On 23 September 2024, the Deputy President of the Institute of National Remembrance Mateusz Szpytma Ph.D., represented the IPN during the mothly Polish American Congress meeting in Chicago.

As part of his lecture, President Szpytma told the participants of the Congress about the Institute’s flagship project “Trails of Hope. The Odyssey of Freedom” and the exhibition presenting the achievements of Poles on all fronts of World War II. He also stressed the fact that by means of the project, the IPN promotes Polish history in numerous languages and countries worldwide - from Argentina to Canada to South Africa.

He further invited the gathered guests to the official opening of the exhibition which is to take place in Chicago on 20 October 2024.

During the Congress, the Director of the IPN Office for Commemorating the Struggle and Martyrdom, Adam Siwek Ph.D., spoke about the role of the Institute of National Remembrance as a specialized scientific and historical institution. He also outlined the specifics of the work of his Office and discussed the role it plays in taking care of national memorials, presenting examples of commemorations funded by the Institute all over the world.

The Head of the Department of the Collection and Development of Archival Resources Teresa Gallewicz-Dołowa presented the IPN’s Archive Full of Remembrance project.Its main goal is to collect and save personal documents depicting Poland's recent history in order to keep alive the memory of the life of previous generations of Poles. We make our best effort to save these histories from oblivion and from damage.

Deputy President Szpytma also presented the wide variety of IPN publications, including the academic journal Polish-Jewish Studies, dedicated to Polish-Jewish relations in the 20th century.

On 24 September, Mateusz Szpytma met with Polish Consul Bernadetta Pałka-Maciejewska and the President of the Polish American Congress, Frank Spula. The Institute's delegation also visited the St. Faustina Polish Catholic School in Chicago, presenting an exhibition dedicated to the “Good Samaritans of Markowa”. The exhibition was accompanied President Szpytma’s lecture  on the fate of the Ulma family. Mateusz Szpytma also paid tribute to the Polish heroes who fought during World War I, laying a wreath at the monument at St. Adalbert's Cemetery in Niles.

Polish American Congress

The Polish American Congress (PAC) was founded in May 1944 when representatives of the Polish American community met in Buffalo, NY to create a national organization. The founders envisioned an entity that would represent the interests of Polish Americans in the United States and continue the struggle for a free, democratic, and independent Poland.

Today, the Polish American Congress is an “umbrella” organization – a federation of more than 3,000 Polish American organizations, clubs, and veterans’ groups. The individual membership is organized into twenty-nine State Divisions and nine Chapters. In the aggregate, there are more than one million members of the PAC nationally. The organization maintains offices in Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Mission

The Polish American Congress adopted two complementary agendas: the Polish one – to help Poland in its great hour of need, and the American one – to unite the Polish American Community and to aid its members to become better- informed American citizens.

Today, after World War II, the Solidarity Movement, and the fall of communism, the PAC continues to represent the interests of the Polish American Community.