The guests were welcomed by Prof. Karol Polejowski, Deputy President of the IPN, who said that sharing our experience is not only one of the IPN’s statutory duties, but also part of the Institute’s mission. He recalled that the end of World War II had not brought freedom in Poland. Subsequent generations experienced the crimes of communist regime during the "Cold War".
We have to preserve the memory of the victims of both German and Soviet totalitarian regimes in order to avoid the resurgence of totalitarianism in the future, said Prof. Karol Polejowski
The meeting was attended by a group of seventeen senior CEF members including former MPs, ministers, politicians and military officers. The guests were particularly interested in the Polish research on the 20th century, communist military and political strategies and plans regarding Poland and Denmark during the times of the "Cold War", as well as matters regarding investigations against former communist agents.
The Director of the IPN Office of International Cooperation Agnieszka Jędrzak presented the organizational structure of the Institute and the scope of activities of its subsequent offices. She talked about projects and initiatives aimed at promoting Polish history abroad, and outlined the IPN cooperation with international organizations.
The Director of the IPN Historical Research Office Sebastian Pilarski, Ph.D. presented the main research projects including recent publications in cooperation with the IPN Publishing House.
Przemyslaw Gasztold, Ph.D. shared the history of Polish-Danish relations in the light of the IPN files, based on selected documents from the IPN Archive.
The Deputy Director of the Office of Search and Identification Anna Szeląg spoke about the search for the remains of victims of totalitarian systems, presenting various stages of the work, the specifics of field operations and the genetic identification process.