Dr. habil. Karol Polejowski, Deputy President of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), has been recommended by the IPN College for the position of President of the Institute, the Institute announced on its official website.
“On October 28, 2025, a meeting of the IPN College was held, during which interviews were conducted with the candidates for the position of President of the Institute. After hearing the candidates, asking them questions, and deliberating, the College concluded that the best candidate is Dr. habil. Karol Polejowski, the current Deputy President of the IPN,” the statement reads.
The Institute reported that “the chairman of the College, Prof. Dr. habil. Wojciech Polak handed over the document recommending Dr. habil. Karol Polejowski for the position of President of the Institute of National Remembrance to Mr. Stanisław Zakroczymski, the Director General and Head of the Office of the Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, acting on behalf of Marshal Szymon Hołownia.”
Yesterday’s hearing was the second stage of the selection process. The following nine candidates had qualified for it: Dr. Aldona Dydek, Dr. Arkadiusz Kazański, Dr. Marek Kołłątaj, Dr. Maciej Kossowski, Dr. Joanna Napierała, Dr. Karol Paterski, Dr. habil. Karol Polejowski, Dr. Emilian Prałat, and Dr. Marcin Wałdoch.
Polejowski’s Noteworthy Plans
During his interview before the IPN College, Polejowski stated that he opposed removing the investigative branch from the IPN and transferring it to the prosecutor’s office. He announced plans to increase the use of artificial intelligence in the IPN archives and to launch research on the collectivization of Polish villages after World War II as an element of Sovietization.
Karol Polejowski graduated from the Faculty of History at the University of Gdańsk and is a university lecturer and the author of several monographs and scholarly articles, including a dozen written in English and French.
He earned his Ph.D. in 2000 with the dissertation “The Origins and Development of the Possessions of the Teutonic Order in the Kingdom of France up to the Mid-14th Century” and his habilitation in 2016 with the work “Matrimonium et crux: The Rise and Career of the House of Brienne During the Crusades (Until the Early 14th Century)”. He worked at the Department of Romance Philology at the Faculty of Philology, University of Gdańsk.
Currently, he conducts research on the Polish independence underground in northern Poland, the Polish Armed Forces in the West, and the People’s Army of Poland in its struggle against the underground after 1944.
Polejowski is also a museum professional, affiliated with the Malbork Castle Museum and the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk; since 2020, he has held the position of museum curator. He is a member of the editorial board of the journal War and Memory, a translator of French historical literature, and a Lanckoroński Foundation scholarship holder in Rome.
He has been awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for his outstanding contribution to documenting and preserving the truth about Poland’s history. In July 2021, he was appointed Deputy President of the Institute of National Remembrance.