On 17–20 September 2025, the International Scientific Summit promoted by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) was held at the University of Milan with participation of the IPN's Office of Search and Identification representatives.
DPAA and LABANOF (Anthropological and Odontological Lab of the State University of Milan) organized the international event to explore the issue of identification and to safeguard human dignity and memory.
The DPAA–LABANOF International Summit brought together experts and institutions from around the world in Milan to discuss research, recovery and identification of missing persons in war conflicts.
The IPN employees had the opportunity to present important issues related to the search and identification of victims of totalitarian regimes in Poland. Krzysztof Rębała, Ph.D., a forensic geneticist, Magdalena Krajewska, Ph.D., a forensic anthropologist and head of the Identification Department, and Krzysztof Mikołajczyk, an archaeologist, delivered papers on the search and identification process, including the functionality of the FBI CODIS system, which is also used by the IPN.
Magdalena Krajewska, Ph.D. and Krzysztof Mikołajczyk gave a lecture entitled: “Searching and identifying victims of totalitarian regimes in the research of the Institute of National Remembrance in Poland.”
Krzysztof Rębała, Ph.D. gave a lecture entitled “Application of the CODIS DNA database in genetic identification of victims of wars and totalitarian regimes in Poland.”
The meeting also aimed to summarize the cooperation between the DPAA and its European partners to date and to discuss future DPAA missions in Europe, including Poland.
The IPN cooperates with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency under an agreement signed in 2019 in Warsaw.
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