Businessman, blogger, and YouTube host Aliaksandr Knyrovich shared the news: Polish authorities decided that he is «worthy of being a citizen of this country».
The path to obtaining citizenship in his case took almost five years.
«The most difficult thing was to learn Polish at B1 level at 50+ years old and pass the state exam, — Aliaksandr shared with «Nasha Niva». — Because all my documents were in order, I was lucky».
«I am indeed Polish. Well, how can I deny this fact?» — Aliaksandr wrote on Facebook, joking that this was his coming out.
The businessman has Polish roots on his father's side. His family lived in the village of Niŭnaye, in the Stoŭbtsy district, which at various times experienced the rule of the Russian Empire, Germans, and Poles.
«The names of my uncles, aunts, grandmothers, and grandfathers on this side leave no doubt: Józef, Wojciech, Teresa, Franek, Jadwiga… And family legend has it — in my grandfather's house, the clock ran on Polish time until 1963».
Aliaksandr himself, when receiving his first Soviet passport in 1989, wrote «Pole» in the «nationality» field. At that time, for him, it was a peculiar anti-Soviet rebellion.
Polish roots were also confirmed by a genetic test which Aliaksandr recently had done.
«The test showed that 49% of my roots are directly in the northeastern part of Poland — in places like Podlasie, Suwałki, and so on. Another 40% is northwestern Russia, Pskov. As far as I understand, my mother's and grandmother's roots come from there. That's the kind of mix I get».
Obtaining Polish citizenship could have happened faster in the businessman's case, but he himself was not in a hurry, doing everything by mail, as he also holds a valid Belarusian passport with an expiry date of 2031. From the moment of submitting the documents to the decision of the Polish authorities, a year and a half passed.
To the question of whether Aliaksandr feels Polish, he replies that he feels local both in Poland and in Belarus.
«In Poland, I feel no longing, no nostalgia. Rather, I don't understand why we have a border along the Bug, why it divides two such close peoples? I think it shouldn't exist. But mentally, of course, I am tied to Belarus by anchor ropes, forever. And the presence or absence of a Polish passport will not change that in any way».
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Следующий этап - "ой, а вы ж знали, что я всю жизнь изучал Священную Тору" ?