Witnesses - Instytut Pileckiego

In 2018, we started recording the recollections and reminiscences of people who lived through the Second World War, and also of those who remember the postwar period. Our archive of oral history comprises a dozen or so thousand hours of video materials. Fragments of these interviews have been presented below, and you can also find them on the “Świadkowie Epoki” [Witnesses of the Age] YouTube channel.

Among the witnesses who talk about their experiences are soldiers from all fronts of the conflict, civilians, political prisoners, concentration camp inmates, and those who were incarcerated in forced labor camps and the Gulag. Witnesses of atrocities motivated by nationalism and of war crimes. The Righteous and the Saved. Polish citizens, Poles holding foreign citizenship, and the citizens of other countries. Accounts concerning the postwar period include, among others, provide information about the activities of the NKVD, the mass arrests conducted by the security services, and the period of martial law (1981-1983). The Solidarity movement is discussed by its members, while the workers’ strikes – by their immediate participants.

Contact: swiadkowieepoki@instytutpileckiego.pl