Witnesses to the Age is a large oral history archive of the Pilecki Institute. We collect accounts and testimonies of people who experienced the destructive power of the German and Soviet totalitarianisms, as well as the post-war communist system. Victims of Nazi and Soviet crimes – soldiers of all fronts, civilians, political prisoners, as well as prisoners of concentration camps, forced labor camps and gulags – talk about their experiences.

​

Among the accounts from the post-war era are testimonies concerning crimes of the Stalinist and communist periods. Witnesses tell about the actions of the NKVD, workers’ strikes, detentions by the security services, martial law, among others.