was an easy target due to their British subject IDs. They were interned in camps by the Japanese.

My father was born in Japan, yet never granted citizenship. The first time he was a citizen of anywhere was when he moved to Canada at age 17."

From: Shira M.