Chief Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation


Chief Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation is a governmental agency created in 1945 in Poland. It is tasked with investigating German atrocities and communist ones. In 1999 it was transformed into the main organizational unit of the investigative department of the Institute of National Remembrance.

Naming

The commission was created in the aftermath of World War II to investigate Nazi crimes against the Polish nation. Following the fall of communism in Poland and revision of its mission in 1991, it was also tasked with investigate communist crimes in Poland.
The commission, first established in 1945, predates the Institute, which was created in 1998, though the Institute name was first used by the commission in 1984. The Commission has undergone a number of name changes:
In 1999 the commission was merged into the Institute of National Remembrance, becoming the main organizational unit of its investigative department, and its name became the Chief Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation.
There are also differences in unofficial translations of the commission name in various sources, with the word Main used instead of Chief, Research or Examination instead of Investigation, Nazi instead of Hitlerite, and Atrocities instead of Crimes; ex."Main Commission for Researching Crimes against the Polish nation".

Activities

Upon its creation, it was tasked with the following:
Polish criminal code also stated that investigations of the commission have equal status to court proceedings.
The commission has been instrumental in providing evidence for the war criminal trials carried out in Poland by the Supreme National Tribunal, including for the trials of Albert Forster, Rudolf Höss and Amon Göth. By 1950 the Commission had succeeded in getting approximately 2,000 German war criminals extradited to Poland. Its materials were used in later trials of Ludwig Hahn, Erich Koch and, among others. In 1968 its experts and materials were used to aid the United Nations in drafting of the Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity. It has also fathered the most comprehensive collection of materials about World War II atrocities in Poland in existence. By 1989 nearly 20,000 Germans were sentenced in Poland for war crimes.
Starting in 1946, the Commission has published an academic journal describing its activities and findings. The journal has changed its name several times; since 1995 it is published as .