Yagil estimates that of the 50,000 Jews that left Poland in the late 1960s. Warsaw
Photo: Ron Paz
Thousands eligible for Polish citizenship
Warsaw High Court accepts petition filed by Jewish man who left the country for Israel in 1968 and reissues his Polish citizenship; Baruch-Natan Yagil, 60, who was forced to forfeit his citizenship when he left communist Poland in the late 1960s says, ‘First of all, it is not bad to have Polish citizenship, and it doesn’t hurt to be a member of the European Union.’ Attorney: Ruling will affect hundreds of thousands of Israelis who are of Polish ancestry
The High Court in Warsaw accepted a petition filed by a Jewish man who left the country for Israel in 1968 and reissued his Polish citizenship.
The unprecedented ruling may affect thousands of Israelis who wish to apply for a European passport.
Baruch-Natan Yagil, 60, was forced to forfeit his citizenship when he left Communist Poland in the late 1960s, when many Jews were permitted to leave the country in light of the rising anti-Semitism.
“I traveled to Poland in 1993, and it was during that visit that I decided to retrieve my citizenship,” he told Ynet.
“I submitted a request to the Polish president but was instructed to turn to the embassy in Tel Aviv. I refused. Three years ago I submitted another request, this time to the Warsaw Municipality, but it refused to recognize me as a Polish citizen. Then I turned to the Administrative Affairs Court – a year later I was informed that I was granted Polish citizenship.”
However, the Polish authorities appealed the decision – and the ordeal continued.
“A year later, the court ruled in my favor and demanded that the governor issue me a new citizenship certificate,” Yagil said.
Yagil, who resides in Moshav Nofim in Samaria, received word of the decision from a Polish journalist.
Attorney Ilan Chersky, who specializes in helping Israelis obtain European passports said, “The ruling will affect hundreds of thousands of Israelis who are of Polish ancestry and their offspring – regardless of where the children were born.
“Moreover, the Warsaw parliament is discussing a bill that calls for the government to compensate people whose property was nationalized by the communist regime. Those who obtain a Polish citizenship will be able to demand compensation,” he said.
'I'm a Jew first'
Michael Sobleman of the Israeli embassy in Poland told Ynet that “Polish citizenship could be obtained prior to the ruling – this only changes the bureaucratic through which it may be obtained.”
Yagil estimates that of the 50,000 Jews that left Poland in the late 1960s, a few thousand immigrated to Israel, while the rest left for the U.S., Denmark and Sweden.
He said two main reasons motivated him during his legal battle: “First of all, it is not bad to have Polish citizenship, and it doesn’t hurt to be a member of the European Union. The other reason was the principle of the matter. It was just wrong, and I wanted them to right the injustice.”
Yagil said he has no qualms regarding his dual citizenship.
“I am a Jew first, and then I feel Israeli, European, and finally, Polish,” he said.
Meanwhile, the first rabbi to serve Krakow full-time since the Holocaust took up his post Monday, a mission that includes guiding a revival of Jewish life and helping people rediscover their Jewish heritage forgotten during the decades of communism.
Rabbi Avraham Flaks, a 38-year-old Russian-born Israeli, has been getting to know members of Krakow's small Jewish community over the past few weeks, but officially took up his duties with an evening prayer service marking the start of the weeklong festival of Sukkot.
Diana Bahur-Nir contributed to the report
