More ethnic Poles seeking repatriation from Russia
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
06.12.2017 08:30
A growing number of ethnic Poles living in the remote Russian region of Siberia are interested in moving to the country from which their family hails, Polish Radio has reported.
![Image: "March to Siberia" by Polish painter and graphic artist Artur Grottger (1837-1867), [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](http://external.polskieradio.pl/files/25b77fc1-f293-473c-9d0d-5f8eaf8bfe8e.file "Image: \"March to Siberia\" by Polish painter and graphic artist Artur Grottger (1837-1867), [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons")
Image: "March to Siberia" by Polish painter and graphic artist Artur Grottger (1837-1867), [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
According to an expatriate Polish organisation called the Congress of Poles in Russia, the increased interest in relocating to Poland is chiefly due to new repatriation regulations that lawmakers in Warsaw passed earlier this year.
The Polish government has declared it is ready to help all ethnic Poles interested in repatriating from countries beyond Poland’s eastern border.
The repatriation programme primarily covers descendants of Polish people who were deported to the former Soviet Union decades ago, Henryk Kowalczyk, a senior government official in Warsaw, has said.
Government help for repatriates includes financial support and housing assistance, according to Kowalczyk, who heads the Government Standing Committee.
Repatriate status is available to people who do not have Polish citizenship, but feel Polish and can prove they were deported from Poland against their will or that their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents were deported decades ago, according to Polish Radio’s IAR news agency.
(gs/pk)
Source: IAR