View source for Institute of National Remembrance

{{short description|Polish government-affiliated institute}}
{{about|the Polish institute|other uses|Institute of National Memory (disambiguation)}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = Institute of National Remembrance<br />''Instytut Pamięci Narodowej''
| image = Logo IPN.svg
| image_border = 
| size = 162px
| alt = Institute of National Remembrance logo
| caption = The logo of IPN{{Clear}}[[Image:Empark Mokotów Business Park ul. Postępu 2020.jpg|230px]]{{Clear}}IPN headquarters at 1 Kurtyki Street in Warsaw
| map = <!-- or location -->
| msize = 200px
| malt = IPN headquarters
| mcaption = 
| abbreviation = IPN
| formation = {{Start date and age|df=yes|1998|12|18|p=y}}
| purpose = Education, research, archive, and identification. Commemorating the Struggle and Martyrdom. Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ipn.gov.pl/en/about-the-ipn/2,Institute-of-National-Remembrance-Commission-for-the-Prosecution-of-Crimes-again.html|title=Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation|last=Remembrance|first=Institute of National|website=Institute of National Remembrance|language=en-us|access-date=2020-01-28|archive-date=27 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190527113641/https://ipn.gov.pl/en/about-the-ipn/2,Institute-of-National-Remembrance-Commission-for-the-Prosecution-of-Crimes-again.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| headquarters = [[Warsaw]], Poland
| location = 1 Kurtyki Street
| coords = 
| region_served = [[Republic of Poland]]
| membership = Staff
| language = Polish
| leader_title = President
| leader_name =  TBD
| main_organ = Council
| num_staff = Several hundred
| num_volunteers = 
| budget = 
| affiliations = {{ubl|[[Platform of European Memory and Conscience]]|Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., partner institutions in [[Czech Republic]], Germany, [[Slovakia]], Hungary}}
| website = {{URL|http://www.ipn.gov.pl}}
| remarks = The IPN Headquarters in Warsaw co-ordinates the operations of eleven Branch Offices and their Delegations
}}

The '''Institute of National Remembrance''' – '''Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation''' ({{langx|pl|Instytut Pamięci Narodowej – Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu}}, abbreviated '''IPN''') is a Polish state research institute in charge of education and archives which also includes two public prosecution service components exercising investigative, prosecution and [[Lustration in Poland|lustration]] powers. The IPN was established by the [[Polish parliament]] by the [[Act on the Institute of National Remembrance]] of 18 December 1998<ref name="IPNabout"/> through reforming and expanding the earlier '''Main Commission for the ''Investigation'' of Crimes against the Polish Nation''' of 1991, which itself had replaced the General Commission for Research on Fascist Crimes, a body established in 1945 focused on investigating the crimes of the Nazi administration in Poland during World War II.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oOkVDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA243 |title=Remembrance, History, and Justice: Coming to Terms with Traumatic Pasts in Democratic Societies |last1=Tismaneanu| first1=Vladimir| last2=Iacob| first2=Bogdan| date=2015|publisher=Central European University Press|isbn=978-9-63386-092-2 |pages=243 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Hackmann" />

In 2018, IPN's mission statement was amended by the controversial [[Amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance]] to include "protecting the reputation of the Republic of Poland and the Polish Nation".<ref name="The Times of Israel">{{Cite news|date=2018-02-01|title=Full text of Poland's controversial Holocaust legislation |language=en-US|work=The Times of Israel|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-of-polands-controversial-holocaust-legislation/|access-date=2019-10-04}}</ref> The IPN investigates and prosecutes [[Nazi crime|Nazi]] and [[Communist crimes (Polish legal concept)|Communist]] crimes committed between 1917 and 1990, documents its findings, and disseminates them to the public.<ref name="resinst">{{Cite web |url=http://bazy.opi.org.pl/raporty/opisy/instyt/6000/i6575.htm |title=Nauka polska: Instytucje naukowe – identyfikator rekordu: i6575 |access-date=22 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070516153339/http://bazy.opi.org.pl/raporty/opisy/instyt/6000/i6575.htm |archive-date=16 May 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Some scholars have criticized the IPN for politicization, especially under [[Law and Justice]] governments.<ref name="Ambrosewicz-Jacobs">[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17504902.2019.1567668 Ambrosewicz-Jacobs, Jolanta. "The uses and the abuses of education about the Holocaust in Poland after 1989."], Holocaust Studies 25.3 (2019): 329-350.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Goddeeris |first1=Idesbald |title=The Palgrave Handbook of State-Sponsored History After 1945 |date=2018 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-1-349-95306-6 |pages=255–269 |language=en |chapter=History Riding on the Waves of Government Coalitions: The First Fifteen Years of the Institute of National Remembrance in Poland (2001–2016)}}</ref>

The IPN began its activities on 1 July 2000.<ref>{{cite web |author=Instytut Pamięci Narodowej |title=15 lat Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej w liczbach |work=Komunikaty |url=http://ipn.gov.pl/wydzial-prasowy/komunikaty/briefing-prezesa-ipn-dr.-lukasza-kaminskiego-w-zwiazku-z-15-leciem-dzialalnosci-instytutu-pamieci-narodowej-warszawa,-12-czerwca-2015 |date=12 June 2015 |access-date=28 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160622210338/http://ipn.gov.pl/wydzial-prasowy/komunikaty/briefing-prezesa-ipn-dr.-lukasza-kaminskiego-w-zwiazku-z-15-leciem-dzialalnosci-instytutu-pamieci-narodowej-warszawa,-12-czerwca-2015 |archive-date=22 June 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The IPN is a founding member of the [[Platform of European Memory and Conscience]].<ref name="Platform">{{cite web |url=http://www.memoryandconscience.eu/2011/10/20/czech-prime-minister-petr-necas-the-years-of-totalitarianism-were-years-of-struggle-for-liberty/ |title=The years of totalitarianism were years of struggle for liberty |author=Czech Prime minister [[Petr Nečas]] |date=14 October 2011 |publisher=[[Platform of European Memory and Conscience]] |access-date=14 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330062517/http://www.memoryandconscience.eu/2011/10/20/czech-prime-minister-petr-necas-the-years-of-totalitarianism-were-years-of-struggle-for-liberty/ |archive-date=30 March 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Since 2020, the IPN headquarters have been located at Postępu 18 Street in [[Warsaw]]. The IPN has eleven branches in other cities and seven delegation offices.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Remembrance|first=Institute of National|title=Branch Offices and Delegations|url=https://ipn.gov.pl/en/about-the-ipn/structure/branch-offices-and-dele/825,Branch-Offices-and-Delegations.html|access-date=2021-03-06|website=Institute of National Remembrance|language=en-us|archive-date=22 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200822085357/https://ipn.gov.pl/en/about-the-ipn/structure/branch-offices-and-dele/825,Branch-Offices-and-Delegations.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Purpose==
[[File:IPN wejście.jpg|thumb|Main entrance]]
The IPN's main areas of activity,<ref name="resinst"/> in line with its original [[mission statement]],<ref name="IPNabout">[http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/en/1/2/ "Mission"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070913094100/http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/en/1/2/ |date=13 September 2007 }}. From IPN English website. Last accessed on 20 April 2007</ref> include researching and documenting the losses which were suffered by the Polish Nation as a result of [[World War II]] and during the post-war totalitarian period.<ref name="IPNabout"/> The IPN informs about the patriotic traditions of resistance against the occupational forces,<ref name="IPNabout"/> and the Polish citizens' fight for sovereignty of the nation, including their efforts in defence of freedom and human dignity in general.<ref name="IPNabout"/>

According to the IPN, it is its duty to prosecute crimes against peace and humanity, as much as war crimes.<ref name="IPNabout"/> Its mission includes the need to compensate for damages which were suffered by the repressed and harmed people at a time when human rights were disobeyed by the state,<ref name="IPNabout"/> and educate the public about recent [[history of Poland]].<ref name="resinst"/> IPN collects, organises and archives all documents about the Polish Communist security apparatus active from 22 July 1944 to 31 December 1989.<ref name="IPNabout"/>

Following the election of the [[Law and Justice]] party, the government formulated in 2016 a new IPN law. The 2016 law stipulated that the IPN should oppose publications of false information that dishonors or harms the Polish nation. It also called for popularizing history as part of "an element of patriotic education". The new law also removed the influence of academia and the judiciary on the IPN.<ref name="Goddeeris"/>

A [[Amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance|2018 amendment to the law]],<ref name="Hackmann">{{Cite journal|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14623528.2018.1528742|title=Defending the "Good Name" of the Polish Nation: Politics of History as a Battlefield in Poland, 2015–18|first=Jörg|last=Hackmann|date=2 October 2018|journal=Journal of Genocide Research|volume=20|issue=4|pages=587–606|via=Taylor and Francis+NEJM|doi=10.1080/14623528.2018.1528742|s2cid=81922100|url-access=subscription}}</ref> added article 55a that attempts to defend the "good name" of Poland.<ref name="George2019">{{Cite journal|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/721653|title=Nationalism, Democracy, and Memory Laws|first1=George|last1=Soroka|first2=Félix|last2=Krawatzek|date=13 April 2019|journal=Journal of Democracy|volume=30|issue=2|pages=157–171|via=Project MUSE|doi=10.1353/jod.2019.0032|s2cid=159294126|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Initially conceived as a criminal offense (3 years of jail) with an exemption for arts and research, following an international outcry, the article was modified to a civil offense that may be tried in civil courts and the exemption was deleted.<ref name="Hackmann"/> Defamation charges under the act may be made by the IPN as well as by accredited NGOs such as the [[Polish League Against Defamation]].<ref name="Hackmann"/> By the same law, the institution's mission statement was changed to include "protecting the reputation of the Republic of Poland and the Polish Nation".<ref name="The Times of Israel"/>

==Organisation==
IPN was created by special legislation on 18 December 1998.<ref name="IPNabout"/> The IPN is divided into:<ref name="1998_law_updated">{{in lang|pl}} [http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/pl/305/4792/ Nowelizacja ustawy z dnia 18 grudnia 1998 r. o Instytucie Pamięci Narodowej – Komisji Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu oraz ustawy z dnia 18 października 2006 r. o ujawnianiu informacji o dokumentach organów bezpieczeństwa państwa z lat 1944–1990 oraz treści tych dokumentów.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070319212128/http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/pl/305/4792/ |date=19 March 2007 }} Last accessed on 24 April 2006</ref><ref name="IPNabout"/><ref name="IPNabout_pl">{{in lang|pl}}[http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/pl/6/2262/ About the Institute] From IPN Polish website. Last accessed on 24 April 2007</ref>
* Main Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (''Główna Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni Przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu'')
* Bureau of Provision and Archivization of Documents (''Biuro Udostępniania i Archiwizacji Dokumentów'')
* Bureau of Public Education (or Public Education Office, ''Biuro Edukacji Publicznej'')
* Lustration Bureau (''Biuro Lustracyjne'') (new bureau, since October 2006)<ref name="1998_law_updated"/>
* local chapters.

On 29 April 2010, acting president [[Bronislaw Komorowski]] signed into law a parliamentary act that reformed the Institute of National Remembrance.<ref>[http://arabnews.com/world/article48418.ece] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328190422/http://arabnews.com/world/article48418.ece|date=28 March 2012}}</ref>

=== Director ===
IPN is governed by the director, who has a sovereign position that is independent of the Polish state hierarchy. The director may not be dismissed during his term unless he commits a harmful act. Prior to 2016, the election of the director was a complex procedure, which involves the selection of a panel of candidates by the IPN Collegium (members appointed by the Polish Parliament and judiciary). The Polish Parliament ([[Sejm]]) then elects one of the candidates, with a required [[supermajority]] (60%). The director has a 5-year [[term of office]].<ref name="Mink2017">{{Cite journal |last=Mink |first=Georges |title=Is there a new institutional response to the crimes of Communism? National memory agencies in post-Communist countries: the Polish case (1998–2014), with references to East Germany |journal=[[Nationalities Papers]] |volume=45 |issue=6 |pages=1013–1027 |doi=10.1080/00905992.2017.1360853|year=2017 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Following 2016 legislation in the PiS controlled parliament, the former pluralist Collegium was replaced with a nine-member Collegium composed of PiS supporters, and the Sejm appoints the director after consulting with the College without an election between candidates.<ref name="Mink2017"/>

==== Leon Kieres ====
[[File:Leon Kieres VII kadencja Kancelaria Senatu.jpg|thumb|142x142px|Leon Kieres]]
The first director of the IPN was [[Leon Kieres]], elected by the [[Sejm]] for five years on 8 June 2000 (term 30 June 2000 – 29 December 2005). The IPN granted some 6,500 people the "victim of communism" status and gathered significant archive material. The IPN faced difficulties since it was new and also since the [[Democratic Left Alliance (Poland)|Democratic Left Alliance]] (containing former communists) attempted to close the IPN. The publication of ''[[Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland]]'' by [[Jan T. Gross]], proved to be a lifeline for the IPN as Polish president [[Aleksander Kwaśniewski]] intervened to save the IPN since he deemed the IPN's research to be important as part of Jewish-Polish reconciliation and "apology diplomacy".<ref name="Mink2017"/>

==== Janusz Kurtyka ====
[[File:Kurtyka Janusz.jpg|thumb|146x146px|Janusz Kurtyka]]
The second director was [[Janusz Kurtyka]], elected on 9 December 2005 with a term that started 29 December 2005 until his death in the [[2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash|Smolensk airplane crash]] on 10 April 2010. The elections were controversial, as during the elections a leak against [[Andrzej Przewoźnik]] accusing him of collaboration with [[Służba Bezpieczeństwa]] caused him to withdraw his candidacy.<ref name="Mink2017"/><ref name="PAPKP"/> Przewoźnik was cleared of the accusations only after he had lost the election.<ref name="PAPKP">{{in lang|pl}} [https://archive.today/20130416112710/http://wiadomosci.wp.pl/kat,1342,statp,cG93aWF6YW5l,wid,8120626,wiadomosc.html ''Olejniczak: Kurtyka powinien zrezygnować''], [[Polish Press Agency]], 13 December 2005, last accessed on 28 April 2007</ref>

In 2006, the IPN opened a "Lustration Bureau" that increased the director's power. The bureau was assigned the task of examining the past of all candidates to public office. Kurtyka widened archive access to the public and shifted focus from compensating victims to researching collaboration.<ref name="Mink2017"/>

'''Franciszek Gryciuk'''
[[File:Franciszek Gryciuk, 15.06.2010.jpg|thumb|165x165px|Franciszek Gryciuk]]
In 1999, historian [[Franciszek Gryciuk]] was appointed to the Collegium of the IPN, which he chaired 2003–2004. From June 2008 to June 2011, he was vice president of the IPN. He was acting director 2010–2011, between the death of the IPN's second president, [[Janusz Kurtyka]], in the [[2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash]] and the election of [[Łukasz Kamiński]] by the [[Sejm|Polish Parliament]] as the third director.

==== Łukasz Kamiński ====
[[File:Łukasz Kamiński Sejm 2016.JPG|thumb|144x144px|Łukasz Kamiński]]
[[Łukasz Kamiński]], was elected by the Sejm in 2011 following the death of his predecessor. Kamiński headed the Wroclaw Regional Bureau of Public Education prior to his election. During his term, the IPN faced a wide array of criticism calling for an overhaul or even replacement. Critics founds fault in the IPN being a state institution, the lack of historical knowledge of its prosecutors, a relatively high number of microhistories with a debatable methodology, overuse of the martyrology motif, research methodology, and isolationism from the wider research community. In response, Kamiński implemented several changes, including organizing public debates with outside historians to counter the charge of isolationism and has suggested refocusing on victims as opposed to agents.<ref name="Mink2017"/>

==== Jarosław Szarek ====
[[File:Jarosław Szarek 1(cropped).jpg|thumb|128x128px|Jarosław Szarek]]
On 22 July 2016 [[Jarosław Szarek]] was appointed to head IPN.<ref>[https://www.pap.pl/aktualnosci/news,568375,dr-jaroslaw-szarek-zlozyl-przed-sejmem-slubowanie-na-prezesa-ipn.html Senat zgodził się na wybór Jarosława Szarka na prezesa IPN], PAP, 22 July 2016</ref> He dismissed Krzysztof Persak, co-author of the 2002 two-volume IPN study on the [[Jedwabne pogrom]]. In subsequent months, IPN featured in media headlines for releasing controversial documents, including some relating to [[Lech Wałęsa]], for memory politics conducted in schools, for efforts to change Communist street names, and for legislation efforts.<ref name="Goddeeris"/> According to historian Idesbald Goddeeris, this marks a return of politics to the IPN.<ref name="Goddeeris"/>

==== Karol Nawrocki ====
On 23 July 2021 [[Karol Nawrocki]] was appointed as the head of IPN.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ipn.gov.pl/en/about-the-institute/the-president-and-deput/8204,Karol-Nawrocki-PhD.html |title=Karol Nawrocki, Ph.D. President of the Institute of National Remembrance |website=IPN |date=2 June 2021 |access-date=6 July 2021 }}</ref> Nawrocki would later become Polish President in 2025.

==Public prosecutors in the IPN==
Two components of the IPN are specialized parts of the Public Prosecution Service of Poland, namely the Main Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation and the Lustration Bureau. Each of these two components exercises its activities autonomically from other components of the Institute and is headed by a director who is ''ex officio'' Deputy [[Public Prosecutor General (Poland)|Public Prosecutor General of Poland]], while role of the IPN Director is in their case purely accessory and includes no powers regarding conducted investigations, being limited only to providing supporting apparatus and, when vacated, presenting candidates for the offices of the two directors to the Prosecutor General who as their superior has the discretionary power to appoint or reject them.   

===Main Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation===
The Main Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (''Główna Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni Przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu'') is the oldest component of the IPN tracing its origins to 1945. It investigates and prosecutes crimes committed on Polish soil against Polish citizens as well as people of other citizenships wronged in the country. War crimes which are not affected by [[statute of limitations]] according to [[Polish law]] include:<ref name="resinst"/>
# Crimes of the Soviet and Polish [[Communist regime]]s committed in the country from [[Soviet invasion of Poland|17 September 1939]] until the [[Fall of Communism]] on 31 December 1989.<ref name="resinst"/>
# [[Deportation]]s to the [[Soviet Union]] of Polish soldiers of [[Armia Krajowa]],<ref name="resinst"/> and other [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish resistance organizations]] as well as Polish inhabitants of the [[Eastern Borderlands|former Polish eastern territories]].
# Pacifications of Polish communities between [[Vistula]] and [[Bug River|Bug]] rivers in the years 1944 to 1947 by UB-[[NKVD]],<ref name="resinst"/>
# Crimes committed by the law enforcement agencies of the [[Polish People's Republic]], particularly [[Ministry of Public Security of Poland]] and [[Main Directorate of Information of the Polish Army]].<ref name="resinst"/>
# Crimes under the category of [[war crimes]] and [[crimes against humanity]].<ref name="resinst"/>

===Lustration Bureau===
{{further|Lustration in Poland}}
On 15 March 2007, an amendment to the Polish law regulating the IPN (enacted on 18 December 2006) came into effect. The change gave the IPN new [[lustration]] powers and expanded IPN's file access. The change was enacted by [[Law and Justice]] government in a series of legislative amendments during 2006 and the beginning of 2007.<ref name="Szczerbiak2016"/> However, several articles of the 2006-7 amendments were held unconstitutional by Poland's Constitutional Court on 11 May 2007,<ref name="BBClust">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6648435.stm | title=Polish court strikes down spy law | work=[[BBC News]] | date= 11 May 2007 | access-date=5 June 2018}}</ref> though the IPN's lustration power was still wider than under the original 1997 law. These powers include loss of position for those who submitted false lustration declarations as well as a lustration process of candidates for senior office.<ref name="Szczerbiak2016"/>

==Other activities==
===Research===
[[File:Akta Instytut Pamięci Narodowej 05.JPG|thumb|Archive at the former IPN headquarters at 28 Towarowa Street in Warsaw]]
The research conducted by IPN from December 2000 falls into four main topic areas:{{better source needed|date=March 2021}}
* Security Apparatus and Civil Resistance (with separate sub-projects devoted to Political Processes and Prisoners 1944–1956, Soviet Repressions and Crimes committed against Polish Citizens and Martial Law: a Glance after Twenty Years);<ref name="IPNabout_research">[http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/en/6/45/ Public Education Office] IPN website. Last accessed on 24 April 2007</ref>
** Functioning of the repression apparatus (state security and justice organs) – its organizational structure, cadres and relations with other state authority and party organs<ref name="IPNsecprog">[http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/en/42/58/ Security Apparatus and Civil Resistance Central Programme]. IPN pages, last accessed on 25 April 2007</ref>
** Activities of the repression apparatus directed against particular selected social groups and organizations<ref name="IPNsecprog"/>
** Structure and methods of functioning of the People's Poland security apparatus<ref name="IPNsecprog"/>
** Security apparatus in combat with the political and military underground 1944–1956<ref name="IPNsecprog"/>
** Activities of the security apparatus against political emigreés<ref name="IPNsecprog"/>
** Security apparatus in combat with the Church and freedom of belief<ref name="IPNsecprog"/>
** Authorities dealing with social crises and democratic opposition in the years 1956–1989 f) List of those repressed and sentenced to death<ref name="IPNsecprog"/>
** Bibliography of the conspiracy, resistance and repression 1944–1989<ref name="IPNsecprog"/>
* War, Occupation and the Polish Underground;<ref name="IPNabout_research"/><ref name="IPNwar">[http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/en/43/59/ War, Occupation and the Polish Underground State Programme]. IPN pages, last accessed on 25 April 2007</ref>
** deepening of knowledge about the structures and activities of the Polish Underground State<ref name="IPNwar"/>
** examination of the human fates in the territories occupied by the Soviet regime and of Poles displaced into the Soviet Union<ref name="IPNwar"/>
** assessment of sources on the living conditions under the Soviet and German Nazi occupations<ref name="IPNwar"/>
** evaluation of the state of research concerning the victims of the war activities and extermination policy of the Soviet and German Nazi occupiers<ref name="IPNwar"/>
** examining the Holocaust (Extermination of Jews) conducted by Nazis in the Polish territories<ref name="IPNwar"/><ref name="IPNJews">[http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/en/43/60/ Extermination of Jews by German Nazis in the Polish Territories Programme] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020120239/http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/en/43/60/ |date=20 October 2007 }}. IPN pages, last accessed on 25 April 2007</ref>
*** Response of the Polish Underground State to the extermination of Jewish population<ref name="IPNJews"/>
*** The Polish Underground press and the Jewish question during the German Nazi occupation<ref name="IPNJews"/>
* Poles and Other Nations in the Years 1939–1989 (with a part on Poles and Ukrainians);<ref name="IPNabout_research"/><ref name="IPNOthers">[http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/en/43/61/ Poles and Other Nations in the Years 1939–1989 Programme]. IPN pages, last accessed on 25 April 2007</ref>
** Poles and Ukrainians<ref name="IPNOthers"/>
** Poles and Lithuanians<ref name="IPNOthers"/>
** Poles and Germans<ref name="IPNOthers"/>
** Communist authorities – Belarusians – Underground<ref name="IPNOthers"/>
** Fate of Jewish people in the People's Republic of Poland<ref name="IPNOthers"/>
** Gypsies in Poland<ref name="IPNOthers"/>
* Peasants and the People's Authority 1944–1989 (on the situation of peasants and the rural policy in the years 1944–1989)<ref name="IPNabout_research"/><ref name="IPNpeasants">[http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/en/43/62/ Peasants vis-a-vis People's Authority 1944–1989 Programme]. IPN pages, last accessed on 25 April 2007</ref>
** inhabitants of the rural areas during the creation of the totalitarian regime in Poland;<ref name="IPNpeasants"/>
** peasant life during the Sovietisation of Poland in the years 1948–1956;<ref name="IPNpeasants"/>
** attitudes of the inhabitants of rural areas towards the state-Church conflict in the years 1956–1970;<ref name="IPNpeasants"/>
** the role of peasants in the anti-Communist opposition of the 1970s and 1980s.<ref name="IPNpeasants"/>

===Education===
The IPN's Public Education Office (BEP) vaguely defined role in the IPN act is to inform society of Communist and Nazi crimes and institutions. This vaguely defined role allowed [[Paweł Machcewicz]], BEP's director in 2000, freedom to create a wide range of activities.<ref name="Goddeeris"/>

Researchers at the IPN conduct not only research but are required to take part in public outreach.<ref name="vb">{{Cite journal|last=Behr|first=Valentin|date=2017-01-02|title=Historical policy-making in post-1989 Poland: a sociological approach to the narratives of communism |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/23745118.2016.1269447|journal=European Politics and Society|volume=18|issue=1|pages=81–95|doi=10.1080/23745118.2016.1269447|s2cid=150353378|issn=2374-5118|url-access=subscription}}</ref> BEP has published music CDs,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=lKSLAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA38 The Populist Radical Right in Poland: The Patriots], [[Rafał Pankowski]], page 38</ref> DVDs, and serials. It has founded "historical clubs" for debates and lectures. It has also organized outdoor historical fairs, picnic, and games.<ref name="Goddeeris">[https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-349-95306-6_13 Goddeeris, Idesbald. "History Riding on the Waves of Government Coalitions: The First Fifteen Years of the Institute of National Remembrance in Poland (2001–2016)."] The Palgrave Handbook of State-Sponsored History After 1945. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2018. 255-269.</ref>

The ''{{ill|IPN Bulletin|pl|Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej}}'' ({{langx|pl|Biuletyn IPN}}) is a high circulation popular-scientific journal,<ref name="Transformation172"/> intended for lay readers and youth.<ref name="vb"/> Some 12,000 of 15,000 copies of the ''Bulletin'' are distributed free of charge to secondary schools in Poland, and the rest are sold in bookstores.<ref name="Transformation172">[https://books.google.com/books?id=bd8VQ5-BC-MC&pg=PT184 The Post-communist Condition: Public and Private Discourses of Transformation], John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 172, chapter by Marta Kurkowska-Budzan</ref> The ''Bulletin'' contains: popular-scientific and academic articles, polemics, manifestos, appeals to readers, promotional material on the IPN and BEP, denials and commentary on reports in the news, as well as multimedia supplements.<ref name="Transformation172"/>

The IPN also publishes the ''{{ill|Remembrance and Justice|pl|Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość}}'' ({{langx|pl|Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość}}) scientific journal.<ref name="Transformation172"/>

The IPN has issued several board games to help educate people about recent Polish history, including:
* ''{{ill|303 (board game)|pl|303 (gra planszowa)|lt=303}}'' – a game about the [[Battle of Britain]] that focuses on the [[No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron|Polish 303 Squadron]].
* ''[[Kolejka (game)|Kolejka]]'' – a game about being forced to queue for basic household products during the Communist era.

===Naming of monuments===
In 2008, the chairman of the IPN wrote to local administrations, calling for the addition of the word "German" before "Nazi" to all monuments and tablets commemorating Germany's victims, stating that "Nazis" is not always understood to relate specifically to Germans. Several scenes of atrocities conducted by Germany were duly updated with [[commemorative plaque]]s clearly indicating the nationality of the perpetrators. The IPN also requested better documentation and commemoration of crimes that had been perpetrated by the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name="fakty.interia">{{cite web |url=http://fakty.interia.pl/polska/news/akcja-ipn-mordowali-niemcy-nie-nazisci,1225157 |title=Akcja IPN: Mordowali "Niemcy", nie "naziści" |trans-title=IPN initiative: Murderers "German", not "Nazis" |date=9 December 2008 |website=Interia |language=pl |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212135355/http://fakty.interia.pl/polska/news/akcja-ipn-mordowali-niemcy-nie-nazisci,1225157 |archive-date=12 February 2012}}</ref>

The Polish government also asked [[UNESCO]] to officially change the name "Auschwitz Concentration Camp" to "Former Nazi German Concentration Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau", to clarify that the camp had been built and operated by [[Nazi Germany]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/secondworldwar/story/0,,2112948,00.html |title=Poles claim victory in battle to rename Auschwitz |last=Tran |first=Mark |date=27 June 2007 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=11 November 2018}}</ref><ref name="The Jewish Journal">{{cite news |url=https://jewishjournal.com/news/world/13028/ |title=Auschwitz Might Get Name Change |last=Spritzer |first=Dinah |date=27 April 2006 |newspaper=[[The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles|The Jewish Journal]] |access-date=11 November 2018}}</ref><ref name="jpost.com">{{cite news |url=https://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/Yad-Vashem-for-renaming-Auschwitz |title=Yad Vashem for renaming Auschwitz |date=11 May 2006 |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |access-date=31 March 2018}}</ref><ref name="EUX.TV">{{cite web |url=https://www.expatica.com/de/news/country-news/UNESCO-approves-Auschwitz-name-change_146793.html |title=UNESCO approves Poland's request to rename Auschwitz |date=27 June 2007 |website=Expatica |publisher=Expatica Communications B.V. |access-date=19 October 2017 |archive-date=19 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019215928/https://www.expatica.com/de/news/country-news/UNESCO-approves-Auschwitz-name-change_146793.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2007, UNESCO's [[World Heritage Committee]] changed the camp's name to "Auschwitz Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940–1945)."<ref name="unesco">{{cite web |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/363 |title=World Heritage Committee approves Auschwitz name change |date=28 June 2007 |website=UNESCO World Heritage Committee |access-date=11 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/apr/01/secondworldwar.unitednations |title=Auschwitz may be renamed to reinforce link with Nazi era |first=Nicholas |last=Watt |date=1 April 2006 |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=27 July 2012}}</ref> Previously some German media, including ''[[Der Spiegel]]'', had called the camp "Polish".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4863026.stm |title=Poland seeks Auschwitz renaming |date=31 March 2006 |website=BBC News |access-date=11 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/27/secondworldwar.marktran |title=Poles claim victory in battle to rename Auschwitz |first=Mark |last=Tran |date=27 June 2007 |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=27 July 2012 }}</ref>

===Publications===

Since 2019, the Institute publishes the ''Institute of National Remembrance Review'' ({{ISSN|2658-1566}}), a yearly [[peer-reviewed]] [[academic journal]] in English, with Anna Karolina Piekarska as [[editor-in-chief]]..

==Criticism==


According to {{ill|Georges Mink|fr|Georges Mink}}, common criticisms of the IPN include its dominance in the Polish research field, which is guaranteed by a budget that far supersedes that of any similar academic institution; the "thematic monotony ... of micro-historical studies ... of no real scientific interest" of its research; its focus on "[[Hagiography|martyrology]]"; and various criticisms of methodology and ethics.<ref name="Mink2017" /> Some of these criticisms have been addressed by Director [[Łukasz Kamiński]] during his tenure and who according to Mink "has made significant changes"; however, Mink, writing in 2017, was also concerned with the recent administrative and personnel changes in IPN, including the election of [[Jarosław Szarek]] as director, which he posits are likely to result in further the politicization of the IPN.<ref name="Mink2017" /> According to Valentin Behr, IPN research into the Communist era is valuable, positing that "the resources at its disposal have made it unrivalled as a research centre in the academic world"; at the same time, he said that the research is mostly focused on the era's negative aspects, and that it "is far from producing a critical approach to history, one that asks its own questions and is methodologically pluralistic." He added that in recent years that problem is being ameliorated as the IPN's work "has somewhat diversified as its administration has taken note of criticism on the part of academics."<ref name="vb" />

According to Robert Traba,<ref name="Traba 2016">{{Cite journal |last=Traba |first=Robert |date=2016 |title=Two Dimensions of History: An Opening Sketch |url=http://rcin.org.pl/Content/64236/WA248_83643_P-I-2524_traba-two_o.pdf |journal=Teksty Drugie |volume=1 |pages=36–81}}</ref> "under the ... IPN, tasks related to the 'national politics of memory' were – unfortunately – merged with the mission of independent academic research. In the public mind, there could be only one message flowing from the institute's name: memory and history as a science are one. The problem is that nothing could be further from the truth, and nothing could be more misleading. What the IPN's message presents, in fact, is the danger that Polish history will be grossly over-simplified."{{r|Traba 2016|p=43}} Traba states that "at the heart of debate today is a confrontation between those who support traditional methods and categories of research, and those who support newly defined methods and categories. ... Broadening the research perspective means the enrichment of the historian's instrumentarium.'" He puts the IPN research, in a broad sense, in the former; he states that "[a] solid, workshop-oriented, traditional, and positivist historiography ... which defends itself by the integrity of its analysis and its diversified source base" but criticizes its approach for leading to a "falsely conceived mission to find 'objective truth' at the expense of 'serious study of event history', and a 'simplified claim that only 'secret' sources, not accessible to ordinary mortals', can lead to that objective truth." Traba quotes historian [[Wiktoria Śliwowska]], who wrote: "The historian must strive not only to reconstruct a given reality, but also to understand the background of events, the circumstances in which people acted. It is easy to condemn, but difficult to understand a complicated past. ... [Meanwhile, in the IPN] thick volumes are being produced, into which are being thrown, with no real consideration, further evidence in criminating various persons now deceased (and therefore not able to defend themselves), and elderly people still alive – known and unknown."{{r|Traba 2016|pp=57-58}} Traba posits that "there is ... a need for genuine debate that does not revolve around [the files] in the IPN archives, 'lustration,' or short-term and politically inspired discussions designed to establish the 'only real' truth", and suggests that adopting varied perspectives and diverse methodologies might contribute to such debate.{{r|Traba 2016|p=67}}

During PiS's control of the government between 2005 and 2007, the IPN was the focus of heated public controversies, in particular in regard to the pasts of [[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity]] leader [[Lech Wałęsa]] and [[Polish United Workers' Party|PZPR]] secretary [[Wojciech Jaruzelski]].<ref name=vb/> As a result, the ''IPN'' has been referred to as "a political institution at the centre of 'memory games'".<ref name=vb/><ref name="Stryjek 2018">{{Cite journal |last=Stryjek |first=Tomasz |date=2018 |title=The Hypertrophy of Polish Remembrance Policy after 2015: Trends and Outcomes |journal=Zoon Politikon |volume=1 |issue=9 |pages=43–66|doi=10.4467/2543408XZOP.18.003.10059 |doi-access=free |s2cid=159124162 |url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5b92/f67bab4fa81f141aa276e99789c196796d72.pdf }}</ref><ref name="Michlic 2020">{{Cite conference |last=Michlic |first=Joanna Beata |date=2020 |title=History "Wars" and the Battle for Truth and National Memory |conference=Constructions and Instrumentalization of the Past |pages=115}}</ref>

In 2008, two IPN employees, [[Sławomir Cenckiewicz]] and [[Piotr Gontarczyk]], published a book, ''{{ill|SB a Lech Wałęsa|pl|SB a Lech Wałęsa. Przyczynek do biografii}}'' (The Security Service and Lech Wałęsa: A Contribution to a Biography) which caused a major controversy.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ktcvDwAAQBAJ&dq=Gontarczyk&pg=PA406 Totalitarian Societies and Democratic Transition: Essays in memory of Victor Zaslavsky], pages 406-7, Vladislav Zubok, CEU Press</ref> The book's premise was that in the 1970s the [[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity]] leader and later president of Poland [[Lech Wałęsa]] was a secret [[informant]] of the [[Służba Bezpieczeństwa|Polish Communist Security Service]].<ref>{{cite news |author=Harry de Quetteville |date=14 June 2008 |title=Lech Walesa was Communist spy, claims book |work=The Daily Telegraph |place=Berlin |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/2126507/Lech-Walesa-was-Communist-spy,-claims-book.html |url-status=dead |access-date=4 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080617132346/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/2126507/Lech-Walesa-was-Communist-spy,-claims-book.html |archive-date=17 June 2008}}</ref>

In 2018, the IPN hired [[Tomasz Greniuch]], a historian who in his youth was associated with [[National Radical Camp|a far-right group]]. When he was promoted to a regional director of the Wrocław branch in February 2021, his past came to media attention and resulted in criticism of Greniuch and IPN. Greniuch issued an apology for his past behavior and resigned within weeks.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-02-22 |title=Polish historian with far-right past resigns from state job |url=https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/polish-historian-with-farright-past-resigns-from-state-job-historian-historian-polish-government-controversy-b1805614.html |access-date=2023-08-30 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Walenciak |first1= Weronika|last2=Dobrosz-Oracz|first2=Justyna |title=Opozycja: Prezes IPN do dymisji. "Napluto w twarz żołnierzom AK" |work= Wyborcza.pl |url=https://wyborcza.pl/7,82983,26816496,opozycja-prezes-ipn-do-dymisji-napluto-w-twarz-zolnierzom.html?disableRedirects=true |access-date=2023-08-26|language=Polish}}</ref>

===Organizational and methodological concerns===
Valentin Behr writes that the IPN is most "concerned with the production of an official narrative about Poland's recent past" and therefore lacks innovation in its research, while noting that situation is being remedied under recent leadership. He writes that the IPN "has mainly taken in historians from the fringes of the academic field" who were either unable to obtain a prominent academic position or ideologically drawn to the IPN's approach, and that "in the academic field, being an 'IPN historian' can be a stigma"; Behr explains this by pointing to a generational divide in Polish academia, visible when comparing IPN to other Polish research outlets, and claims: "Hiring young historians was done deliberately to give the IPN greater autonomy from the academic world, considered as too leftist to describe the dark sides of the communist regime." He says that the IPN has created opportunities for many history specialists who can carry dedicated research there without the need for an appointment at another institution, and for training young historians, noting that "the IPN is now the leading employer of young PhD students and PhDs in history specialized in contemporary history, ahead of Polish universities".<ref name=vb/>

Historian [[Dariusz Stola]] states that the IPN is very bureaucratic in nature, comparing it to a "regular continental European bureaucracy, with usual deficiencies of its kind", and posits that in this aspect the IPN resembles the former Communist institutions it is supposed to deal with, equally "bureaucratic, centralist, heavy, inclined to extensive growth and quantity rather than quality of production".<ref name="Stola 2012">Stola, Dariusz. "Poland's Institute of National Remembrance: A Ministry of Memory?" The convolutions of historical politics (2012), pp. 54-55.</ref>

An incident which caused controversy involved the "[[Wildstein list]]", a partial list of persons who allegedly worked for the communist-era Polish intelligence service, copied in 2004 from IPN archives (without IPN permission) by journalist [[Bronisław Wildstein]] and published on the Internet in 2005. The list gained much attention in Polish media and politics, and IPN security procedures and handling of the matter came under criticism.<ref name="Wild">Wojciech Czuchnowski, ''[https://archive.today/20130416131410/http://serwisy.gazeta.pl/wyborcza/1,68586,3339691.html Bronisław Wildstein: człowiek z listą]'', [[Gazeta Wyborcza]], last accessed on 12 May 2006</ref><ref name="Szczerbiak2016">{{Cite web|url=http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/63436/1/EastEuropeanPolitics-Accepted%20Manuscript.pdf|title=Szczerbiak, Aleks. "Deepening democratisation? Exploring the declared motives for "late" lustration in Poland." East European Politics 32.4 (2016): 426-445.|date=October 2016 |last1=Szczerbiak |first1=Aleks }}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Laws against Holocaust denial]]
*[[Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression]]
*[[Ukrainian Institute of National Memory]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/en IPN Home Page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017124841/http://www.ipn.gov.pl/portal/en/ |date=17 October 2012 }} (English)
* {{in lang|pl}} '''old''' [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929224659/http://ks.sejm.gov.pl/proc3/ustawy/31_u.htm Act of 18 December 1998 on the Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation] (''Ustawa z dnia 18 grudnia 1998 r. o Instytucie Pamięci Narodowej – Komisji Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu'')
* {{in lang|en}} '''old''' [http://www.ipn.gov.pl/wai/en/32/46/ Act of 18 December 1998 on the Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930012334/http://isip.sejm.gov.pl/servlet/Search?todo=open&id=WDU19981551016 |date=30 September 2007 }}

{{National memory institutions}}
{{Anti-communism in Europe since 1989}}
{{Truth and Reconciliation Commission}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:History organisations based in Poland]]
[[Category:History of Poland (1989–present)]]
[[Category:Commemoration of communist crimes]]
[[Category:Platform of European Memory and Conscience]]
[[Category:Decommunization]]
[[Category:Transitional justice]]
[[Category:Institute of National Remembrance| ]]
[[Category:1998 establishments in Poland]]
[[Category:Research institutes established in 1998]]
[[Category:Government agencies established in 1998]]