Polish President Lech Kaczynski
Photo: Reuters
Jews who fled Poland to regain citizenship
Polish president expected to return citizenship to some 15,000 Jews who left country following anti-Semitic incidents which began in March 1968
Some 15,000 Jews who left Poland following the anti-Semitic incidents which began in March 1968 will regain their Polish citizenship, President Lech Kaczynski is expected to declare this week. About 5,000 of these Jews immigrated to Israel.
Jews who left Poland 40 years ago were forced to concede their citizenship. Polish courts have already defined the demand as illegal, but the Interior Ministry's regional bureaus have so far refused to cancel the decision to revoke the citizenship of "the Jews of 1968".
As a first public move, Kaczynski will grant the citizenship to a group of Jews, including several Israelis, invited to Warsaw to mark the "March 1968" events this weekend.
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Polish officials fear that tens of thousands of Germans of Polish origin, who had also left the country during that period, will get their Polish citizenship back and launch proceedings aimed at reclaiming their property.
The Polish Interior Ministry has been pressured recently to accept Kaczynski's initiative, and the ministry may already launch the procedures which will enable Jews to receive their citizenship back.
