Access procedures and applications
The Act forming the Institute of National Remembrance of December 18, 1998 (with further amendments) contains the general rules of access to the files kept in the IPN Archives, and the cathegories of the persons permitted for insight in the records. The detailed rules of access to the documents kept in IPN Archives are listed in the Regulation of the access to the documents in reading rooms and research reading rooms published online (in Polish).
It is important to stress that the access to the documents, records, etc., kept in the IPN Archives is granted in an administrative proceeding by written application only. The separate types of the application forms refer to the articles and sections of the IPN Act concerning the access entitlements.
Access for the people affected
The first and most important cathegory of persons entitled concerns the persons affected – „Everyone may apply for the access to the records that concern him/her kept in the resources of the Institute” (art. 30 of the Act).
The persons invigilated, but also those only mentioned in records, as well as former collaborators and functionaries, are entitled to apply for, and gain access to the files and entries containing any mention concerning them. The next of kin of the deceased persons affected have also the right to the insight in relevant records.
The brief information on the entitlements, procedures and rules of the access to the documents provided for the people affected (and the next of kin of the deceased persons affected) is published with the application forms on the IPN Archives English website.
Access for the researchers, journalists and for public institutions
The Act guarantees also the access to the records kept in the IPN Archives in three general areas:
– for the academic research (Art. 36.1. p. 2 of the Act);
– for the press release (Art. 36.1. p. 3 of the Act);
– for the fullfillment of the statutory objectives of the public bodies (Art. 36.1. p. 1 of the Act).
Access for the researchers
The researchers in the field of history, humanities, social, political, economic or legal studies are entitled to apply for the access to the records kept in the IPN Archives. The research assistants, undergraduate students, and any other people willing to make a query in the IPN archival resources are obliged to present the letter of recommendation from the supervising researcher. Applicants are required to disclose the subject matter of the research planned. The search engine Cyfrowe Archiwum is available in the IPN reading rooms, the partially covering the IPN archival resources search engine Inwentarz Archiwalny IPN is available online – pointing of the items wanted in the application form substantially shortens the duration of the access proceedings.
The brief information on the entitlements, procedures and rules of the access to the documents provided for the researchers is published with the application forms on the IPN Archives English website.
Access for the journalists
The journalists are entitled to apply for the access to the records kept in the IPN Archives. The filing of the letter of authorisation from the publisher (editorial or broadcasting office, etc.) with the application is required.
The brief information on the entitlements, procedures and rules of the access to the documents provided for the journalists is published with the application forms on the IPN Archives English website.
Access for the public institutions
The representatives of the state and local administration, law enforcement agencies, other institutions and NGOs are entitled to apply for the access to the records kept in the IPN Archives needed to perform the statutory obligations of those institutions (except for the state security services, who are entitled to gain access to the records according to the other regulations – see below).
The brief information on the entitlements, procedures and rules of the access to the documents provided for the public institutions is published with the application forms on the IPN Archives English website.
Access to the documents concerning the functionaries of the former Communist security services
Every citizen is entitled to apply for the insight into personal files of former functionaries or employees of the Communist security services (Art. 35c of the Act).
The brief information on the entitlements, procedures and rules of the access to the documents provided for the applicants is published with the application form on the IPN Archives Polish website.
The former functionaries, soldiers and employees of the Communist secret services are entitled to apply for the copies of the documents concerning their course of service or employment.
The brief information on the rules of the access to the documents provided for the applicants is published with the application form on the IPN Archives Polish website.
Access to the documents concerning public personalities and to the lustration proceedings records
Under the provisions of the Act for revealing of the information concerning documents of the state security bodies of 1944-1990 and its contents of October 18, 2006 (with further amendments), i.e. Lustration Act, the Institute of National Remembrance is obliged to provide access to the copies of the lustration proceedings (concerning every person obliged to file the lustration declaration) to every person applying (Art. 18.5 of the Lustration Act), and to provide the access to the documents of the former Communist secret services concerning the public personalities listed in the Art. 22 of the Lustration Act to every person applying (Art. 25 of the Lustration Act).
The brief information concerning the access to the anonymised copies of the lustration proceedings is published online in Polish.
The the application form and information concerning the access to the documents of former Communist secret services concerning the public personalities is published online in Polish.
Particular access to the documents
The right for the insight is guaranteed also for the functionaries of the Polish security services acting in the field of their lawful entitlements, as well as for the functionaries of the allied foreign security services (in case when the documents contain information on espionage or terrorism) (Art. 38 of the Act).
The IPN Archives also provide the information drawn from the records kept to the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression for the proceedings concerning the political inprisonment in 1944–1956, and losses resulting from the forcible removal of children by German occupational authorities, as well as to the Social Insurance Institution for the proceedings concerning the political inprisonment in 1956–1990. Information concerning the queries for the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression and the Social Insurance Institution is published on the IPN website (in Polish).
The Center for Information on the Victims of World War II
The IPN Archives provide also an information service for people looking for information concerning their relatives who were victims of the German and Soviet occupation. The Center for Information on the Victims of World War II is a special section in the IPN Archives governing the electronic databases and systems that enable seeking of the information about the persons imprisoned, deported or in other way repressed by the German and Soviet authorites. The Center checks the resources kept in the IPN Archives (the German files and card-indexes, the records gathered by the former Head Commission for the Research on Hitlerite Crimes, and other records concerning the German and Soviet occupation), and has an access to the International Tracing Service (ITS) system (containing information about the inmates of the German concentration, prisoners of war and forced labour camps), to the „Index of the Repressed” database obtained from the KARTA Center Foundation (containing entries on the persons repressed in Soviet Union), and to the publicly available online database „Personal losses and victims of repression under German occupation”, run by the Polish-German Reconciliation Foundation and supervised by the Institute of National Remembrance. The persons looking for the information concerning their relatives may use the simple online form or contact per phone.
Access and auxiliary tools for archive users
Cyfrowe Archiwum and Inwentarz Archiwalny
The basic tool for the archive users is the Cyfrowe Archiwum system, consisting of database and search engine, that is available in the IPN Archives’ reading rooms.
The elaborated descriptions of the archival resources are since 2015 published online in the IPN Archival Inventory – Inwentarz Archiwalny IPN. The Archival Inventory provides access to more than 2 million descriptions of the archival items, per simple search engine and following the structure of the resources kept (divisions of resource and collections). The Inventory contains also the dictionary of the archival and operative terms used in the communist secret services as well as the PDF of the publication ‘Informator o Zasobie Archiwalnym Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej (stan na dzień 31 grudnia 2008 roku)’ [‘Information Directory of the Archival Resources of the Institute of National Remembrance (for December 31, 2008)’].
Digital access tools for digitized records
In the first decade of the IPN Archives activity, the records were accessed in its original form (files and microfilms) – only the index-cards and entries in the registry tools were passed in copies. Gradually, the share of digitised forms became prevalent – currently, the records required by users are accessed mainly in form of scans. The developed in the Institute application Digi-Arch enabled the access to the digitised copies of the documents in every IPN station in the country (without regard where the original records are kept) - the tool is now integrated within the Cyfrowe Archiwum system. During the pandemics, the other tool was developed, i.e. special secure online-drive enabling the access to the digitised items for the registered users from home.
Audiovisual documentation access tools
The number of the photographic pictures kept in the IPN Archives is estimated at about 39 million items, including pictures in the operative case-files and passport files. The number of items containing the audio recordings is estimated at more than 1600 units, and the number of items containing films (film reels and video-tapes) is estimated at more than 2000 units. Besides the general description of archival resources available in the Cyfrowe Archiwum system and the online Archival Inventory, the IPN Archives used the specified system for in-depth description of the audiovisual records (the ZEUS system, developed in the National Digital Archives). Since 2022 the ZEUS system was integrated within the Cyfrowe Archiwum system as its description module and search engine for audiovisual documentation, enabling the preview of the digitized items.
Catalogues of the Lustration Bureau
The IPN Act obliges the IPN to publish the three catalogues: – of the former functionaries, soldiers and employees of the Communist security services, – of the leading personalities of the Polish Workers’ Party (Polska Partia Robotnicza, PPR) and Polish United Workers’ Party (Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza, PZPR) and its satellite parties United Peasant Party (Zjednoczone Stronnictwo Ludowe, ZSL) and Democratic Party (Stronnictwo Demokratyczne, SD), – of the persons invigilated by the Communist security services. Moreover, the Lustration Act obliges the IPN to publish the catalogue of the certain categories of the public personalities. All of the abovementioned catalogues cite the archival sources of the established information concerning the – respectively – service or employment in Communist security services, career in the party apparatus, invigilation or repressions suffered, or the public personalities’ CVs. The Lustration Bureau’s catalogues are then significant research tools for the users. The entries of the catalogues are accessible also via simple search-engine. The little dictionary of the Communist security services terms and the abbreviations explanation additionally contribute to the better understanding of the published information and – generally – of the particularities of the Communist security services documentation.
For the details of the project Archiwum Pełne Pamięci (‘Archive full of remembrance’) please inspect the project’s website.