On the occasions of the tenth anniversary of the Institute of National Remembrance and its presidency in the European Network of Official Authorities in Charge of the Secret Police Files, the Institute prepared an international open-air exhibition:  “...and Files to be Destroyed”: The Archives of the Communist Repressive Apparatus in Poland and Other European Countries”.

The opening of the exhibition took place on October 7, 2010 at Warsaw’s Castle Square.

The main idea of the exhibition is to present the functioning model of the archives of the former communist secret services in Poland and other Central and Eastern European countries. It also shows the principles of operational registry, methods of surveillance and acquiring information about citizens, and means of repression. As well, it depicts methods of destroying communist services documentation during the period of political change. These documents have been lost irretrievably. The exhibition is based on archival material and documentation from the Institute of National Remembrance and international institutions, including the institutes which are members of the European Network of Official Authorities in Charge of the Secret Police Files.