(RNS) — Polish officials have announced that they will allow Jews who fled the country four decades ago to reclaim their Polish citizenship.

After anti-communist protests erupted in Warsaw and other cities in 1968, the authorities blamed “Zionists” for the social unrest and expelled about 20,000 Jews. They were stripped of their citizenship and passports.

Many of them were survivors of the Holocaust, which claimed 3 million Polish Jews, and were forced to flee their homeland for Israel or the United States. Today, no more than 30,000 Jews live in Poland.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the uprisings and the government’s new policy, Polish President Lech Kaczynski renaturalized 14 people at a ceremony on March 8 at Warsaw University, where the protests originated.