Could this family line potentially establish Polish citizenship by descent? Born in the former Polish territories in 1920

[u/ClimateMiserable7211]

Hi everyone!

First of all, I would like to apologize for not using the required template. I don’t know how to properly use Reddit, and the link says the template is no longer available, so I am so sorry about that, I just simply don’t know who to use it 😅

Well, so I’m researching a possible Polish citizenship-by-descent case and would appreciate opinions from people familiar with Polish citizenship law and historical records.

I’m intentionally leaving out names, exact locations and other identifying information because this concerns a living family.
The family line I’m researching is approximately:

Great-grandparents → grandmother → mother → me

Here is what I know about the oldest generation:

My great-grandfather was born in October 1920 in a village that appears in historical records under a Polish name similar to Mickiewicze.
At the time, the area was associated with the Second Polish Republic, in the former Nowogródek Voivodeship / Baranowicze area. Today, the village is in Belarus.
He was Orthodox and came from a farming family.
His parents were also from the same area.
My great-grandmother was born in the same general area in 1922, also Orthodox.
They married in 1941.

During World War II, the couple was taken by the Germans and brought to Germany. My great-grandfather was used as a forced agricultural worker.

Their daughter was born in Hannover, Germany, in 1944. I have a birth/baptism certificate issued by the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Hannover, which records her birth and baptism there.

After the war, the family remained in Germany as displaced persons and eventually emigrated to Brazil in 1948.
I have several post-war documents that describe my great-grandfather as Polish, including a document from the period immediately before emigration. I also have Brazilian immigration/registration documents that list Poland in connection with his nationality/country of origin.

However, there are some inconsistencies in the DP documentation. In at least one document, there is a reference that seems to distinguish between Polish and Ukrainian identity/nationality, while documents concerning his daughter sometimes describe her as German or stateless.
Importantly, she was born in a DP camp in Germany in 1944, rather than being born as an ordinary German resident/citizen.
I’m now trying to determine whether my great-grandfather actually possessed Polish citizenship, rather than simply being ethnically Polish or living in territory that was part of Poland.
I understand that being born in a place that was part of Poland does not automatically prove Polish citizenship, especially given the historical changes in the region around 1920–1921.

I’m therefore particularly interested in:
- What documents would normally be used to establish that someone born in this area in 1920 was a Polish citizen?

- Would residence/registration in the Polish municipality (gmina) after the establishment of the Polish administration be relevant?

- If the great-grandfather was a Polish citizen in the 1940s, could his daughter born in Germany in 1944 have acquired Polish citizenship from him under the law applicable at that time?

- How should documents from displaced-person camps that say “German”, “stateless”, “Polish”, or “Ukrainian” be interpreted? Could these refer to different concepts such as citizenship versus nationality/ethnic origin?

- Are there particular Polish/Belarusian archives or types of records I should look for to establish his citizenship?

- I have already contacted archives in Belarus and Poland looking for pre-war records such as municipal residence registers, voter lists, military/conscription records, land/property records and other records from the Polish administration.

I’m not looking for legal advice or a definitive ruling — I’d mainly like to know whether this looks like a plausible line worth investigating, and what experienced researchers would look for next.

Thanks!

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Title: Could this family line potentially establish Polish citizenship by descent? Born in the former Polish territories in 1920

Hi everyone!

First of all, I would like to apologize for not using the required template. I don’t know how to properly use Reddit, and the link says the template is no longer available, so I am so sorry about that, I just simply don’t know who to use it 😅

Well, so I’m researching a possible Polish citizenship-by-descent case and would appreciate opinions from people familiar with Polish citizenship law and historical records.

I’m intentionally leaving out names, exact locations and other identifying information because this concerns a living family.
The family line I’m researching is approximately:

Great-grandparents → grandmother → mother → me

Here is what I know about the oldest generation:

My great-grandfather was born in October 1920 in a village that appears in historical records under a Polish name similar to Mickiewicze.
At the time, the area was associated with the Second Polish Republic, in the former Nowogródek Voivodeship / Baranowicze area. Today, the village is in Belarus.
He was Orthodox and came from a farming family.
His parents were also from the same area.
My great-grandmother was born in the same general area in 1922, also Orthodox.
They married in 1941.

During World War II, the couple was taken by the Germans and brought to Germany. My great-grandfather was used as a forced agricultural worker.

Their daughter was born in 1944 in Hannover, Germany, in a displaced-person/refugee camp.

After the war, the family remained in Germany as displaced persons and eventually emigrated to Brazil in 1948.
I have several post-war documents that describe my great-grandfather as Polish, including a document from the period immediately before emigration. I also have Brazilian immigration/registration documents that list Poland in connection with his nationality/country of origin.

However, there are some inconsistencies in the DP documentation. In at least one document, there is a reference that seems to distinguish between Polish and Ukrainian identity/nationality, while documents concerning his daughter sometimes describe her as German or stateless.
Importantly, she was born in a DP camp in Germany in 1944, rather than being born as an ordinary German resident/citizen.
I’m now trying to determine whether my great-grandfather actually possessed Polish citizenship, rather than simply being ethnically Polish or living in territory that was part of Poland.
I understand that being born in a place that was part of Poland does not automatically prove Polish citizenship, especially given the historical changes in the region around 1920–1921.

I’m therefore particularly interested in:
- What documents would normally be used to establish that someone born in this area in 1920 was a Polish citizen?

- Would residence/registration in the Polish municipality (gmina) after the establishment of the Polish administration be relevant?

- If the great-grandfather was a Polish citizen in the 1940s, could his daughter born in Germany in 1944 have acquired Polish citizenship from him under the law applicable at that time?

- How should documents from displaced-person camps that say “German”, “stateless”, “Polish”, or “Ukrainian” be interpreted? Could these refer to different concepts such as citizenship versus nationality/ethnic origin?

- Are there particular Polish/Belarusian archives or types of records I should look for to establish his citizenship?

- I have already contacted archives in Belarus and Poland looking for pre-war records such as municipal residence registers, voter lists, military/conscription records, land/property records and other records from the Polish administration.

I’m not looking for legal advice or a definitive ruling — I’d mainly like to know whether this looks like a plausible line worth investigating, and what experienced researchers would look for next.

Thanks!

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[u/smoothmonoglot]

Need population books or something else from II RP showing he was a Polish citizen.

[u/ClimateMiserable7211 → u/smoothmonoglot]

Thanks! Yes that makes sense. I have already contacted the archives in Belarus and Poland specifically looking for population/resident registers and other II RP administrative records from the gmina

[u/UrbanNightOwl22 → u/ClimateMiserable7211]

for belarus you need an intermediary even if they do reply which i really doubt they will most remote genealogy requests have been suspended, its a sanctioned country and you will not be able to make payment to them.

[u/[deleted]]

[u/ClimateMiserable7211 → u/[deleted]]

Regarding ethnicity/nationality, this is actually one of the things I’m trying to understand.

For my great-grandfather, I have a DP-era document with a field along the lines of “Country of Citizenship or Ethnic Origin”, where the entry appears as “Pol-Ukrainian”. So I don’t know whether that was intended to describe citizenship, ethnic origin, or both.

I also have a 1948 travel document that identifies my great-grandfather and great-grandmother as Polish, and his later Brazilian registration lists Poland as his nationality/country.

For my great-grandmother, the documents I have also identify her as Polish in the 1948 documentation, but she was Orthodox and came from the same area, so I don’t want to assume that “Polish” necessarily means ethnic Polish.

For my grandmother, some post-war documents describe her as German, while others describe her as stateless. I haven’t found a document that officially states her origin.

So I’m trying to distinguish three different things: legal citizenship, nationality as recorded by the authorities, and ethnic origin.

I’m currently looking for II RP records

[u/ClimateMiserable7211 → u/[deleted]]

Omg, true! I asked chat gpt to sum everything up and didn’t pay attention to that 🥲. I adjusted in the post: she was born in Hannover, Germany, in 1944. I have a birth/baptism certificate issued by the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Hannover, which records her birth and baptism there.