Hollywood actor Jesse Eisenberg, whose ancestors were Jews from Poland, has revealed that he has applied for Polish citizenship. He says he feels a strong connection with the country – where his upcoming movie was filmed – and wants to help improve Polish-Jewish relations.
Later this year, A Real Pain – which was written, directed and produced by Eisenberg – will be released. It tells the story of two American cousins – played by Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin – who take a heritage tour in Poland after the death of their grandmother, a Holocaust survivor.
Eisenberg has previously revealed that much of the film is based on the history of his own family, who came from the town of Krasnystaw in southeast Poland.
The entire movie was made in Poland, with one scene even filmed at an apartment that his family fled from. Other parts were shot in the former German-Nazi concentration and extermination camp of Majdanek and at the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising memorial.
Speaking this month to Polish broadcaster TVN, Eisenberg said that “in my early twenties, I became obsessively interested in Poland because I wanted to connect with something bigger than myself. I was in America and felt a bit isolated from the world”. His first visit to the country took place in 2007.
The actor told TVN that he has already obtained a PESEL, Poland’s national identification number. “Now I’m just waiting for my citizenship to come through,” he added.
Eisenberg, who was nominated for an Oscar for his role as Mark Zuckerberg in 2010’s The Social Network, says that once he receives citizenship he wants to spend more time in the country with his wife, Anna Strout – who also has roots in Poland – and son.
“I feel a strong connection with this country and I feel that the history of Jews and Poles was intertwined, and I think this is misrepresented by a lot of American Jews,” continued Eisenberg. “I would like to help repair Polish-Jewish relations.”
W Poznaniu odbyła się konferencja Impact'24, na którą przyleciał Jesse Eisenberg – nominowany do Oscara aktor, uznany dramaturg i filmowiec.
ZOBACZ więcej >>>https://t.co/1HJqsGOAC0
— Dzień Dobry TVN (@DDTVN) May 19, 2024
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
