started the process to try to get my Polish citizenship today!

(for which, importantly, you do not need to set foot in Poland)

my dad's family was from Poland so I'm hoping that gets me in... it's a little tricky because 1) I have almost no official documentation and 2) the only official documentation I do have is from the countries they lived in after Poland

but there are companies that do research for you so I reached out to a bunch of them to see who can do it the cheapest

I also found an article that mentions my great-grandfather!

Commemoration of Michał Stasiuk murdered for helping...

"Those in hiding had to somehow maintain contact with the outside world. This was done partly with the help of a Jew from Łódź by the name of Abraham Ojzerowicz. Assigned by the Germans to work as an undertaker, he was able to move around Rzeszów with relative freedom...

but fearing the liquidation, at the beginning of 1944 he and his two daughters, Helena and Gusta, went into hiding in the underground area."

also it's interesting how many spellings/variations i keep finding on everyone's names... my great-grandfather was Abraham or Abram, my great aunt was Helena or Helen, my grandmother had like 50 different names

"Gusta" was actually her middle name but this is the only place I've found that version... it's alternately Gucia, Gitel, Gitl... etc

wooo!

get that citizenship

I've gotta dig up my canadian citizenship paperwork for the kids, now that Canada's extending citizenship to the 2d gen born out of the country again