The Pilecki Institute ( pl, Instytut Pileckiego) is a

Polish government The Government of Poland takes the form of a Unitary state, unitary Parliamentary republic, parliamentary Representative democracy, representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Poland, President is the head of state and the Prime ...

institution in care of preserving the memory, documenting and researching the historical experiences of Polish citizens and increasing awareness regarding totalitarianism in the 20th century. Its patron is

Witold Pilecki Witold Pilecki (13 May 190125 May 1948; ; codenames ''Roman Jezierski, Tomasz Serafiński, Druh, Witold'') was a Polish World War II cavalry officer, intelligence agent, and resistance leader. As a youth, Pilecki joined Polish underground sc ...

Activities

Research

The Scientific Department initiates and participates in interdisciplinary research projects devoted to

totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...

and the history of Poland in the 20th century. The Institute gathers researchers who specialize in political science, sociology, history and Jewish studies. It gathers and publishes documents concerning its scope of interests, provides support for scientific research, especially connected to the victims of

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

and

Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

. The studies are concerned primarily with

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and its consequences. The Institute also translates into Polish the most important works on totalitarianisms.

Education

The Institute carries out educational projects and events.

Commemoration

The Pilecki Institute commemorates persons who were murdered for providing aid and assistance to Poles and Jews during the

. Under “Called by the Name” project were honoured e..g.

Jadwiga Długoborska Jadwiga Długoborska (née Wagner; 27 July 1899, Ostrów Mazowiecka – 29 June 1944, Guty-Bujno) was a Polish teacher, social and charity worker, and member of the underground Polish independence movement during the World War II, persecuted ...

Lucyna Radziejowska Lucyna Władysława Radziejowska (24 June 1899 – 20 March 1944) was a Polish teacher known for lending aid to Jews during World War II. For this she was arrested by the Germans and murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Biography Lu ...

. On recommendation of the Institute, the President of Poland bestows the

Virtus et Fraternitas Medal The Virtus et Fraternitas Medal (Polish name: ''Medal Virtus et Fraternitas''; Latin for "Courage and Brotherhood") is a Polish state decoration established on 9 November 2017. It is awarded by the President of Poland on recommendation of the d ...

, the Eastern Cross, and the Western Cross.

Organisation

The Pilecki Institute was established by the Polish Parliament on 9 November 2017, and following year incorporated the Witold Pilecki Center for Totalitarian Studies. On 2017 the institute was given a one-time lump sum of PLN 75 million (roughly $18.7 million) by the Polish parliament, which was used to launch the institute and cover operational expenses through 2019. In 2020, the institute received a specified-user subsidy of PLN 20 million (roughly $5 million) from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Its aim is to analyse the importance for the history of the 20th century of the Nazi and Soviet totalitarian regimes and the global consequences of their actions. The Institute is supervised by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. The Institute is governed by the director – Wojciech Kozłowski. A consultative and advisory body to the Director of the Institute is the Council of Memory whose members are appointed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. Amongst them are, e.g.:

Grzegorz Berendt Grzegorz Berendt (born 1964) is a Polish historian. He is a professor at the University of Gdańsk and affiliated with the Institute of National Remembrance. Berendt is the director of the Museum of the Second World War. Career Berendt is an As ...

Sławomir Dębski Sławomir Jan Dębski (born 23 May 1971) is a Polish historian, PhD (Hist.) who has served as director of Polish Institute of International Affairs from 2007 until 2010 and again since 2016. He previously headed The Centre for Polish-Russian Dia ...

Jan Ołdakowski Jan Łukasz Ołdakowski (born 11 May 1972 in Warsaw) is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on 25 September 2005, getting 3939 votes in Warsaw I, standing for Law and Justice. He joined Poland Comes First when that party split from Law an ...

Albert Stankowski Albert Stankowski (born 22 October 1971) is a Polish historian and a member of the Jewish Historical Institute Association in Poland (2011-2015). He is a former Head of the Digital Collection Department of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews ...

. The chairperson is prof.

Zofia Zielińska Zofia is a Slavic given name of Old Greek origin, meaning wisdom. It is a variant of Sofia. Famous people with the name Zofia: *Anna Zofia Sapieha (1799–1864) *Maria Zofia Sieniawska *Zofia Albinowska-Minkiewiczowa (1886–1971) *Zofia Branicka ...

. The Institute is divided into: * Department of Archives * Education Department * Promotion and Production Team * Personnel Department * Research Department * Publishing Department * Personal Data Controller * Accounting Department * Competitive Tendering * Film Projects Team * Translation Team * Library * Press Office * Administrative Department * Berlin Branch

Notes

External links

Pilecki Institute Home Page
(English) {{Authority control 2017 establishments in Poland Commemoration of communist crimes Commemoration of Nazi crimes History of Poland (1989–present) History organisations based in Poland Organizations established in 2017