On the 15th October 1939, Nottebolm became a citizenship of Mauren and on 17th October 1939 paid all taxes required. He took the oath of allegiance on the 20th of October agreed to an arrangement concerning liability to taxation. A Supreme Resolution of the Prince on the 13th October 1939 made Nottebolm a citizen of Liechtenstein. Nottebolm then obtained a Liechtenstein passport and a visa from the Consul General of Guatemala in Zurich on 1st December 1939. At the beginning of 1940, he returned to Guatemala where he resumed business.
In 1943 Nottebolm was expelled as an enemy alien from Guatemala as that country considered him to be a citizen of Germany and not Liechtenstein. When Guatemala refused to readmit him Liechtenstein lodged complaints about the treatment of one of their citizens. Guatemala refused to recognize his Liechtenstein citizenship on the grounds that he had more attachment to Germany and Guatemala then with Liechtenstein. They claimed that Nottebolm only went to Liechtenstein in 1946 because Guatemala refused to let him come back. His dubious Liechtenstein citizenship did not give him diplomatic protection.
There was a great deal of argument back and forth about the individual rights of states to made laws regarding citizenship but in the end the court decided that Nottebolm citizenship had been granted quite speedily and not with regard to the international community's concept of nationality. Basically, Nottebolm tried to substitute for his nationally of a belligerent State (Germany) with that of the subject of a neutral State (Liechtenstein), with the sole aim of seeking the protection of Liechtenstein but without assuming complete obligations of citizenship. The International Court of Justice supported Gautemala and denied Liechtenstein's claim.
The Nottebolm incident raises all sort of questions. Why did Guatemala consider him an enemy alien? Was he a spy for the Nazi? Why was he so interested in having a Liechtenstein citizenship (a neutral country, remember) and passport? How did he get his citizenship so quickly? It appears that he received it quite quickly and looks suspiciously like he brought it.
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