Trump mythologizing over here, Polanski mythologizing over there.
Zack Polanski’s tale of ancestral migration from Europe has faced questions after it emerged all four of his grandparents were born in Britain.
Speaking at the Green Party conference last October, the Green Party leader said he was proud of his Jewish heritage and told party members his ancestors “faced the Nazis” in Poland before arriving in England.
However, Mr Polanski’s recent ancestors were reportedly all in Britain before the Second World War, which raises the question of which of them fled the Nazi regime.
Mind you, there was plenty of Antisemitic violence to flee before the Nazis, but still, you don’t get to claim Nazis before there were any Nazis.
He said: “I am literally the product of migration. It’s why defending migrants matters so much to me.
“I want to tell you about a common Jewish experience. It’s a tale as old as time. My Jewish ancestry – it’s confusing and it’s muddling because we were constantly on the run. But from what I can gather, my ancestors started in Latvia in a Jewish town, but they fled because of pogroms.
“They fled to Ukraine where they faced more pogroms. Then they ended up in Poland where they faced the Nazis. Then they arrived in England and met anti-Semitism here too.”
Except for the Nazis part.
Public records of births, marriages and deaths confirm Mr Polanski’s great and great-great-grandparents came from Latvia and Russia, which Mr Polanski has previously said.
But, according to the Daily Mail, historical Census records from 1891, 1901 and other public resources, suggest they settled in the UK in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
His four grandparents all come from the North and both of his parents were born in Manchester.
So it’s mostly true but not entirely true. His Mancunian parents were very lucky; they were out of Hitler’s reach.
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