Provincial Court for Warsaw Province Sąd Wojewódzki dla Województwa Warszawskiego (Sygn. GK 318)

This collection contains selected files of the Provincial Court for Warsaw Province for trials during the years 1945-1956. These trials refer to to the Decree of August 31, 1944 (“Sierpniówka”), issued by the Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego (PKWN), concerning the punishment of Nazi criminals guilty of murder and the persecution of civilians and prisoners of war as well as 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 1940’s and 1950’s attempted to portray as German collaborators. Microfilmed files refer to crimes committed against Jews by Germans, Poles, and other nationalities during the Nazi occupation.

Records are arranged in the original order of their acquisition from the source archive. This collection is organized by the defendant surnames, and court case numbers. 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