This should sets our hearts fluttering about Hitler, Goebbels, Albert Speer, Alfred Rosenberg and the rest of the gang. It is of course total nonsense. Most countries define national identity according to blood. If your parents are American then you are an American. In 1999 Chancellor Schroder's government changed the law.
Foreigners now have the right to apply for German citizenship after eight years of legal residence.
Children born in Germany to foreign parents will acquire German citizenship at birth, provided at least one parent has lived legally in Germany for a minimum of eight years. Children acquiring German citizenship at birth will have to decide before their 23rd birthday whether they want to retain their German citizenship or their parents' citizenship except in special circumstances. There is still no dual citizenship. Even under the dispensation it is harder to become a German than an American. It is surely the mark of a proud nation that it expects a lot of its potential recruits.