Zack Polanski’s claim that his ancestors fled the Nazis have been questioned after it was reported that his family has lived in the UK since before the Second World War.
The Green Party leader has said on several occasions that his ancestors fled the Nazis before coming to the UK.
He told The Rest Is Politics podcast last December of members of his family escaping pogroms in Ukraine “then fleeing the Nazis and then ending up in the UK”.
He also made the claim on the BBC’s Question Time that same month, when he told the audience: “This is personal to me... My great-grandparents lived in Latvia. They're Jewish, and we fled because of pogroms... We ended up in Ukraine. We fled again; more pogroms. Then in Nazi-occupied Poland. Then fled again. And this is what people have done throughout history.”
However, the Daily Mail has reported that, according to public records, Polanski’s grandparents were all born in the UK between the years of 1916 and 1934.
The Nazis rose to power in Germany in 1933 and did not invade Poland until 1939, casting doubt on the claim that his direct ancestors fled Nazi occupation.
As Polanski's youngest grandparent was born in 1934, it is possible that her parents may have left Europe in the preceding year, though it has not been confirmed whether this was the case and the Green Party declined to either confirm or deny the allegations.
A spokesperson from the party said: “Jewish family history is often confusing and muddled, as Zack has acknowledged.
“It's astonishing that the only current Jewish leader of a British political party is having his family history raked over by the press in an attempt to discredit him.”
The report came on the same day that Polanski addressed the Green Party’s conference in Brighton.
He received the loudest cheer of the afternoon when he called on the government to lift the ban on Palestine Action, which was proscribed as a terrorist organisation last year.
Members in Brighton chanted “free Palestine” as their leader declared: “Greens, we stand with one voice now as we say drop the charges, end the genocide, de-proscribe Palestine Action.”
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