Research cooperation between the International Centre for War Crimes Trials (ICWC) and the Pilecki Institute - Instytut Pileckiego

The Witold Pilecki Institute of Solidarity and Valor has entered into official cooperation with the International Centre for War Crimes Trials (ICWC) at Philipps University in Marburg.

The agreement was signed by Professor Stefanie Bock – the Director of the ICWC – and Karol Madaj, Director (acting) of the Pilecki Institute.

Professor Stefanie Bock is taking part in a two-day conference entitled “The Roots of Crimes Against Humanity: Bridging the Normative Gap”, which has been organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The focus of the partnership is a research project entitled “(Un)tried Crimes. The Approach of the Law Enforcement Agencies and the Judiciary of the Federal Republic of Germany to German Crimes Committed in Poland (1939–1945)”, which is being implemented at the Pilecki Institute by an international research team under the National Program for the Development of the Humanities (NPRH/F/SN/0038/2024/13).

– We are honored to be able to broaden our research and collaborate with Marburg University’s International Centre for War Crimes Trials, which is Germany’s leading institution engaged in documenting and investigating international crimes – stressed Dr. Krystian Wiciarz, the Deputy Director (acting) for Scholarly Affairs at the Pilecki Institute. – We plan, among others, to exchange experience in documenting and researching the history of international crimes, to provide mutual research support, and to internationalize the achievements of Polish researchers. The agreement forms part of the broader strategy of the Pilecki Institute, whose mission is to conduct research and stimulate the public discussion on totalitarianisms and the accountability of perpetrators of systemic violence – emphasized the Director.

Collaboration will encompass the following areas:

• Exchange of knowledge and provision of consultancy assistance: Joint seminars and scholarly consultations regarding substantive aspects of research.
• Support for preliminary archival research: Mutual assistance in accessing the archival resources of the Pilecki Institute and Philipps University.
• Digitization and databases: Leveraging the experience of the ICWC to create modern Internet databases and ensure access to on-line sources.

About the Project: “(Un)tried Crimes”

The project entitled “(Un)tried Crimes. The Approach of the Law Enforcement Agencies and the Judiciary of the Federal Republic of Germany to German Crimes Committed in Poland (1939–1945)”, which is currently being implemented by a Polish-German research team, centers on an analysis of the stance taken by the law enforcement agencies and judiciary of the Federal Republic of Germany towards German crimes committed in occupied Poland (1939–1945).

The main objective is to examine the reasons for the ineffectiveness of the post-war German judiciary and the impunity systemically granted to the perpetrators, as well as to facilitate a better understanding of the perspective of Polish witnesses, recorded in evidentiary materials used in criminal proceedings. The topic remains underrepresented in Polish literature, while in German research the issue of Polish victims functions outside the mainstream.

It is intended for the project to result in a series of publications that will help fill these gaps by combining Polish and German archival resources with our contemporary knowledge of the history and memory of the Second World War, and of the prosecution of the crimes committed during this period.

The project is financed from state budgetary funds awarded by the Minister of Education and Science under the “National Program for the Development of the Humanities”. More about the project. 

About the International Centre for War Crimes Trials (ICWC):

The International Centre for War Crimes Trials (ICWC) has been operating since 2003 as a research center at Philipps University in Marburg (being the continuation of a pilot project commenced in 2000 at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Law and Legal Theory in Frankfurt).

For over two decades, the Centre has contributed to the international scholarly discourse on the documentation and resolution of international crimes. The ICWC implements specialist educational and research projects, such as “Limits of Military Force” and “Gender in International Criminal Law”. Furthermore, it actively supports the development of young researchers and scholars, providing substantive supervision for numerous doctoral theses.

The ICWC focuses on the following issues:

• Criminal Law and transitional justice: Research into international criminal law in the broad context of transitional justice.
• Trial documentation: Collecting and studying historical files of war crime trials that have taken place since the end of the Second World War.
• Archiving and digitization: By collaborating with archives from around the world, the ICWC makes available a rich source base, which includes the documentation of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg and other international tribunals.

The international two-day conference entitled “The Roots of Crimes Against Humanity: Bridging the Normative Gap”, which is currently taking place at the Pilecki Institute and has been organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, provided an opportunity for the Director and Deputy Director of the Pilecki Institute to meet with Professor Stefanie Bock, the Director of the International Centre for War Crimes Trials in Marburg, in Warsaw.