Was it possible to be a dual Polish citizen in the 1930s?

According to the Polish Citizenship Act of 1920, Article 1 states that "A Polish citizen cannot simultaneously be a citizen of another country." However I know that in these days, this sentence is interpreted to mean that if Poles have another passport it is tolerated, just that Poland doesn't recognise them as anything other than Polish citizens. However, was this also the case back in the pre-WW2 years, or was dual nationality prohibited under all circumstances?

If anyone knows of examples of Poles in the pre-WW2 years who were able to hold another country's citizenship simultaneously with their Polish one, I'd like to hear it.

For example, in Article 3 of the same Act it says that "Citizens of other countries who are of Polish descent and their progeny will be recognized as citizens of the Polish State if they submit proof of Polish provenance with a declaration that they wish to be Polish citizens and that they resign from the citizenship of another country".

On this website it says that "Persons who are born in America are Polish citizens if they became polish citizens in the way pointed out in article 3 or obtained polish citizenship in one of ways mentioned in subsections 2-5 of article 4 of the act dated 20th of January 1920 although the American citizenship serves them by birth. Under age children of people who obtained polish citizenship on above mentioned conditions are also polish citizens even if they are American citizens by birth regardless of if they were born before or after the act dated 20th of January 1920 came into force alternately before or after obtaining the polish citizenship on above mentioned titles grounds."

Does this mean that in the 1930s, underage children of returning ethnic Poles could get Polish citizenship without having to renounce their foreign (e.g. American) citizenship?

No, it means that the underage children of P*lish citizens born in the U.S. received such citizenship at birth, regardless of the fact that they also received U.S. citizenship at the same time. There was nothing for them to "get" if they returned to the Motherland, since they all ready "got" it at birth. See The Minister of the Interior's Circular No. 18 (July 9, 1925). Children born to those who became citizens of the Second Republic also received citizenship rights from birth and the founding treaties after WWI even if born abroad before 1920, although they may have needed to have been under 21 on January 31, 1920.

So, according to "CIRCULAR No. 18 of the Minister of the Interior dated July 9, 1925" children of eligible Polish males who where born in a foreign country and acquired that country's citizenship due to Jus Soli, making them dual citizens of Poland and that country where they born (that is not Poland) are still considered Polish? Does this apply to countries that are not the US and Canada?

@Pan T..K.

So, according to "CIRCULAR No. 18 of the Minister of the Interior dated July 9, 1925" children of eligible Polish males who where born in a foreign country and acquired that country's citizenship due to Jus Soli, making them dual citizens of Poland and that country where they born (that is not Poland) are still considered Polish? Does this apply to countries that are not the US and Canada?

Upon reflection, the "circular" is better translated as an administrative ruling. So according to the Minister of the Interior's Ruling No. 18, dated July 9, 1925, the Second Plish Republic clearly determined that the children of Plish citizens living abroad were without question, Plish citizens. That was because citizenship law in continental Europe at the time was based upon jus sanguinis, (the law of the blood), not jus solis, (the law of the soil). So the whole scheme of the 1920 citizenship law was based on jus sanguinis. For males, citizenship was not lost until military service was completed, excused, or moot due to age. Any male who wanted to renounce his citizenship legally couldn't until that happened, and a second citizenship was not recognized by the government. Females who married a foreigner were permitted to have their citizenship restored. No mention is made of restoring the citizenship of children born abroad when a foreign government also recognized them as its citizens, because the Second Republic only recognized them as its own citizens. In 1921 the March Constitution came into force, and that repeated that the children of citizens were citizens, and further prohibited discrimination based upon a person's origin, and declared all equal under the law. Thus the children of a citizen living abroad could not constitutionally be treated differently from a child born in the fatherland. This is the basis of the Minister of the Interior's Ruling. It wasn't possible to discriminate.

Now if you ask in the present tense, are such people still considered citizens by the Third Republic? From more than one report, they are not. It is a question that could easily make its way to the Constitutional Tribunal, or if a person chooses to live in the Third Republic, it could go to the European Court of Human Rights as a voting rights discrimination case, but only if a person returns from abroad is that possible.


The same rules and problems with interpretation should apply.

Quite a few changes since then. New ustawy, new okulniki and...... a new constitution. Are you continuing to suggest that Lech Wałęsa is still the rightful president of PL, or have you given up on that one?


Yet it hasn't, has it Chris....

No, it couldn't. Polish citizenship law is clear and non-discriminatory.

@delphiandomine
@jon357
@Pan T.K

The reason I ask: My great grandfather was born in Krakow in 1898, married in Tarnow in 1923, left for Venezuela in 1926. He naturalized in Venezuela in 1928, had my grandmother in 1929. She thus simultaneously acquired Venezuelan and Polish citizenships at birth (jus soli + jus sanguines). She turned 18 before her father turned 50. She married in august 1951, had my mother in 1953. Now, I have contacted 3 law firms. Two of them say I am not eligible for confirmation, claiming my grandmother lost citizenship when she turned 18 since she had 2 citizenships and was "no longer under the protection of her father". However, the third law firm says that this is not the case, and that acquiring another citizenship by jus soli is not grounds to lose Polish citizenship, therefore making me eligible. I want to try my luck with the 3rd law firm, they seem highly reputable and have consulted the Australian government on Polish citizenship matters before. What do you all think?

I asked my lawyer who is based in Warsaw, he says the third law firm is wrong.