Isabelle Strmberg is a well-known socialite, actress, and model who has been married to a German, Frank Richter for thirty-five years. In the mid nineteen fifties, she moved to New York City where she worked in different industries, including designing clothing for men’s suits. When her husband passed away in 1977, Strmberg decided to honor his memory by starting her own fashion line. She named it “Partner”, which stands for Partner International. Though the company initially consisted of only a few items, the success of its lines led it to expand into many other products such as cookware and furniture.
Though her status as an “American” was never legally threatened by her spouse, she has chosen to claim her German nationality on her birth certificate, passport application forms, and in most photographs. After being married to a German, Strmberg developed a strong attachment to her German birthright and never wavered in her support of her fellow German. Several years later, in 1984, she changed her name and nationality to American and began a new chapter in her life as an American citizen. Despite the strong emphasis on her German nationality on her social networking pages and in her memoirs, however, it was not until her death that anyone else knew that Strmberg was, in fact, a German.
To learn more about nationality and about yourself, see the “An Atlas of Worldwide Nationalities” from the Department of State (Embassy of the United States) website. Click on “Classification of Birth” and select the country of your birth. You will be directed to a page with various lists of personal information for you to review. The “Classification of Marriage” provides additional details about the relationships of your spouse to you and to others, as well as their legal standing in your country of citizenship.