Santos told us in 2020 that his Jewish grandparents fled Ukraine amid the Holocaust; now that's in question, too.
A screenshot of George Santos during his Zoom meeting with the Newsday editorial board in September 2020.
With Congressman-elect George Santos’ background and biography under intense scrutiny — including questions raised Wednesday by The Forward, a media organization that focuses on a Jewish American audience, about Santos’ personal narrative — the Newsday editorial board revisited its 2020 endorsement interview when he was running against then-incumbent Tom Suozzi. The Forward's reporting challenges Santos' statement that he is a Jew whose grandparents fled persecution in Ukraine.
Santos refused to meet with the board this year, before winning the CD3 seat against Democrat Robert Zimmerman, and he has not responded to multiple requests for comment since his election, especially after The New York Times and other news organizations found discrepancies in his background and in what he told voters about himself.
What he told the board in 2020 contrasts sharply with The Forward’s genealogical investigation, which found that Santos’ maternal grandparents were both born in Brazil and before the Nazis took power in Germany — and that neither of his mom’s parents were found in databases of Yad Vashem or the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. His great-grandfather, The Forward found, apparently was born in Belgium — in 1863, and immigrated to Brazil in 1884. The Forward also found a distant Dutch relative who created an online family tree, and who confirmed that the "family does not have Ukrainian or Jewish roots."
Here’s what Santos told us in 2020:
- “I come from a family who left a socialist country and I am the grandchild of, you know, two individuals who survived the Holocaust.”
- “I grew up in a middle-class family in Jackson Heights. [I am] First generation born American. I don't come from a wealthy family. My father was blue-collar, is a blue-collar guy, and my mom, may God rest her soul, worked really hard to achieve the start she did in her education and in her career. But we were never, you know, for lack of a better term, rich, right? We were hardworking people. And I, you know, I built my career doing the same thing. You know, waking up early, going to school. I worked and I went to school at the same time. My parents filed bankruptcy … I just think, I worked hard and I think I did a fairly good job, you know, through my own merits.”
- “I live in Whitestone, yes.”
In a separate exchange, an editorial board member inquired about Santos’ family background. That exchange follows:
Santos: “So, my mother’s family, they’re originally Ukrainian, my great-grandparents, they fled persecution. They were Jewish. And they ended up in Belgium thinking they were in a safe haven and that proved to be wrong.”
Editorial board member Lane Filler: “Are y’all still Jewish?”
Santos: “No, my, my family, when they fled to Brazil, their fear of persecution yet again, because it had happened twice, converted to Roman Catholicism. Although family members went back when they thought, you know, the coast was clear, I grew up Catholic. So, you know, I know about my heritage, I respect it. But I don't go around claiming to be Jewish.”
Filler (jokingly): “Listen, in this district, if you can honestly claim you're both Jewish and Catholic, it's a huge hand up.”
Santos: “I’m Catholic. I go to Mass. I’m not that guy, I’ll put it that way to you. I don’t want to claim things I’m not.”
Randi Marshall is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
