In our Archive, a range of materials can be found which are of interest – and not only to professional historians. For many Internet users, the electronic catalogue of archival materials might be the first step on the road to becoming acquainted with the Institute’s archival repository, and thus the history of two generations of Poles.
The amendment of the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance of 18 March 2010 placed on IPN the requirement to publish an archival inventory providing a description of the repository on the level of the archival units, according to the structure established and the range of data. Since then, the list has been systematically supplemented with subsequent records.
On 18 December 2023, we are celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the acceptance of the Act on IPN by the Polish Sejm, which created the legal basis for the activity of the Institute’s archival division. For this occasion, a new version of the website was made available, where you can make use of the “IPN Archival Inventory”.
See the website: https://inwentarz.ipn.gov.pl/en
A number of visual and functional changes have been introduced, which facilitate and improve the use of the service. The site is available for various devices (including mobile), in two language versions – Polish and English. We have added a contrasting version of the website and the possibility to enlarge the text.
The Search Field section has been enriched by advanced search options, which allows the utilization of precise search criteria (e.g. filtering according to dates or other chosen fields). The document descriptions come from the Digital Archive system and are in Polish. However, English-speaking users will find the search engine easier to use thanks to the translated navigation and function buttons. The new “Query” function makes it easier to save results as well as the possibility to generate a search report in the form of a PDF.
In closing, it is worth mentioning that the new version of the service contains 200,000 new descriptions (in total there are over 2.7 million), prepared at IPN Archive headquarters as well as in the IPN branch and delegation archives.
The descriptions of archival units in the public inventory are shown in Cyfrowe Archiwum (the Digital Archive) – the full database on the archival repository available in IPN reading rooms in Poland. In accordance with the Act on IPN, persons doing academic research and journalists can make use of it.