Origin
The Institute of National Remembrance - Commission of the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (IPN) was established by the Polish Parliament on December 18th, 1998 with a special bill. The Institute is headed by the President whose post is independent of the state authorities. The President of the IPN is elected for a five-year term.
The Institute started its activities on July 1st, 2000.
The headquarters of the Institute of National Remembrance are located in Warsaw. There are also eleven Branch Offices of the IPN, established in the cities where Appellate Courts are located, and seven Delegations throughout Poland.
Mission
The Institute of National Remembrance was created to address issues which are considered essential to the legislative power in Poland, primarily to preserve the memory of:
- the losses which were suffered by the Polish Nation as a result of the World War II and the post-war period;
- patriotic traditions of fighting against occupants, Nazism and Communism;
- citizens' efforts to fight for an independent Polish State, in defense of freedom and human dignity;
and to fulfill:
- the duty to prosecute crimes against peace, humanity and war crimes;
- the need to compensate for damages which were suffered by the repressed and harmed people in the times when human rights were disobeyed by the state. This is the expression of belief that no unlawful deeds of the state against its citizens can be protected by secrecy or forgotten.
The Institute of National Remembrance - Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (IPN) has been charged with fulfilling this mission.
On the basis of the statute constituting the IPN, Communist crimes are understood as the deeds performed by officials of the Communist state in the period from September 17th, 1939 to December 31st, 1989, whose activities led to repress individuals and groups of people or to break human rights in another way. Crimes against humanity are understood mainly as crimes of genocide defined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of December 9th, 1948, as well as other forms of persecution and oppressions by official agents which were directed against people who belong to a defined national, political, social, racial or religious group. In accordance with the principles conveyed in international law, no statutory limitation shall apply to war crimes, crimes against peace and crimes against humanity, whether committed in time of war or in time of peace, irrespectively of the date of their commission.
Thus, the IPN is responsible for gathering, assessing, custody and disclosing the documentation created between July 22nd, 1944 and the December 31st, 1989 by Polish security agencies. The documentation would also include records pertaining to Communist, Nazi and other crimes committed against Polish citizens in the period from September 1st, 1939 to December 31st, 1989 as well as political repressions carried out by officials of the former Polish investigative and justice organs in that time. The documentation concerning the activities of the security organs is also the subject of interest of the IPN.
The access to the IPN records is granted to foreigners on the basis of reciprocity.
Another major responsibility of the Institute is to investigate Communist and Nazi crimes as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity and peace. The IPN is obliged to investigate crimes against not only Polish nationals but also other nationals of Polish citizenship and other citizens who were harmed in the Polish territories.
Finally, the IPN is in charge of public education and has been engaged in research with regard to years 1939-1989 as well as dissemination of research results in the form of publications, exhibitions, seminars and in other ways.
The activities performed by the IPN while fulfilling its mission must take into consideration the need to protect personal data of the repressed people.
Departments
The goals of the Institute are carried out by the following four departments:
