District Court in Łódź Sąd Okręgowy w Łodzi (SOŁdz), Sygn. 261

Contains selected files of the Sąd Okręgowy w Łodzi (District Court in Łódź) during the years 1945-1956. These trials refer to the Decree of August 31, 1944 ("Sierpniówka"), issued by the Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego (PKWN), concerning the punishment of war criminals guilty of murders and persecution of civilians and prisoners of war, and the punishment of traitors to the Polish nation. The "Sierpniówka" was one of the world's first legislation on liability for war crimes committed during World War II. This decree also applied to soldiers of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa) whom the Communist propaganda in the 40s and 50s attempted to portray as German collaborators. Microfilmed files refer to crimes committed against Jews and Poles by Germans and their collaborators during the German occupation.

This collection is arranged alphabetically by the defendant surnames, and court case numbers. Records are arranged in the original order of their acquisition from the source archive. The museum has acquired only selected records from Institute of National Remembrance (Instytut Pamięci Narodowej-Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, or IPN). More information about this collection and other materials in the possession of the Institute of National Remembrance, including archival finding aids from the Archives of the Institute of National Remembrance, is available at the website: https://ipn.gov.pl