Representatives of eight member countries: Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary, as well as observer members from Ukraine, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, took part in the annual meeting of the European Network of Official Authorities in Charge of the Secret Police Files in Budapest. The activities of the member institutions in 2021 were presented during the meeting.

The meeting was organized and hosted by the Historical Archives of the Hungarian National Security Services (ABTL). During the conference, participants had the opportunity to see “The legacy of the leadership - state security documents and stories” exhibition prepared by ABTL about the Hungarian struggle for freedom against the communist system and the operational techniques used by Hungarian communist state security.

Ihor Kulyk, Director of the UIPN Archives, presented the current situation in Ukraine and appealed for support. The members of the Network unanimously approved a Declaration of Solidarity concerning the fate of Ukrainian state security documents.

Furthermore, during the meeting, the Network's Foundation Act was amended. It was agreed that the Network full membership would be limited to the institutions in charge of documentation produced by the state services of totalitarian systems, under the condition that the members make the documents available to victims and researchers.

The Institute of National Remembrance was represented by Deputy President Mateusz Szpytma, Ph.D. and by the Director of the IPN Archive,  Marzena Kruk.  

The most important undertaking carried out by the IPN Archive (in addition to the ongoing fulfilment of the statutory tasks) is the project entitled Archive Full of Remembrance. This undertaking has been part of our activities for several years now, but its scope of activity  has recently been intensified and expanded. During the five years of the functioning of the Archive Full of Remembrance project, we have managed to acquire collections from 1,600 donors. At the end of May this year, President Nawrocki, Ph.D., presented a new version of the project which includes expanding foreign and domestic cooperation, strengthening our existing partnerships, and implementing solutions enabling the transfer of documents for archival evaluation from any electronic device, improving the project website, and making podcasts available,

said Mateusz Szpytma, Ph.D.

Next year’s meeting will be hosted by the Federal Archives, Stasi Records Archive in Berlin.