Inštitut dr. Jožeta Pučnika

The IPN continues its work to uncover the truth and pursue justice for crimes committed during the communist era in Poland.

As part of the “Archive of Crimes” project, the IPN has presented new findings in the investigation into the death of Antoni Browarczyk, a 20-year-old victim of martial law, who was fatally shot on 17 December 1981 in Gdańsk during protests against the regime.

➡The investigation, reopened in 2025, led to the identification of a former military officer suspected of unlawfully using a firearm against civilians. According to the findings, he fired multiple live rounds toward a group of demonstrators gathered in the city center. Browarczyk was struck in the head and died as a result of his injuries, while several others were seriously wounded.

➡The renewed proceedings have also revealed significant irregularities in the original investigation conducted in 1981–1982. Key evidence was not secured, crucial investigative actions were not undertaken despite clear opportunities, and important aspects of the incident were omitted. These failures contributed to the case being discontinued multiple times and allowed those responsible to avoid accountability for decades.

➡The IPN’s current investigation not only addresses the direct circumstances of Browarczyk’s death, but also examines actions that may have obstructed justice in the past. Legal proceedings are ongoing with regard to individuals involved in the earlier handling of the case.

➡Antoni Browarczyk remains one of the youngest victims of martial law. His death has become a lasting symbol of the repression faced by civilians opposing the communist authorities. Through its investigative and commemorative work, the IPN seeks both to establish responsibility and to preserve the memory of those who lost their lives.

➡The Institute reaffirms that crimes committed during the communist era do not expire under Polish law. Even after many years, every effort is made to ensure that the truth is established and justice is served.

📷Antoni Browarczyk (IPN Archive)

Continuing the Search for the Victims of the Volhynia Massacre

On 20 April 2026, a new stage of search and recovery work began in the areas of the former villages of Ostrówki and Wola Ostrowiecka (Luboml district, present-day Ukraine). The undertaking continues decades-long efforts to locate and exhume the remains of Polish civilians murdered in Volhynia by Ukrainian nationalists in August 1943.

➡The work is carried out by an interdisciplinary team from the IPN Office of Search and Identification, in cooperation with the Ukrainian partner “Volhynian Antiquities,” and with the participation of representatives of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The team includes forensic medicine specialist Dr. Łukasz Szleszkowski of the Wrocław Medical University.

➡The purpose of the current stage is the identification of additional burial sites containing the remains of more than 350 Poles murdered in August 1943. The search in Ostrówki and Wola Ostrowiecka is part of a long-term process that combines scientific work with the obligation of remembrance. Its significance lies not only in the recovery of human remains but also in restoring individual identities to victims who for decades remained without marked graves or named resting places.

➡Since 1992, successive stages of archaeological and exhumation work have led to the recovery of the remains of 674 victims of the crime committed on 30 August 1943. The first stage, conducted in 1992 on the initiative of families of the victims and the Society of Friends of Krzemieniec and the Volhynian-Podolian Lands in Lublin, resulted in the recovery of at least 323 individuals, later reburied at the former Roman Catholic parish cemetery in Ostrówki.

➡Further work in 2011, carried out by a Polish-Ukrainian archaeological team with the participation of volunteers and families of former residents, led to the recovery of at least 317 victims from five mass graves. Their reburial took place on 30 August 2011.

➡In 2015, additional burial sites were identified, including a mass grave in Ostrówki containing 33 victims: 22 men, 5 women, and 6 children and the grave of one woman in Wola Ostrowiecka. The victims were reburied during a ceremony on 30 August 2015.

➡The current stage of work, conducted on the basis of permits issued by the Ukrainian side in December 2025, aims to locate remaining burial sites, recover human remains, and ensure their dignified burial, while continuing efforts to preserve and document the memory of the victims.

➡Since 2019, the IPN has been working on a database of crimes and victims of genocide committed by Ukrainian nationalists in Volhynia and Eastern Lesser Poland in the years 1939‒1945. Currently, there are over 28,000 records available online, assigned to nearly 3,000 crime scenes. It is worth noting, however, that work on the project is in progress, and the data is being updated and verified on an ongoing basis. Link to the database of the victims:

👉 https://rb.gy/qnfss
🔍 More information on our website dedicated to the Volhynian genocide.
👉 https://volhyniamassacre.eu/
📥We also encourage you to download our digital exhibition “The Neighbors’ Blood. Genocide in Volhynia and Galicia 1943-1945”.
👉 https://rb.gy/8jdri

📷 A medalion found on the site in 2015 (IPN).

Biuro Poszukiwań i Identyfikacji IPN

🗓In the long run, the Treaty of Rapallo, signed on 16 April 1922, helped two European pariahs become two European bullies.

➡ Demilitarized Weimar Republic and ostracized Soviet Union shared apprehensions about France and Britain and fury with the existence of the Polish state. On top of that, both had their ambitions: Germany dreamed of restoring its international position, and the USSR of spreading the revolution. To that end, both required weapons.

➡ Yes, ostensibly, Rapallo was about establishing normal diplomatic relations, signing trade agreements and waiving financial or territorial claims, but the most lingering effect of the Treaty turned out to be decade-long secret military collaboration between these two outcasts – which took them into the top league of European players.

➡ From the summer of 1923, a series of meetings between German and Soviet military translated into

⬛️ reverse-engineering of French, British and American weapons for the Red Army by German experts,

⬛️ joint development of new designs,

⬛️ taking over and modernizing Soviet production plants by German weapon manufacturers,

⬛️ establishment of secret training bases, such as the Lipetsk airfield or K**a tank school – where Soviet and German servicemen trained together,

⬛️ testing of German aircraft, tanks and artillery prototypes in the Soviet Union,

⬛️ transfer of German military technology and tactics to the Red Army,

⬛️ training of Soviet engineers,

⬛️ joint research of chemical weapons.

➡ This was what General von Seeckt, the Reichswehr Chief of Staff had planned and hoped for, and what he saw happen. A decade of military cooperation with the Soviets laid groundwork for Hitler’s rapid development of the army in the 1930s, before the Führer – distrustful of the communists and feeling no need to conceal expansion of his forces any longer – severed these ties in 1933.

➡ He'd reconsider in 1939, and for nearly two years closely collaborate with the USSR while waging war on Europe.

➡ In September 1939, Wolfgang Falck, Lipetsk Aviation Center graduate, shot down three Polish aircraft in his new Bf 110, and Heinz Guderian, K**a Tank School trainee, smashed through Polish defences with his XIXth Armoured Corps.

***
📷Pictured, German Fokker D.XIII fighters at the Soviet training center in Lipetsk, mid-1920s.
(Bundesarchiv, RH 2 Bild-02292-207 / Unknown / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6983001

Vredno branja: direktorica Inštitita dr. Jožeta Pučnika o boju proti korupciji in udbomafiji, ki se je začel že leta 1993.

Danes sem na strokovnem posvetu »Evropska dimenzija pri pouku zgodovine« govoril o avtonomiji slovenskega šolstva v širšem evropskem in zgodovinskem kontekstu.

💬 Izobraževanje ni le prenos znanja, ampak prostor, kjer se oblikuje nacionalna zavest.
🎓 Slovenci smo jo skozi zgodovino utrjevali prav prek šol in izobraževalnih ustanov – in to je nekaj, kar moramo znati ohraniti tudi danes.

Vredno branja: urednik Demokracije in sodelavec Inštituta dr. Jožeta Pučnika dr. Metod Berlec o političnem preobratu pri sosedih in političnem preštevanju doma.

Velika noč nas opominja na moč upanja, vere in novih začetkov. Naj prinese mir, toplino in navdih v vaše domove. 🌿
Blagoslovljene in vesele velikonočne praznike!

Olympics to ban transgender athletes from women's events beginning with LA 2028 The International Olympic Committee has banned transgender women and DSD athletes from competing in women’s Olympics events. The rule will come into force at the 2028 Los Angeles games and will be …

📚 What are you looking at in this photo? At first glance, it may seem like a strange metal “book” 🤔 But in fact, these are original aluminium plates used in the underground press in communist Poland to print samizdat books. A technology that, thankfully, is no longer needed today, but once represented the cutting edge of clandestine publishing, resistance, and the fight for free expression ✊🕯️

Such objects, together with a vast collection of underground books, newspapers, leaflets and materials from the communist era, can be found at our dear member from the Ossolineum / ZNiO 🇵🇱✨ It is a truly extraordinary institution, one that not only preserves cultural heritage but also tells the story of this part of Europe in all its complexity, drama, and richness. Through its collections, Ossolineum / ZNiO safeguards memory, nurtures scholarship, and keeps the voices of the past available to new generations 📖🌍

Today, the Ossolineum includes the Biblioteka Ossolineum, the Muzeum Książąt Lubomirskich, the Ossolineum Publishing House, and the Muzeum Pana Tadeusza 🏛️ Its collections now number more than two million items, from books, manuscripts, and early prints to maps, posters, medals, coins, drawings, paintings, playbills, and microforms. These treasures are available every day in eight reading rooms, and many also appear in exhibitions, reminding us how rich and layered the history of Central and Eastern Europe truly is 🗂️💡

The next time you think about the history of freedom, resistance, and culture in this region, remember that sometimes it begins with something as small and as powerful as an aluminium printing plate.