The beginnings of the cooperation between the IPN and the LGGRTC on archival searches and historical research necessary to locate unknown burial sites of people who died during the fight against occupants and totalitarian regimes, and coordinating the exhumation and identification of their remains, took place in the autumn of 2017. The initiative was based on archival materials and witness’ testimonies collected by the IPN's Office of Search and Identification, as well as data held in the IPN's Genetic Material Database of the relatives of victims of Soviet totalitarianism (soldiers of the Home Army and pro-independence underground activists) murdered by the NKVD in 1945-1946 on the former Tuskulanum estate in Vilnius.

In its current form, the agreement also provides an opportunity to establish close cooperation in the following areas of the two institutions' activities:

1. the search for unknown burial sites of the victims of totalitarianism (including joint archaeological and exhumation works),

2. the search for relatives living on the territories of both Poland and Lithuania  

3. the genetic identification of victims,

4. archival queries and research in the field of search and identification,

5. a practical exchange of experience in the methodology of archival queries and research, the search for burial sites of victims, exhumation and identification works.

The Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania (LGGRTC) is a state entity that engages in the following: the study of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Lithuania; the study of the persecution of local residents by occupying regimes; the study of armed and unarmed resistance to occupying regimes; the initiation of the legal evaluation of the activities of the organisers and implementers of genocide; and the commemoration of freedom fighters and genocide victims. The centre also coordinates research activities in this field that are undertaken by other entities.