Jus sanguinis to claim EU citizenship

Does anyone know how this would work for someone who's grandparents are from a county that's been Russia, Poland, Germany, and now Belarus? 

Someone on one of the LJ communities for moving abroad posted that she was able to claim Italian citizenship through her grandparents and therefor now holds an EU passport and can live anywhere in the EU. 

This piqued my interest, as my dad's parents were both born abroad and on his side of the family I'm 2nd generation American.  The rules for Italy at least, were that the grandparents had to not have been naturalized in another country when their child (your parent) was born. 

According to a site I found on Poland citizenship, the first page says that you CAN claim Polish citizenship through grandparents, but when I click through the site there's no further mention of how you'd do it. 

Plus, I'm not even sure if I'd be able to claim Polish citizenship, since the town my grandparents are from (I'd name the town, but the town name is part of my last name so if you need to know, PM me and I'll tell you) was heavily fought over during WWI, WWII and in between and at one point was owned by Poland, Russia, Germany, and Austria.  It was returned to Russia (after my grandparents moved to the US) and is now part of Belarus. Belarus is not part of the EU, but Belarus wasn't established when my grandparents lived there. Russia also isn't part of the EU, so it looks like proving they were Polish is my only chance of trying to claim EU citizenship this way.

Even harder for me is that there are literally NO survivors on my dad's side of the family (including my dad) to talk to about finding papers and getting more information, so I have to do it all on my own. 

I also have no idea how I'd go about finding records to prove it, since it WAS Poland and a good portion of Poland was destroyed.  If Poland has the same rules as Italy, I'd need my grandparents birth certificates and marriage certificate.  Fortunately, I do know my grandmother's maiden name. (that's about all I know about her!).  Oddly enough, her last name is Austrian.

I just started looking into this yesterday, so I really haven't found a whole lot of information. Even google was failing me on this one. 

Even if this doesn't help me out, maybe it can help someone else out!

I'd contact the polish embassy in the US- hopefully they can point you in the right direction.

I'd contact the polish embassy in the US- hopefully they can point you in the right direction.

Why didn't I think of that?   

Thanks! 

I wish I could claim British Citizenship through my Grandfather- he was born just outside Edinburgh! Boo, I have to work permit it!

I wish I could claim British Citizenship through my Grandfather- he was born just outside Edinburgh! Boo, I have to work permit it!

did you check into things to see if it would have been possible?  I don't know what UK citizenship law says, but I know I'd be all over it if I had a British grandparent...wait.  My friend has dual citizenship with the UK because his grandparents are British...I wonder if I can reach him to find out how he did it for you?

Well if I had lived in a commonwealth country...

I stopped looking because I didn't think it was possible and I figured my solicitors of my work permit would have mentioned if it was, because I had to fill out a form with all kinds of information for them and I wrote my grandfather's birthdate and his place of birth and that I had access to his birth certificate and they never mentioned any of that.

AFAIK, American citizens aren't eligible for UK citizenship through any ancestry other than parents - is your friend by any chance Canadian, or from another Commonwealth country?

AFAIK, American citizens aren't eligible for UK citizenship through any ancestry other than parents - is your friend by any chance Canadian, or from another Commonwealth country?

Ah, yeah. He's Canadian.  That would explain it!