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{{Infobox organization |
{{Infobox organization |
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| name = Institute of National Remembrance<br />''Instytut Pamięci Narodowej'' |
| name = Institute of National Remembrance<br />''Instytut Pamięci Narodowej'' |
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| image = Logo IPN. |
| image = Logo IPN.svg |
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| image_border = |
| image_border = |
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| size = 162px |
| size = 162px |
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| mcaption = |
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| abbreviation = IPN |
| abbreviation = IPN |
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| motto = Our history creates our identity.<ref name="ipn.gov">[http://www.ipn.gov.pl/dokumenty/zalaczniki/2-628.pdf The Institute of National Remembrance Guide, Warsaw 2009] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612105207/http://www.ipn.gov.pl/dokumenty/zalaczniki/2-628.pdf |date=12 June 2011 }} ([[PDF]] 3.4 MB)</ref> |
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| formation = {{Start date and age|df=yes|1998|12|18|p=y}} |
| formation = {{Start date and age|df=yes|1998|12|18|p=y}} |
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| 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> |
| 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> |
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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"/> |
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"/> |
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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}}</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}}</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"/> |
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"/> |
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==Organisation== |
==Organisation== |
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==== Janusz Kurtyka ==== |
==== Janusz Kurtyka ==== |
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[[File:Kurtyka Janusz.jpg|thumb|146x146px|Janusz Kurtyka]] |
[[File:Kurtyka Janusz.jpg|thumb|146x146px|Janusz Kurtyka]] |
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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/ |
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> |
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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"/> |
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"/> |
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==== Karol Nawrocki ==== |
==== Karol Nawrocki ==== |
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[[File:Dr Karol Nawrocki.jpg|thumb|144x144px|Karol Nawrocki]] |
[[File:Dr Karol Nawrocki.jpg|thumb|144x144px|Karol Nawrocki]] |
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On 23 July 2021 [[Karol Nawrocki]] was appointed to head IPN.<ref> |
On 23 July 2021 [[Karol Nawrocki]] was appointed to head 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> |
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==Public prosecutors in the IPN== |
==Public prosecutors in the IPN== |
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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"/> |
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"/> |
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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}}</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> |
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> |
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The ''IPN Bulletin'' ({{lang-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 ''{{ill|IPN Bulletin|pl|Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej}}'' ({{lang-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"/> |
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The IPN also publishes the ''Remembrance and Justice'' ({{lang-pl|Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość}}) scientific journal.<ref name="Transformation172"/> |
The IPN also publishes the ''{{ill|Remembrance and Justice|pl|Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość}}'' ({{lang-pl|Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość}}) scientific journal.<ref name="Transformation172"/> |
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The IPN has issued several board games to help educate people about recent Polish history, including: |
The IPN has issued several board games to help educate people about recent Polish history, including: |
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* ''303'' – a game about the [[Battle of Britain]] that focuses on the [[No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron|Polish 303 Squadron]]. |
* ''{{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]]. |
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* ''[[Kolejka (game)|Kolejka]]'' – a game about being forced to queue for basic household products during the Communist era. |
* ''[[Kolejka (game)|Kolejka]]'' – a game about being forced to queue for basic household products during the Communist era. |
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⚫ | In 2008, two IPN employees, [[Sławomir Cenckiewicz]] and [[Piotr Gontarczyk]], published a book, ''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|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/2126507/Lech-Walesa-was-Communist-spy,-claims-book.html|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 |
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===Naming of monuments=== |
===Naming of monuments=== |
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==Criticism== |
==Criticism== |
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⚫ | 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, Minsk, 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"/> |
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⚫ | 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, Minsk, 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" /> |
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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}} |
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}} |
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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 |
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 }}</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> |
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⚫ | 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> |
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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> |
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In February 2021, the IPN hired Tomasz Greniuch, a right wing extremist, this raised significant controversy and criticism, because he had openly performed the [[Roman Salute]] which has been identified with the [[Heil Hitler]] in contemporary times. He referred to works of [[Léon Degrelle]], a Belgian Nazi collaborator. He was also involved in the organization of anti-Semitic events. Furthermore, he used the nickname "100% Aryan" on social media, and justified his behaviour as "youthful bravado" and that the Roman Salute has nothing to do with Nazism, but rather is an “Aryan European greeting” and “the right hand raised towards the sun”.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Harłukowicz |first=Jacek |date=|title=Wyborcza.pl |work= Faszyzujący dyrektor IPN tłumaczy: to błędy młodości. No to młodość ciągle trwa |url=https://wyborcza.pl/magazyn/7,124059,26805760,faszyzujacy-dyrektor-ipn-tlumaczy-to-bledy-mlodosci-no-to.html?disableRedirects=true |access-date=2023-08-26|language=Polish}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-02-15 |title=Organizował demonstracje, bronił hajlowania, szefuje IPN. "Brawura młodzieńcza, pewna bezkompromisowość" |language=pl |work=Organizował demonstracje, bronił hajlowania, szefuje IPN. "Brawura młodzieńcza, pewna bezkompromisowość" |url=https://tvn24.pl/wroclaw/wroclaw-tomasz-greniuch-nowy-szef-wroclawskiego-ipn-o-nazistowskich-gestach-mlodziencza-brawura-pewna-bezkompromisowosc-5021441 |access-date=2023-08-26}}</ref> In response the IPN issued an statement saying Greniuch was a good organizer and reliable employee fully deserving to manage the institutes Wrocław branch.<ref>{{Cite news |title=IPN wobec zarzutów kierowanych pod adresem dr. Tomasza Greniucha |language=pl |work=IPN wobec zarzutów kierowanych pod adresem dr. Tomasza Greniucha |url=https://ipn.gov.pl/pl/dla-mediow/komunikaty/137768,IPN-wobec-zarzutow-kierowanych-pod-adresem-dr-Tomasza-Greniucha.html |access-date=2023-08-26}}</ref> The Israeli embassy issued a statement "It remains for us to encourage Mr. Tomasz Greniuch to visit the Auschwitz Museum, whose mission is to remind the whole world of the dangers of Nazi ideology."<ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-02-19 |title=List do prezesa IPN. "Oddał pan prowadzenie oddziału nacjonaliście" |language=pl |work= List do prezesa IPN. "Oddał pan prowadzenie oddziału nacjonaliście" |url=https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/kraj/list-do-prezesa-ipn-apel-o-odwolanie-tomasza-greniucha-ze-stanowiska/4hfb9r0 |access-date=2023-08-26}}</ref> According to the director of the [[Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum]], [[Piotr Cywiński]],, Greniuch's nomination is "a scandal and a complete discredit of the Institute of National Remembrance".<ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-02-20 |title="Skandal i kompletna kompromitacja IPN-u. To jest na miarę szerszą niż Polska" |language=pl |url=https://tvn24.pl/polska/tomasz-greniuch-nowym-szefem-wroclawskiego-ipn-piotr-cywinski-komentuje-5025346 |access-date=2023-08-26}}</ref> Finally under social pressure, Greniuch was forced to resign.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Walenciak |first= 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> |
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===Organizational and methodological concerns=== |
===Organizational and methodological concerns=== |
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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> |
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> |
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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/ |
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> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
Revision as of 04:58, 21 June 2024
![]() | |
Abbreviation | IPN |
---|---|
Formation | 18 December 1998 |
Purpose | Education, research, archive, and identification. Commemorating the Struggle and Martyrdom. Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation.[1] |
Headquarters | Warsaw, Poland |
Location |
|
Region served | Republic of Poland |
Membership | Staff |
Official language | Polish |
President | Karol Nawrocki |
Main organ | Council |
Affiliations |
|
Staff | Several hundred |
Website | www |
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 (Polish: 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 powers. The IPN was established by the Polish parliament by the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance of 18 December 1998[2] through reforming and expanding the earlier Main Commission for the Investigation of Crimes against the Polish Nation of 1991, which itself had replaced a body on Nazi crimes established in 1945.[3]
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".[4] The IPN investigates and prosecutes Nazi and Communist crimes committed between 1917 and 1990, documents its findings, and disseminates them to the public.[5] Some scholars have criticized the IPN for politicization, especially under Law and Justice governments.[6][7]
The IPN began its activities on 1 July 2000.[8] The IPN is a founding member of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience.[9] 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.[10]
Purpose
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/IPN_wej%C5%9Bcie.jpg/220px-IPN_wej%C5%9Bcie.jpg)
The IPN's main areas of activity,[5] in line with its original mission statement,[2] 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.[2] The IPN informs about the patriotic traditions of resistance against the occupational forces,[2] and the Polish citizens' fight for sovereignty of the nation, including their efforts in defence of freedom and human dignity in general.[2]
According to the IPN, it is its duty to prosecute crimes against peace and humanity, as much as war crimes.[2] 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,[2] and educate the public about recent history of Poland.[5] IPN collects, organises and archives all documents about the Polish Communist security apparatus active from 22 July 1944 to 31 December 1989.[2]
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.[11]
A 2018 amendment to the law,[12] added article 55a that attempts to defend the "good name" of Poland.[13] 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.[12] Defamation charges under the act may be made by the IPN as well as by accredited NGOs such as the Polish League Against Defamation.[12] 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".[4]
Organisation
IPN was created by special legislation on 18 December 1998.[2] The IPN is divided into:[14][2][15]
- 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)[14]
- local chapters.
On 29 April 2010, acting president Bronislaw Komorowski signed into law a parliamentary act that reformed the Institute of National Remembrance.[16]
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.[17] 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.[17]
Leon Kieres
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Leon_Kieres_VII_kadencja_Kancelaria_Senatu.jpg/100px-Leon_Kieres_VII_kadencja_Kancelaria_Senatu.jpg)
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 (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".[17]
Janusz Kurtyka
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Kurtyka_Janusz.jpg/100px-Kurtyka_Janusz.jpg)
The second director was Janusz Kurtyka, elected on 9 December 2005 with a term that started 29 December 2005 until his death in the 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.[17][18] Przewoźnik was cleared of the accusations only after he had lost the election.[18]
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.[17]
Franciszek Gryciuk
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Franciszek_Gryciuk%2C_15.06.2010.jpg/100px-Franciszek_Gryciuk%2C_15.06.2010.jpg)
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 Polish Parliament as the third director.
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.[17]
Jarosław Szarek
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/85/Jaros%C5%82aw_Szarek_1%28cropped%29.jpg/100px-Jaros%C5%82aw_Szarek_1%28cropped%29.jpg)
On 22 July 2016 Jarosław Szarek was appointed to head IPN.[19] 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.[11] According to historian Idesbald Goddeeris, this marks a return of politics to the IPN.[11]
Karol Nawrocki
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Dr_Karol_Nawrocki.jpg/96px-Dr_Karol_Nawrocki.jpg)
On 23 July 2021 Karol Nawrocki was appointed to head IPN.[20]
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 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:[5]
- Crimes of the Soviet and Polish Communist regimes committed in the country from 17 September 1939 until the Fall of Communism on 31 December 1989.[5]
- Deportations to the Soviet Union of Polish soldiers of Armia Krajowa,[5] and other Polish resistance organizations as well as Polish inhabitants of the former Polish eastern territories.
- Pacifications of Polish communities between Vistula and Bug rivers in the years 1944 to 1947 by UB-NKVD,[5]
- 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.[5]
- Crimes under the category of war crimes and crimes against humanity.[5]
Lustration Bureau
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.[21] However, several articles of the 2006-7 amendments were held unconstitutional by Poland's Constitutional Court on 11 May 2007,[22] 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.[21]
Other activities
Research
The research conducted by IPN from December 2000 falls into four main topic areas:[better source needed]
- 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);[23]
- Functioning of the repression apparatus (state security and justice organs) – its organizational structure, cadres and relations with other state authority and party organs[24]
- Activities of the repression apparatus directed against particular selected social groups and organizations[24]
- Structure and methods of functioning of the People's Poland security apparatus[24]
- Security apparatus in combat with the political and military underground 1944–1956[24]
- Activities of the security apparatus against political emigreés[24]
- Security apparatus in combat with the Church and freedom of belief[24]
- Authorities dealing with social crises and democratic opposition in the years 1956–1989 f) List of those repressed and sentenced to death[24]
- Bibliography of the conspiracy, resistance and repression 1944–1989[24]
- War, Occupation and the Polish Underground;[23][25]
- deepening of knowledge about the structures and activities of the Polish Underground State[25]
- examination of the human fates in the territories occupied by the Soviet regime and of Poles displaced into the Soviet Union[25]
- assessment of sources on the living conditions under the Soviet and German Nazi occupations[25]
- evaluation of the state of research concerning the victims of the war activities and extermination policy of the Soviet and German Nazi occupiers[25]
- examining the Holocaust (Extermination of Jews) conducted by Nazis in the Polish territories[25][26]
- Poles and Other Nations in the Years 1939–1989 (with a part on Poles and Ukrainians);[23][27]
- Peasants and the People's Authority 1944–1989 (on the situation of peasants and the rural policy in the years 1944–1989)[23][28]
- inhabitants of the rural areas during the creation of the totalitarian regime in Poland;[28]
- peasant life during the Sovietisation of Poland in the years 1948–1956;[28]
- attitudes of the inhabitants of rural areas towards the state-Church conflict in the years 1956–1970;[28]
- the role of peasants in the anti-Communist opposition of the 1970s and 1980s.[28]
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.[11]
Researchers at the IPN conduct not only research but are required to take part in public outreach.[29] BEP has published music CDs,[30] DVDs, and serials. It has founded "historical clubs" for debates and lectures. It has also organized outdoor historical fairs, picnic, and games.[11]
The IPN Bulletin (Polish: Biuletyn IPN) is a high circulation popular-scientific journal,[31] intended for lay readers and youth.[29] 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.[31] 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.[31]
The IPN also publishes the Remembrance and Justice (Polish: Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość) scientific journal.[31]
The IPN has issued several board games to help educate people about recent Polish history, including:
- 303 – a game about the Battle of Britain that focuses on the Polish 303 Squadron.
- 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 plaques 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.[32]
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.[33][34][35][36] In 2007, UNESCO's World Heritage Committee changed the camp's name to "Auschwitz Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940–1945)."[37][38] Previously some German media, including Der Spiegel, had called the camp "Polish".[39][40]
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 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 "martyrology"; and various criticisms of methodology and ethics.[17] Some of these criticisms have been addressed by Director Łukasz Kamiński during his tenure and who according to Mink "has made significant changes"; however, Minsk, 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.[17] 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."[29]
According to Robert Traba,[41] "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."[41]: 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."[41]: 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.[41]: 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 leader Lech Wałęsa and PZPR secretary Wojciech Jaruzelski.[29] As a result, the IPN has been referred to as "a political institution at the centre of 'memory games'".[29][42][43]
In 2008, two IPN employees, Sławomir Cenckiewicz and Piotr Gontarczyk, published a book, SB a Lech Wałęsa (The Security Service and Lech Wałęsa: A Contribution to a Biography) which caused a major controversy.[44] The book's premise was that in the 1970s the Solidarity leader and later president of Poland Lech Wałęsa was a secret informant of the Polish Communist Security Service.[45]
In 2018, the IPN hired Tomasz Greniuch, a historian who in his youth was associated with 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.[46][47]
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".[29]
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".[48]
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.[49][21]
See also
- Laws against Holocaust denial
- Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression
- Ukrainian Institute of National Memory
Notes
- ^ Remembrance, Institute of National. "Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation". Institute of National Remembrance. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Mission" Archived 13 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine. From IPN English website. Last accessed on 20 April 2007
- ^ Tismaneanu, Vladimir; Iacob, Bogdan (2015). Remembrance, History, and Justice: Coming to Terms with Traumatic Pasts in Democratic Societies. Central European University Press. p. 243. ISBN 978-9-63386-092-2.
- ^ a b "Full text of Poland's controversial Holocaust legislation". The Times of Israel. 1 February 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Nauka polska: Instytucje naukowe – identyfikator rekordu: i6575". Archived from the original on 16 May 2007. Retrieved 22 April 2007.
- ^ Ambrosewicz-Jacobs, Jolanta. "The uses and the abuses of education about the Holocaust in Poland after 1989.", Holocaust Studies 25.3 (2019): 329-350.
- ^ Goddeeris, Idesbald (2018). "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 UK. pp. 255–269. ISBN 978-1-349-95306-6.
- ^ Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (12 June 2015). "15 lat Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej w liczbach". Komunikaty. Archived from the original on 22 June 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
- ^ Czech Prime minister Petr Nečas (14 October 2011). "The years of totalitarianism were years of struggle for liberty". Platform of European Memory and Conscience. Archived from the original on 30 March 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
- ^ Remembrance, Institute of National. "Branch Offices and Delegations". Institute of National Remembrance. Archived from the original on 22 August 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
- ^ a b c d e 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.
- ^ a b c Hackmann, Jörg (2 October 2018). "Defending the "Good Name" of the Polish Nation: Politics of History as a Battlefield in Poland, 2015–18". Journal of Genocide Research. 20 (4): 587–606. doi:10.1080/14623528.2018.1528742. S2CID 81922100 – via Taylor and Francis+NEJM.
- ^ Soroka, George; Krawatzek, Félix (13 April 2019). "Nationalism, Democracy, and Memory Laws". Journal of Democracy. 30 (2): 157–171. doi:10.1353/jod.2019.0032. S2CID 159294126 – via Project MUSE.
- ^ a b (in Polish) 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. Archived 19 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine Last accessed on 24 April 2006
- ^ (in Polish)About the Institute From IPN Polish website. Last accessed on 24 April 2007
- ^ [1] Archived 28 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d e f g h Mink, Georges (2017). "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". Nationalities Papers. 45 (6): 1013–1027. doi:10.1080/00905992.2017.1360853.
- ^ a b (in Polish) Olejniczak: Kurtyka powinien zrezygnować, Polish Press Agency, 13 December 2005, last accessed on 28 April 2007
- ^ Senat zgodził się na wybór Jarosława Szarka na prezesa IPN, PAP, 22 July 2016
- ^ "Karol Nawrocki, Ph.D. President of the Institute of National Remembrance". IPN. 2 June 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
- ^ a b c Szczerbiak, Aleks (October 2016). "Szczerbiak, Aleks. "Deepening democratisation? Exploring the declared motives for "late" lustration in Poland." East European Politics 32.4 (2016): 426-445" (PDF).
- ^ "Polish court strikes down spy law". BBC News. 11 May 2007. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ a b c d Public Education Office IPN website. Last accessed on 24 April 2007
- ^ a b c d e f g h Security Apparatus and Civil Resistance Central Programme. IPN pages, last accessed on 25 April 2007
- ^ a b c d e f War, Occupation and the Polish Underground State Programme. IPN pages, last accessed on 25 April 2007
- ^ a b c Extermination of Jews by German Nazis in the Polish Territories Programme. IPN pages, last accessed on 25 April 2007
- ^ a b c d e f g Poles and Other Nations in the Years 1939–1989 Programme. IPN pages, last accessed on 25 April 2007
- ^ a b c d e Peasants vis-a-vis People's Authority 1944–1989 Programme. IPN pages, last accessed on 25 April 2007
- ^ a b c d e f Behr, Valentin (2 January 2017). "Historical policy-making in post-1989 Poland: a sociological approach to the narratives of communism". European Politics and Society. 18 (1): 81–95. doi:10.1080/23745118.2016.1269447. ISSN 2374-5118. S2CID 150353378.
- ^ The Populist Radical Right in Poland: The Patriots, Rafał Pankowski, page 38
- ^ a b c d The Post-communist Condition: Public and Private Discourses of Transformation, John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 172, chapter by Marta Kurkowska-Budzan
- ^ "Akcja IPN: Mordowali "Niemcy", nie "naziści"" [IPN initiative: Murderers "German", not "Nazis"]. Interia (in Polish). 9 December 2008. Archived from the original on 12 February 2012.
- ^ Tran, Mark (27 June 2007). "Poles claim victory in battle to rename Auschwitz". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
- ^ Spritzer, Dinah (27 April 2006). "Auschwitz Might Get Name Change". The Jewish Journal. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
- ^ "Yad Vashem for renaming Auschwitz". The Jerusalem Post. Associated Press. 11 May 2006. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
- ^ "UNESCO approves Poland's request to rename Auschwitz". Expatica. Expatica Communications B.V. 27 June 2007. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
- ^ "World Heritage Committee approves Auschwitz name change". UNESCO World Heritage Committee. 28 June 2007. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
- ^ Watt, Nicholas (1 April 2006). "Auschwitz may be renamed to reinforce link with Nazi era". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
- ^ "Poland seeks Auschwitz renaming". BBC News. 31 March 2006. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
- ^ Tran, Mark (27 June 2007). "Poles claim victory in battle to rename Auschwitz". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
- ^ a b c d Traba, Robert (2016). "Two Dimensions of History: An Opening Sketch" (PDF). Teksty Drugie. 1: 36–81.
- ^ Stryjek, Tomasz (2018). "The Hypertrophy of Polish Remembrance Policy after 2015: Trends and Outcomes". Zoon Politikon. 1 (9): 43–66. doi:10.4467/2543408XZOP.18.003.10059. S2CID 159124162.
- ^ Michlic, Joanna Beata (2020). History "Wars" and the Battle for Truth and National Memory. Constructions and Instrumentalization of the Past. p. 115.
- ^ Totalitarian Societies and Democratic Transition: Essays in memory of Victor Zaslavsky, pages 406-7, Vladislav Zubok, CEU Press
- ^ Harry de Quetteville (14 June 2008). "Lech Walesa was Communist spy, claims book". The Daily Telegraph. Berlin. Archived from the original on 17 June 2008. Retrieved 4 October 2008.
- ^ "Polish historian with far-right past resigns from state job". The Independent. 22 February 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
- ^ Walenciak, Weronika; Dobrosz-Oracz, Justyna. "Opozycja: Prezes IPN do dymisji. "Napluto w twarz żołnierzom AK"". Wyborcza.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 26 August 2023.
- ^ Stola, Dariusz. "Poland's Institute of National Remembrance: A Ministry of Memory?" The convolutions of historical politics (2012), pp. 54-55.
- ^ Wojciech Czuchnowski, Bronisław Wildstein: człowiek z listą, Gazeta Wyborcza, last accessed on 12 May 2006
External links
- IPN Home Page Archived 17 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine (English)
- (in Polish) old 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 English) old Act of 18 December 1998 on the Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine