All Four Grandparents Born in Britain: Polanski's Nazi-Flight Story Unravels
October 3, 2026 · Frisian News
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Birth records show all four of Green Party co-leader Zack Polanski's grandparents were born in northern England, the youngest in 1934, contradicting his repeated public claim that his family fled Nazi persecution.
All four of Zack Polanski's grandparents were born in northern England, the youngest in 1934, five years before Germany invaded Poland. Birth records uncovered by the Daily Mail and reported by the Daily Sceptic show that every grandparent was already settled in Britain before the war began, cutting directly against the Green Party leader's repeated public claim that his family fled Nazi persecution.
Polanski delivered the claim to applause at the Green Party conference in Bournemouth in October 2025. Standing at the podium as the newly installed leader, he said: "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 antisemitism here too." He linked the story to his political stance on migration: "I am literally the product of migration. It's why defending migrants matters so much to me."
The records tell a different story. Public birth, marriage and death records confirm that Polanski's great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents had roots in Latvia and Russia. Census records from 1891 and 1901 and other public sources suggest the family had settled in Britain during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His parents were born in Manchester. His four grandparents all came from the north of England.
The birth years are exact. On his father's side, grandfather Benny was born in Manchester in 1916 and grandmother Ethel in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, in 1925. On his mother's side, grandfather Maurice was born in Manchester in 1931 and grandmother Shirley in nearby Heywood in 1934. Germany did not invade Poland until 1939, by which point all four grandparents were already British-born.
Polanski did not confine the claim to one conference speech. On the podcast The Rest Is Politics on December 1 last year, he described his ancestry as involving flight to Ukraine, "then fleeing the Nazis and then end up in the UK". Three days later, at a BBC Question Time immigration special, he told the studio audience: "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."
The account became harder to follow when Polanski spoke to political interviewer Iain Dale last month. He said his great-grandparents "actually came here way before the Second World War" and that the family name had been changed not to evade the Nazis, as he had previously been told, but to escape antisemitism in Britain. Polanski was born David Paulden in 1982 and changed his name later. When the Daily Mail presented the Green Party with the family tree and asked for an explanation, a party spokesman declined to address the substance, saying only that it was "astonishing" that Polanski was "having his family history raked over by the press in an attempt to discredit him".
The sources note that, like many Jewish families, Polanski's wider family almost certainly includes relatives who were persecuted in the Holocaust. The pogroms account, tracing flight from Latvia and Russia in the late 1800s and early 1900s, fits the documented history of Jewish communities in Eastern Europe. The Nazi-flight element does not fit the documentary record for his immediate ancestors.
Polanski faces a by-election in Holborn and St Pancras, Sir Keir Starmer's former seat held by Labour since 1983, within days of this report. The claim that his family fled the Nazis is the story he used to explain why migration policy is personal to him. The Daily Mail asked the Green Party for an explanation of the discrepancy. It has not answered.
FryskAlle fjouwer pakes en beppes fan Zack Polanski binne berne yn noard-Ingelân, de jongste yn 1934, fiif jier foardat Dútslân Poalen ynfoel. Berteakten dy't de Daily Mail opdûke liet en dy't de Daily Sceptic rapporteare, toane dat elke pake en beppe harren al yn Brittanje festige hie foardat de oarloch begûn, wat rjochtstreeks yngiet tsjin de hieltyd werhelle publike bewearing fan de lieder fan de Griene Partij dat syn famylje foar nazi-ferfolging flechte.
Polanski die de bewearing te midden fan applaus op it kongres fan de Griene Partij yn Bournemouth yn oktober 2025. Hy stie by it podium as de nij ynstallearre lieder en sei: 'Foar safier't ik neigean kin, begûnen myn foarâlden yn Letlân yn in Joadsk plak, mar se flechten fanwegen pogroms. Se flechten nei Oekraïne dêr't se mear pogroms tsjinkamen. Doe kamen se yn Poalen telâne dêr't se de nazi's tsjinkamen. Doe kamen se yn Ingelân oan en kamen hjir ek antisemitisme tsjin.' Hy keppele it ferhaal oan syn politike stânpunt oer migraasje: 'Ik bin letterlik it produkt fan migraasje. Dêrom is it foar my sa wichtich om migrants te ferdigenjen.'
De dokuminten fertelle in oar ferhaal. Publike berte-, houlik- en stjerfakten befestigje dat Polanski syn oerpakes en oerbeppes en oer-oerpakes en oer-oerbeppes woartels hienen yn Letlân en Ruslân. Folkstellingsdokuminten út 1891 en 1901 en oare publike boarnen jouwe oan dat de famylje harren yn Brittanje festige hie yn de lette njoggentjinde en iere tweintichste ieu. Syn âlden binne berne yn Manchester. Syn fjouwer pakes en beppes kamen allegearre út it noarden fan Ingelân.
De bertejierren binne eksakt. Oan de kant fan syn heit waard pake Benny berne yn Manchester yn 1916 en beppe Ethel yn Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, yn 1925. Oan de kant fan syn mem waard pake Maurice berne yn Manchester yn 1931 en beppe Shirley yn it tichtby lizzende Heywood yn 1934. Dútslân foel Poalen net yn oant 1939, en op dat stuit wienen alle fjouwer pakes en beppes al berne yn Brittanje.
Polanski beheinde de bewearing net ta ien taspraak op it kongres. Op de podcast The Rest Is Politics op 1 desimber ferline jier omskriuwde er syn komôf as flechtsjen nei Oekraïne, 'dan flechtsjen foar de nazi's en dan yn it Feriene Keninkryk telâne komme'. Trije dagen letter, by in BBC Question Time spesjaal oer ymmigraasje, fertelde er it publyk yn de studio: 'Myn oerpake en oerbeppe wennen yn Letlân. Se binne Joadsk en wy flechten fanwegen pogroms. Wy kamen yn Oekraïne telâne. Wy flechten wer; mear pogroms. Dan yn nazi-besetten Poalen. Dan wer flechten.'
It ferhaal waard dreger te folgjen doe't Polanski ferline moanne in petear hie mei politike ynterviewer Iain Dale. Hy sei dat syn oerpake en oerbeppe 'eins hjir lang foardat de Twadde Wrâldoarloch kamen' en dat de famyljenamme feroare wie net om de nazi's te ûntkomme, sa't er earder heard hie, mar om antisemitisme yn Brittanje te ûntrinnen. Polanski waard berne as David Paulden yn 1982 en feroare syn namme letter. Doe't de Daily Mail de Griene Partij de stambeam foarlei en om in ferklearring frege, wegere in partijwurdfierder op de ynhâld yn te gean, en sei allinne dat it 'fernuverjend' wie dat de parse 'Polanski syn famyljehistoarje trochsocht yn in besykjen him yn diskredyt te bringen'.
De boarnen merke op dat, lykas by folle Joadske famyljes, de bredere famylje fan Polanski hast wis famyljeleden befettet dy't yn de Holocaust ferfolge waarden. It pogromferhaal, dat de flecht út Letlân en Ruslân yn de lette 1800-jierren en iere 1900-jierren nei giet, past yn de dokuminteare skiednis fan Joadske mienskippen yn East-Europa. It elemint fan flechtsjen foar de nazi's past net by de dokuminten oer syn direkte foarâlden.
Polanski stiet foar in tuskenferkiezing yn Holborn en St Pancras, it eardere sit fan Sir Keir Starmer dat Labour sûnt 1983 yn hannen hat, binnen dagen nei dit rapport. De bewearing dat syn famylje foar de nazi's flechte is it ferhaal dat er brûkte om út te lizzen wêrom't migraasjebelied persoanlik foar him is. De Daily Mail frege de Griene Partij om in ferklearring fan de tsjinstelling. Der is gjin antwurd kommen.
Published October 3, 2026 · Frisian News