On 18-20 November 2019, representatives of the Institute of National Remembrance took part in the international scientific conference entitled "Poland First to Fight" at the prestigious National Press Club in Washington. The conference was organized to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II and to present the role of Poland in the conflict caused by the Third Reich and the USSR.

Doctor Rafał Łatka from the IPN’s Historical Research Office gave a lecture on the "Polish Catholic Church in occupied Poland". The IPN publishing house, represented by its Deputy Director Arkadiusz Wingert and Tomasz Kowalski, presented the Institute's publications in both English and Polish.

The conference was opened with a speech by Professor Mieczysław Biskupski, an American historian of Polish descent representing the University of Connecticut. The panelists also included the American director Stacey Fitzgerald, the author of a film about Polish prisoners of the Ravensbrück camp, the Indian director Anu Radha, who in the film A Little Poland in India showed the fate of thousands of Polish orphans and women rescued by an Indian Maharaja. Christoph Schwarz talked about the children of the Zamość region, and Kenneth Koskodan, the American author of the book entitled No Greater Ally, recalled the heroic attitude of Polish soldiers fighting on almost all fronts of the war. Of course, there were also outstanding historians. Professor Marek Kornat from the Polish Academy of Sciences gave a lecture on the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact and Professor Tadeusz Wolsza – talked about the Katyn Massacre. Professor Norman Domeier focused on the topic of the controversies surrounding the cooperation of the Associated Press with the Third Reich, and Professor Sean McMeekin about the betrayal of Poland by the Allies. Professor Danusha Goska touched upon the topic of anti-Polish stereotypes in American pop culture.