Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party, is facing scrutiny after public records revealed discrepancies in his account of his family’s history related to fleeing Nazi persecution. Polanski has repeatedly described his ancestry as involving multiple escapes from pogroms and Nazi-occupied territories before eventually settling in the United Kingdom, a narrative that has been questioned following genealogical research.

At the 2025 Green Party conference, Polanski shared a personal story of his Jewish family’s migration, saying his great-grandparents fled from Latvia due to pogroms, then escaped persecution in Ukraine and Nazi-occupied Poland before arriving in Britain. He has since reiterated this account in various media appearances, including a December podcast and a BBC Question Time special focused on immigration.

However, investigations into official birth and census records indicate that all four of Polanski’s grandparents were born in northern England—specifically in Manchester, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, and nearby Heywood—well before the outbreak of the Second World War. Public documents also show that his great and great-great grandparents, originally from Latvia and Russia, had settled in the UK by the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This timeline raises questions about which family members fled Nazi occupation, as his immediate forebears were already established in Britain prior to the war.

The Green Party declined to comment on the inconsistencies, describing inquiries as attempts to discredit Polanski. A party spokesperson noted that Jewish family histories can be complex and confusing, a point Polanski himself has acknowledged. The spokesperson also emphasized the problematic nature of scrutinizing the only current Jewish leader of a British political party in this way.

Polanski, 43, was born David Paulden and later changed his name to Zack Polanski to honor his Jewish heritage and distance himself from a stepfather. He explained that his family surname had originally been Polinsky before it was anglicized, a change he initially believed was made to evade Nazi persecution but later learned was more likely a response to anti-Semitism in the UK.

The leader’s family background has become public amid the Green Party’s 2026 conference in Brighton, where Polanski promised the event would be the party’s most significant to date. He also highlighted recent party achievements, including influencing UK government policy on trade with Israeli settlements and refugee safe routes. Polanski is preparing to contest the upcoming parliamentary by-election in Holborn and St Pancras, a constituency held by Labour since its creation in 1983, where the Greens see a potential opportunity.

This is not the first time Polanski has been the subject of controversy. Earlier this year, he apologized for an inadvertent failure to pay council tax on a houseboat, a matter investigated and resolved by the Greater London Authority amid claims of financial hardship. He also admitted to not voting in the most recent local elections, despite publicly endorsing a Green candidate, due to being unregistered.

While Polanski’s broader family likely includes members who suffered under Nazi persecution, the exact reference points of his statements about fleeing the Nazis remain unclear. The Green Party has yet to provide further clarification on these aspects of his family history.