Location

• Warszawa, Warsaw, Poland
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Languages

• Polish

Website

• https://ipn.gov.pl/

Name of collection

• Institute of National Remembrance - Office for the Preservation and Dissemination of Archival Records 

Provenance and cultural activities

• The Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (IPN) was founded by the special law voted in Polish Parliament in December 1998 and started to operate in 2000. The aim of this institution was defined as “safeguarding the memory of the enormity of the tragedies (including the numbers of victims ), and the losses and damages, inflicted on the Polish nation in World War II and in its wake, as well as commemorating the patriotic traditions of resistance by the Polish nation against the occupiers, whether Nazi or communist”. The Parliament that voted the creation of IPN was largely constituted of the post-Solidarity party: the Solidarity Electoral Action ( “Akcja Wyborcza Solidarność”). According to some scholars dealing with the politics of memory in Poland in the first decade after 1989, e.g. Barbara Klich-Kluczewska, Polish historians were not eager to “deal with the past” or to tackle the issues of the most recent history. Also, most of the political milieu in general was not pushing for immediate vetting and lustration policies. That changed in the end of 1990s, when the need to settle communist crimes and persecute the perpetrators pervaded. In the beginning of its functioning, the Institute received materials created by the civil and military state security bodies between 1944 and 1990. Those materials included for example documents from Security Services of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Military Information, but also the materials regarding Nazi and communist crimes, collected by the Chief Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation and by regional commissions, as well as court, prosecutorial, military and punitive institutions' files regarding those oppressed by the regime. The biggest controversies regarding the Institute of National Remembrance arose in years 2000-2007 when the politics of disclosure and modes of access to the resources of IPN (or rather – lack of access) were greatly discussed in the media. That resulted in publishing of 162 000 names mentioned in secret service files, by a right-wing journalist, Bronisław Wildstein in 2005. The so-called “Wildstein list” did not distinguish officers from employees of secret services and secret collaborators. Releasing those names started a discussion about the Polish way of seeing and dealing with its communist past. In 2006, according to Lustration Law, the Institute became responsible for vetting process of judges, officials and politicians. Since 2007, access to the IPN archive (official name: Office for the Preservation and Dissemination of Archival Records (Biuro Udostępniania i Archiwizacji Dokumentów IPN)) which houses almost 86.5 kilometres of files, is a public right – everyone can file a motion to check his/her files in the archive. IPN Archives are not subordinated to the director of the National Archive, but directly to the president of IPN.
  
  The Institute of National Remembrance is one of the most influential actors in the Polish politics of memory. It disposes an astonishingly big collection of various materials which document the richness and ambiguity of the socialist times in Poland. In IPN archives researchers can find not only the documents about political dissent, but also about every minor element of social and cultural life - from sport clubs to punk groups and clandestine trade.

Description of content

• The main task of the Archive of the Institute of National Remembrance is to collect and manage national security services’ documents created between 22 July 1944 and 31 July 1990, as well as to document Nazi and communist crimes against Polish nationals or Polish citizens of other nationalities - committed between 8 November 1917 and 31 July 1990. The IPN’s Archives are located both in Warsaw and in other smaller voiveidship cities.

  From early 2000, the Institute of National Remembrance started to acquire the documents from the archives of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration (Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnętrznych i Administracji), the Internal Security Agency (ABW – Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego), Office for State Protection (Urząd Ochrony Państwa – UOP), Police Archives, Military Information Services (Wojskowe Służby Informacyjne – WSI), Polish Border Guard, Prison Guard, Ministry of National Defence (Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej) and others. Most of those acquisitions were hasty and without preparations, so the process of cataloguing and managing the files is still ongoing.

  The process of acquiring the files by the Archive of the Institute of National Remembrance can be divided in two phases. First, from 2000 to 2005, the Archive of IPN took over nearly 85 000 metres of documents from the previous state institutions. Since 2006, the Institute has been striving to obtain files with unclear legal status and from more problematic, often contentious sources. Overall, as for the 2015, the Institute of National Remembrance owned 91 000 metres of files.

  Most of the content of IPN Archives consists of personal documentation, such as passport recommendations and requests, as well as personal files of citizens (approx. 3,5 million files) and files of state functionaries.

Content

• film: 1000-
• legal and/or financial documentation: 1000-
• voice recordings (including oral history recordings): 500-999

Operator(s)

• Institute of National Remembrance
• Institute of National Remembrance

Owner(s)

• Institute of National Remembrance

Stakeholder(s) of the collection

• Lower House of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland

Geographical scope of recent operation

• national

Topics

• democratic opposition
• national movements (patriotic opposition)
• social movements (general)
• survivors of persecutions under authoritarian/totalitarian regimes

Founder(s)

• Lower House of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland
• Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Poland

Date of founding

• 1998

Place of founding

• Warszawa, Warsaw, Poland
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Creator(s) of content

• Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Poland

Collector(s)

• Grzegorzewski, Zbigniew

Important events in the history of the collection

• Acquisition of files from Secret Services, 2000
• Lustration Act, legal change, 2006

Featured items

• Clandestine film from Jerzy Popiełuszko's funeral, video, 1984
• Films from secret service surveillance, videos, 1960s-1980s
• Materials on Polish independent rock scene, documents, 1980s

Access type

• parts are closed to the public

Publications

• Bulletin of the Institute of National Remembrance, 2001-2011, Warsaw: Institute of National Remembrance.
  
  Report on the activities of the Institute of National Remembrance, 2001 - 2017, Warsaw - annual reports submitted for the Polish Parliament. 
  
  Books:

  Bednarek, Jerzy, Leśkiewicz, Rafał, Perzyna Paweł, Archiwa – Historia – Pamięć. Bilans 15 lat działalności archiwalnej Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, [Archives-History-Memory. 15 years of archival activities of Institute of National Remembrance],  Łódź – Warszawa, 2018. 
  
  Bittner, Karolina Piosenka w służbie propagandy. Festiwal Piosenki Żołnierskiej w Kołobrzegu 1968–1989, [Songs in duty of propaganda. The Festival of Military Songs in Kołobrzeg 1968-1989], Poznań: Institute of National Remembrance, 2015. 
  
  Tracz, Bogusław. Hippiesi, kudłacze, chwasty: hipisi w Polsce w latach 1967-1975. [Hippies, hairies, weeds: hippies in Poland 1967-1975], Katowice: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej. Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, 2014.
  
  Wasylewski, Andrzej (red.) Jazzowe dzieje Polaków. Biografia wielogłosowa [The Jazz History of Poles. Multivocal biography], Warsaw: Institute of National Remembrance, 2018. 

  
  Book series:

  W kręgu kultury PRL [In the cultural circle of PPR], Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej.

  
  Legal acts:

  Act from 18 December 1998 on the Institute of National Remembrance -  Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation [Ustawa z dnia 18 grudnia 1998 r. o Instytucie Pamięci Narodowej – Komisji Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu], Journal of Laws, 1998 No. 155 position 1016 [Dz.U. 1998 Nr 155 poz. 1016].

  Act from 18 October 2006 on disclosing information about the documents of secret services from 1944-1990 and the content of those documents [Ustawa z dnia 18 października 2006 r. o ujawnianiu informacji o dokumentach organów bezpieczeństwa państwa z lat 1944-1990 oraz treści tych dokumentów]. Journal of Laws,  2006 No. 218 position 1592 [Dz.U. 2006 nr 218 poz. 1592].

Part of network

• Platform of European Memory and Conscience

Author(s) of this page

• Gospodarczyk, Hanna

References

Bulletin of the Institute of National Remembrance, 2001-2011, Warsaw: Institute of National Remembrance.

Report on the activities of the Institute of National Remembrance, 2001 - 2017, Warsaw - annual reports submitted for the Polish Parliament. 

Books:

Bednarek, Jerzy, Leśkiewicz, Rafał, Perzyna Paweł, Archiwa – Historia – Pamięć. Bilans 15 lat działalności archiwalnej Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, [Archives-History-Memory. 15 years of archival activities of Institute of National Remembrance],  Łódź – Warszawa, 2018. 

Bittner, Karolina Piosenka w służbie propagandy. Festiwal Piosenki Żołnierskiej w Kołobrzegu 1968–1989, [Songs in duty of propaganda. The Festival of Military Songs in Kołobrzeg 1968-1989], Poznań: Institute of National Remembrance, 2015. 

Tracz, Bogusław. Hippiesi, kudłacze, chwasty: hipisi w Polsce w latach 1967-1975. [Hippies, hairies, weeds: hippies in Poland 1967-1975], Katowice: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej. Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, 2014.

Wasylewski, Andrzej (red.) Jazzowe dzieje Polaków. Biografia wielogłosowa [The Jazz History of Poles. Multivocal biography], Warsaw: Institute of National Remembrance, 2018. 

Book series:

W kręgu kultury PRL [In the cultural circle of PPR], Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej.

Legal acts:

Act from 18 December 1998 on the Institute of National Remembrance -  Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation [Ustawa z dnia 18 grudnia 1998 r. o Instytucie Pamięci Narodowej – Komisji Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu], Journal of Laws, 1998 No. 155 position 1016 [Dz.U. 1998 Nr 155 poz. 1016].

Act from 18 October 2006 on disclosing information about the documents of secret services from 1944-1990 and the content of those documents [Ustawa z dnia 18 października 2006 r. o ujawnianiu informacji o dokumentach organów bezpieczeństwa państwa z lat 1944-1990 oraz treści tych dokumentów]. Journal of Laws,  2006 No. 218 position 1592 [Dz.U. 2006 nr 218 poz. 1592].