On 5 March Dr Ondrej Krajňák, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Slovak Nation´s Memory Institute (UPN) and Pavol Kossey, Director of the Secretariat of the President of the Board at Nation’s Memory Institute visited Dr Jarosław Szarek, President of the IPN in Warsaw.

During the meeting the Slovak guests thanked the host for excellent relations and bilateral support. They further mentioned the  Festival of Freedom in 2016, an event organised annually by the Slovak Institute, commemorating the 27th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, during which the IPN presented the exhibition "Communism - La Belle Époque". As a continuation of cooperation between the two Institutes, the President of the IPN is going to  participate in the next edition of the festival in November this year. The event will thus be attended by the Presidents of the Slovak, Polish and Czech institutions.

The visitors from Slovakia were also interested in the educational initiatives of the IPN, with particular focus on the knowledge and experience of the IPN’s staff in the methodology of teaching. President Szarek invited educators from Slovakia to participate in workshops conducted by representatives of the educational division of the IPN. Plans to enrich archival cooperation, for example through  joint analysis and edition of sources, were also made. Both sides expressed their interest in organising celebratory events connected with 1918 in Poland and Slovakia; preliminary ideas and solutions were discussed.

As declared by the participants of the meeting, close ties between the Polish and the Slovak National Institute of Remembrance remain a priority for both Institutes.