Incoming congressman’s claims his grandparents fled the Holocaust contradicted by genealogy records

Claims by incoming Republican Rep. George Santos that his grandparents “survived the Holocaust” as Ukrainian Jewish refugees from Belgium who modified their surname to outlive are contradicted by sources reviewed by CNN’s KFile together with household bushes compiled by family tree web sites, information on Jewish refugees and interviews with a number of genealogists.

Santos, who has known as himself “half Jewish” and a “Latino Jew” in media appearances, has claimed his maternal grandfather was initially from Ukraine and fled to Brazil to flee Nazism. In one other telling, the New York Republican stated his grandparents transformed to Catholicism in the course of the rise of Nazism in Belgium after fleeing Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union. In one other telling, he claimed his household modified their identify to outlive Nazism.

CNN spoke to a number of genealogists who stated there was no proof of the claims. Santos’ misrepresentations of his household historical past had been first reported by The Ahead on Wednesday. Data from the Holocaust Museum and the Worldwide Middle on Nazi Persecution, which comprise information on Jewish refugees, additionally present no point out of Santos’ grandparents.

Megan Smolenyak, an creator {and professional} genealogist who helped analysis Santos’ household tree at CNN’s request, stated in e mail, “There’s no signal of Jewish and/or Ukrainian heritage and no indication of identify modifications alongside the best way.”

The incoming Republican lawmaker has confronted scrutiny over his resume since The New York Instances revealed on Monday that Santos’ biography seemed to be partly fictional. CNN confirmed particulars of The New York Instances reporting on Monday, together with that he could have misrepresented components of his resume about his school training and employment historical past.

A lawyer for Santos declined to remark to CNN.

“I’m very happy with my Jewish heritage,” Santos stated in an look from late November 2022 with the Jewish Information Syndicate. “I’m very happy with my grandparents’ story. My grandfather fleeing, Ukraine, fleeing Stalin’s persecution, going to Belgium, discovering refuge there, marrying my grandmother, then fleeing Hitler going to Brazil. That’s a narrative of perseverance. I’m so proud. I imply, I want I may have met my grandfather.”

In one other interview from earlier this yr, Santos claimed that his grandparents survived the Holocaust.

“My grandparents survived the Holocaust, so these regimes of socialism, Marxism, they don’t work, and so they’re adopted up by plenty of harm, and we’re seeing that at present and what’s taking place in Ukraine with the Russians,” Santos stated in a Might 2022 interview.

However household histories from the web sites MyHeritage and Geneanet and a Dutch periodical from the city the household emigrated from present his maternal grandparents, Paolo and Rosalina Devolder, had been each born in Brazil. Data on FamilySearch, first reported by The Ahead, additionally present Santos’ great-grandfather as dwelling in Brazil.

Whereas it’s potential that his maternal grandparents returned to Europe after which moved again to Brazil, there isn’t a proof to help this. And there’s no proof that the household had been Jewish refugees fleeing Europe.

Moreover, Santos’ ties to Ukraine had been solely added to his marketing campaign biography someday between April 2022 and October 2022, based on the Web Archive’s WayBack Machine. His bio now begins: “George’s grandparents fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine, settled in Belgium, and once more fled persecution throughout WWII.”

When the Ukraine-Russia battle started in February 2022, Santos advised Fox Information digital that his ties to Ukraine had been “very imprecise” and stated it will be “disingenuous” to say his kinfolk had been in danger. However he added that his household later modified their surname to outlive.

“It’s simply very imprecise and faint,” stated Santos’ of his ties to the nation. “We don’t carry the Ukrainian final identify. For lots of people who’re descendants of World Struggle II refugees or survivors of the Holocaust, plenty of names and paperwork had been modified in identify of survival.”

However information dispute this assertion. The Devolder surname has been utilized by his mom’s household for generations, and the household has not modified it, based on household bushes reviewed by the genealogists CNN spoke to.

Santos’ mom died in 2016, however her Fb posts embrace Catholic prayers and posts in regards to the Virgin Mary on Easter with no posts indicating Jewish heritage.

In a special look, Santos stated his mom’s grandfather’s household transformed to Catholicism in the course of the rise of Nazism, although he specified he was not making an attempt to say to Jewish heritage.

“My grandfather grew up Jewish. My grandfather, in the course of the Soviet points, escaped to Belgium,” stated Santos. “After which that was a fantastic transfer. Met my grandmother, married, and loopy sufficient, the Nazis grew to become a factor. And that’s when he stated, ‘Oh my God, that is over again.’ They transformed to Catholicism, had their children, raised them Catholic. And I’m Catholic, however that’s just about little historical past of my household into Judaism.”