Institute of National Remembrance

Fascinating new book of secret police surveillance photos reveals chilling Big Brother control methods

In one photo, agents spying on American military attaches from the US Embassy in Warsaw snap the officials in a car that has stopped in a forest. Dated 6 April, 1966, the photo is described as being taken during an ‘intelligence reconnaissance’ operation. Beata Bartecka and Łukasz Rusznica, from How To Look Natural in Photos

Compiled as a warning about today’s internet surveillance, the 150 never-before-seen photos cover a wide range of Poland’s communist secret police activities between 1944 and 1989 and reveal the sometimes drastic measures authorities took to keep ‘enemies of the state’ under control.

Mass WWII grave containing remains of men, women and children found in forests

A specialist team of body searchers from the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) made the find in a forested area in the city’s Białołęka district following a tip off from an elderly resident who recalled seeing German troops herding people into the area.

Letters from the King, a family tale of loss and a second wedding emerge as internet unearths more mysteries about ‘viral’ WWII girl

The life of Maria Barr, whose photo went viral after being posted online with an appeal to help identify her, has taken a further step forward as more details about life, her marriages and her death are uncovered.

Internet sleuths track down mystery WWII woman from 70-year-old photo

The Institute of National Remembrance published the photo on its Facebook page on 14 March in the hope of finding out who the woman was, what happened to her after the war and whether she is still alive – or whether her children or grandchildren are. 

On 100th anniversary of Treaty of Riga peace deal, new exhibition highlights its ‘bitter-sweet’ outcome

VIDEO: To mark the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Riga, which sealed Poland’s victory over the Soviet Union in 1920, the Royal Castle in Warsaw is hosting two exhibitions that show the contrasting sides of the bitter-sweet peace deal between the two states.

Investigators uncover skeletal remains of nuns murdered by Red Army troops during WWII

Archaeologists closed in on a 20-square-metre site in a cemetery in the small town of Orneta by using local archival records and a hand-drawn burial plan. Religious objects including crucifixes and medallions helped them identify the victims.

Belarus protests Enduring Soldiers commemoration in east Poland

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry has lodged a protest against a march in memory of Poland's post-war Enduring Soldiers anti-communist underground, planned in Hajnówka, eastern Poland,

Former far-right activist will not head IPN branch - unofficial report

Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance, the body charged with investigating wartime and communist era crimes, has announced it will not appoint a man with past ties to a far-right group as head of its Wroclaw branch, PAP has learnt unofficially.

Facebook unblocks IPN page

Facebook has unblocked the English-language page of Poland's Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), a national organisation set up to investigate Nazi and communist crimes against the Polish people.

Facebook blocking IPN over WWII content demands strong reaction, warns Culture Ministry

The social media giant blocked the Institute of National Remembrance after it posted information about the Germanisation of Polish children during WWII.

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