Guide

Underground soldiers and Warsaw insurgents

This guide is for families of soldiers of the Service for Poland's Victory, the Union of Armed Struggle and the Home Army (AK), and of the organisations that merged into the AK – around 200 by various counts, including most of the Peasant Battalions. According to the most commonly cited estimates, about 100,000 soldiers were mobilised for Operation Tempest in 1944, and some 16,000 insurgents were killed in the Warsaw Uprising. Many who survived ended up after the war in NKVD and Polish security service (UB) prisons or in Soviet labour camps, or vanished without trace, like the roughly 600 people detained in the Augustów roundup of July 1945.

How to search

1. 01Start with what the family has: ID cards and decorations (such as the Home Army Cross or the Warsaw Uprising Cross), veterans' certificates, photographs and letters. The nom de guerre, the name of the unit or district and the area of operations are especially valuable – without them it is hard to tell apart people with the same surname.
2. 02If the relative fought in the Warsaw Uprising, check the Warsaw Rising Museum's Insurgents' Biographies database (searchable by surname, nom de guerre, dates of birth and death) and its Oral History Archive, which may hold accounts by comrades from the same unit. Families can propose additions to an entry or a new biography; the museum's historians check every submission.
3. 03Records of post-war repression – UB and NKVD investigations, military court sentences, surveillance – are held by the IPN archive. The IPN archival inventory lets you search descriptions of files; seeing the documents of a deceased relative requires a written request from a next of kin (spouse, ancestor, descendant or sibling) on the IPN form, with documents proving the relationship.
4. 04If the relative was arrested by the NKVD (for example after Operation Tempest in the Wilno or Lublin regions) and taken deep into the USSR, search the Index of the Repressed run by the IPN. The online database has over 316,000 records and is not complete; you can also send an enquiry through the site.
5. 05The Home Army archive, including Verification Commission records and the WiN collection, is kept by the Polish Underground Movement Study Trust in London, which publishes its inventories as PDFs. For insurgents and civilians sent to concentration camps, prisons or forced labour after the capitulation, check the Arolsen Archives (online search and a free enquiry form for relatives).
6. 06If the relative was killed by the communist security apparatus and the burial place is unknown, the family can give a DNA sample to the IPN Search and Identification Office's database. Every identification of remains so far has depended on samples from relatives.

Where to search

• Online searchInsurgents' Biographies (Warsaw Rising Museum) ↗A database of biographies of Warsaw Uprising participants: surname, nom de guerre, role, dates of birth and death, with details in the full entry. Families can send corrections through a form or propose a new biography.1944.pl/powstancze-biogramy.html
• Online searchOral History Archive (Warsaw Rising Museum) ↗Recorded accounts by Home Army soldiers and witnesses of the Uprising, searchable by name and sortable by unit, district and rank. Accounts by comrades from the same unit may mention the person you are looking for.1944.pl/archiwum-historii-mowionej.html
• Online searchIPN Archival Inventory ↗A search tool for descriptions of IPN records from 1917–1990, including security service and court files concerning named individuals. It shows whether and where a file exists; the files themselves are not online.inwentarz.ipn.gov.pl
• Archive / collectionIPN Archive – request for access to documents about a deceased next of kin ↗The request form (Article 30(1) of the IPN Act) for viewing documents about a deceased next of kin or relative, with a service information sheet. Requests are accepted by the IPN archives in Warsaw and by its regional archives and offices.ipn.gov.pl/pl/archiwa/udostepnianie-dokumentow/wnioski-i/27542,Wniosek-o-udostepnienie-do-wgladu-dokumentow-dotyczacych-wnioskodawcyzmarlej-oso.html
• Online searchIndex of the Repressed (IPN, formerly the KARTA Centre) ↗Over 316,000 records of people who, after 17 September 1939, were held in prisons, labour camps or exile under Soviet occupation and in the USSR, with archival references. The internal database has about 1.2 million records; you can ask for a search through the site.indeksrepresjonowanych.pl/wyszukiwanie
• Archive / collectionPolish Underground Movement Study Trust, London ↗The Home Army archive, in London since 1947 and linked with the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum. Inventories of its collections (including the Verification Commission and the WiN collection) can be downloaded as PDFs; questions about a specific person have to be put to the Trust directly.studium.org.uk
• Online searchArolsen Archives ↗Over 40 million documents on victims of Nazi persecution: camp and Gestapo prison inmates, forced labourers and displaced persons. Search by name, date and place of birth; relatives can send a free enquiry through a form.collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search
• Archive / collectionIPN Search and Identification Office – DNA database ↗Relatives of victims of totalitarian regimes from 1917–1990 whose burial place is unknown can give a DNA sample to the IPN database, which is compared against exhumed remains.ipn.gov.pl/pl/kontakt/najczestsze-zapytania/205107,Czy-mozna-oddac-material-genetyczny-by-umozliwic-identyfikacje-zaginionych-krewn.html

We checked the addresses and holdings on these institutions' own websites. Their rules can change, so check their current pages before sending a request.

Read in the chronicle

• 1944Warsaw UprisingFrom 1 August to 2 October 1944 the Home Army fought the Germans for Warsaw. After 63 days it capitulated; the city was emptied and razed.
• 1944Operation TempestFrom January to October 1944 the Home Army struck the retreating Germans and greeted the Red Army as hosts. The Soviets disarmed its units.
• 1942The Union of Armed Struggle becomes the Home ArmyOn 14 February 1942 Gen. Sikorski renamed the ZWZ the Home Army. All underground soldiers in Poland came under the AK, commanded by Gen. Rowecki.
• 1939Establishment of the Service for Poland's VictoryOn the night of 26-27 September 1939, in besieged Warsaw, Gen. Tokarzewski-Karaszewicz founded the Service for Poland's Victory, seed of the Home Army.
• 1944The surrender of the Warsaw UprisingOn 2 October 1944 an agreement ending the Warsaw Uprising was signed at Ożarów. The Home Army received combatant rights; the city's people were expelled.
• 1945Dissolution of the Home ArmyOn 19 January 1945 Gen. Okulicki dissolved the Home Army and released its soldiers from their oath. A secret order kept staffs, arms and radio links for "NIE".
• 1945The Trial of the SixteenOn 18–21 June 1945 a Soviet military court in Moscow tried the leaders of the Polish Underground State, seized by deceit, including Okulicki and Jankowski.
• 1945The Augustów roundupOn 10–25 July 1945 the Red Army, NKVD and SMERSH, aided by the UB and the militia, combed the Suwałki region; some 600 detainees vanished without trace.