On 13 May 2025, representatives of Albanian Authority for Information on the Former State Security Documents (AIDSSH) paid another study visit to the IPN. The AIDSSH has been part of the European Network of Official Authorities in Charge of the Secret-Police Files, of which the IPN is a founding member, since 2020.
Following a welcome by the IPN Deputy President Karol Polejowski, who outlined our mission and objectives, a number of staff briefed the visitors on their departments’ line of work.
When it comes to transitional justice, we have around 25 years of experience. This is the result of the daily, painstaking work of our prosecutors, archivists and researchers, and since 2016 also of search teams and forensic experts. Within the framework of international platforms, we have discussed specific solutions for the establishment of a tribunal of justice for communist criminals, modelled on the Nuremberg trials. Unlike the German trials, these crimes have never been properly tried, and yet their gravity remains the same, said Prof. Polejowski
Office of International Cooperation Deputy Head Mateusz Marek spoke about our foreign projects, including flagship " Trails of Hope. The Odyssey of Freedom." Rafał Michliński presented the work of the Search and Identification Office, Bogusław Czerwiński gave an overview of the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation cases, Office of National Education representative Tomasz Sikorski presented the https://opowiedziane.ipn.gov.pl/ testimonies repository, while Office for Commemorating the Struggle and Martyrdom Director Adam Siwek shed some light on our decommunization campaign and commemoration projects.
The visitors’ primary goal was to draw from our vast experience in investigating the communist regime overthrown thirty-five years ago, including legal action and search for the victims’ remains. The delegation were particularly interested in learning about the ways we collect and use witness testimonies, because the AIDSSH is planning to implement the IPN know-how in documenting accounts and researching victims, locating graves and creating remembrance sites.
On 14 May 2025, during the second day of their visit to the IPN, the members of the Albanian delegation took part in a workshop on searching for victims of totalitarian crimes organized at the seat of the IPN Archive in Warsaw.
The participants were welcomed by Marzena Kruk, the Director of the IPN Archive. During the workshops our guests were able to get acquainted with the primary sources of information on the archival resources of the IPN - the Digital Archive application and the publicly available Online Archival Inventory (https://inwentarz.ipn.gov.pl/en).
The representatives of the IPN also presented the databases we use to search for information on the fate of those murdered and victimized during World War II (including the straty.pl database - https://straty.pl/ ) as well as the functioning of the Center for Information on the Victims of World War II (https://ofiary.ipn.gov.pl/ofe). The representatives of AIDSSH familiarized themselves with the principles of making documents available to the families of victims and other authorized entities.
The meeting was also an opportunity to present the Archive Full of Remembrance project (https://archiwumpamieci.pl/?lang=en) and to show selected memorabilia donated to the IPN Archive. The publishing, educational and popularization activities of the archival division related to commemorating the fate of the victims were also presented.
The meeting was followed by a discussion and exchange of experiences, and a short tour of the Archive.
The AIDSSH has been founded to collect and provide access to the records of former Albanian State Security in order to educate the public and support democracy, document communist crimes (also for the sake of the legal process), recover and identify victims’ bodies, and vet candidates for public offices.
Visit the European Network of Official Authorities in Charge of the Secret-Police Files website: https://securityarchives.eu/sbs/
See also:
A delegation from Albania visited the IPN – October 2022
Albanian delegation's study visit at the IPN, 12-14 October 2021