Karol Nawrocki

Karol Tadeusz Nawrocki (born March 3, 1983, in Gdańsk) is a Polish historian. Since 2021 he is the current head of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN). He also served as the director of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk from 2017 to 2021.

His research focuses on anticommunist opposition in Poland, organised crime in the Polish People's Republic and the history of sports. In February 2024, Karol Nawrocki was listed as one of the persons wanted by the Russian Federation on criminal charges in relation to actions pertaining to the removal of monuments commemorating the presence of the Red Army on Polish territory in the years 1944-1989.

Career
Nawrocki graduated from the Faculty of History at the University of Gdańsk where he earned his PhD in 2013. In 2023, he completed International MBA in Strategy, Programme and Project Management postgraduate studies at the Gdańsk University of Technology.

He worked at the Institute of National Remembrance in the years 2009–2017, heading its Branch Public Education Office in Gdańsk from 2013 to 2017. He also served as the chairman of the Siedlce District Council in Gdańsk between 2011 and 2017.

In 2017, he was appointed the director of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, a job he held until 2021. He then returned to the Institute of National Remembrance, becoming its deputy president in June 2021. In July 2021, he took office as the IPN's new head after being elected by the Sejm and approved by the Senate of Poland.

Nawrocki is the author or co-author of several books as well as numerous scientific and popular science papers on anticommunist opposition, organised crime in the Polish People's Republic and the history of sports.

Honors
In 2016, he was awarded the Bronze Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland. In 2021, the Silver Cross of Merit followed.