1
type: Mandate
authorizes: pl-003137
general description: The Institute of National Remembrance was created to address issues which are considered essential to the legislative power in Poland, primarily to preserve the memory of: - the losses which were suffered by the Polish Nation as a result of the World War II and the post-war period; - patriotic traditions of fighting against occupants, Nazism and Communism; - citizens' efforts to fight for an independent Polish State, in defense of freedom and human dignity; and to fulfill: - the duty to prosecute crimes against peace, humanity and war crimes; - the need to compensate for damages which were suffered by the repressed and harmed people in the times when human rights were violated by the state. This is the expression of belief that no unlawful deeds of the state against its citizens can be protected by secrecy or forgotten. The Institute of National Remembrance - Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (IPN) has been established to fulfill the abovementioned mission. On the basis of the statute constituting the IPN, Communist crimes are understood as the deeds performed by officials of the Communist state in the period from September 17, 1939 to December 31, 1989, whose activities led to repress individuals and groups of people or to broke human rights in another ways. Crimes against humanity are understood mainly as crimes of genocide as defined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of December 9, 1948, as well as other forms of persecution and oppressions by official agents which were directed against people who belong to a given political, social, racial, religious or nation group. In accordance with the principles conveyed in the international law, no statutory limitation shall apply to war crimes, crimes against peace and crimes against humanity, whether committed in time of war or in time of peace, irrespectively of the date of their commission. The IPN is responsible for gathering, assessing, disclo…