During a special ceremony, the relatives of 17 people murdered as a result of the functioning of totalitarian regimes – their remains found and identified by the IPN Office of Search and Identification –  received notes confirming the identity of their family members. The event took place on 1 October 2024 at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw.

Apart from the relatives of the identified, the ceremony was attended by the Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the President of the republic of Poland Wojciech Kolarski, the IPN President Karol Nawrocki, Ph.D., Deputy Presidents Prof. Karol Polejowski, and Prof. Krzysztof Szwagrzyk as well as representatives of the highest state authorities.

These 17 names and surnames are proof that the independence and freedom in which we are living and of which we are the sole depositories, has been paid for with a great struggle and enormous suffering of the Polish nation.

These 17 individuals are proof that we are obliged to always return for our own - out of duty to the past, but also to the future - said the President of the Institute of National Remembrance, Karol Nawrocki, during the ceremony of presenting the identification notes.

“Among the very many ceremonies organised every year in Poland that are important for the state, and the nation, there is also the one that has brought us together in this historic place, the identification ceremony of the IPN,” said the Institute’s Deputy President and the Head of the Search and Identification Office, Krzysztof Szwagrzyk.

The remains of the victims were found as part of the works carried out, among others, in Stary Grodków (victims of operation "Lawina"), on the grounds of the St. Wojciech's cemetery in Łódź ( (a victim of the crime committed in the German camp for children and young people on Przemyslowa Street), and on the grounds of the Bródno cemetery in Warsaw (a victim murdered on the grounds of the Penal and Investigation Prison Warsaw III, the so-called “Toledo”) .The total number of people identified through the activities of the Institute of National Remembrance amounts to 280 names.

Such ceremonies are the culmination of years of efforts on the part of the IPN Office of Search and Identification. The work always begins in the archives, where experts try to locate information on a victim’s fate and burial. Thorough research not only points to the probable location of their grave, but also determines physical characteristics (such as height, build or suffered injuries), the findings reinforced by witness testimonies.

The core of the process, involving archaeology and anthropology experts, is the excavation. It is performed in all kinds of terrain in Poland and abroad: in fields and forests, gardens, urban areas and cemeteries. Once the remains are uncovered, they undergo initial anthropological examination on-site, followed by a thorough one in the lab, and a sample of bone matter is taken to be tested against genetic material provided by victims’ relatives.

A genetic match means that a person’s identity has been confirmed. For the last few years, the IPN has been employing CODIS, a system that the Federal Bureau of Investigation developed to streamline the searching of the genetic material base. Each year, the percentage of people identified using this system has increased.

The Institute of National Remembrance searches for and identifies the victims of totalitarian regimes and ethnic cleansings as part of the activities of the IPN's Office of Search and Identification, in cooperation with the Chief Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation. As a result of the Institute’s activities, the remains of more than two thousand people have been located.

The IPN's Office of Search and Identification conducts search activities throughout Poland and abroad. A team of specialists has examined dozens of sites in Poland, and has also conducted work in, among others, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Germany.

The ceremony of handing identification notes to the families is organized in cooperation with the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland.

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The mission of the IPN Office of Search and Identification