IBGE launches website dedicated to memory and history, one of the axis of the Institute's 90th anniversary
January 20, 2026 10h00 AM | Last Updated: January 21, 2026 10h24 PM
With an administrative order issued by its Presidency , the IBGE launched a website for the Work Group on Memory and History (GTMH/IBGE), whose mission is to systematize and disseminate information of information relative to the Institute's Historical Documentation — which has as its first target the Military Regime period (1964-1985).
The group, constituted on a permanent basis, is formed by four regular members, with representatives of the IBGE Presidency, the Center for Information Documentation and Dissemination (CDDI), the National School of Statistical Sciences (ENCE) and of a higher education institution. The administrative order that instituted the GTMH appointed the following members: Denis Maracci Gimenez, advisor to the IBGE Presidency; Jose Daniel Castro da Silva, coordinator general of CDDI; Jorge Abrahão de Castro, coordinator general of ENCE; and Adair Leonardo Rocha, from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ).
According to Marcio Pochmann, president of the IBGE, the Memory and History Group will play a strategic role in the preservation, organization and dissemination of the Institute's history. "It ensures that the knowledge accumulated over decades of statistical and geographic production will not be lost as time goes by. By strengthening institutional identity, the initiative promotes public transparency and qualifies critical reflection about the evolution of information policies in the country, thus preventing the past from being isolated from current and future decisions for the construction of official statistics and geosciences of national interest in the Digital Age."
The first object dealt with by the work group, also defined in the administrative order, is the systematization and dissemination of information relative to the IBGE Historical Documentation during the Military Regime (1964-1985), which deals with themes such as the Administrative reform of 1967 and allegiance to technical bureaucracy during the regime; the role of the IBGE in development planning and the 1970 and 1980 Censuses; the conflict between technical autonomy and political interference, with a highlight to the case of the National Study of Household Expenditure – ENDEF; the impact of repression at the time and of the impact of the National Security Doctrine on the technical team and on civil servants of the Institute; and also, the identification of civil servants or their families who were victims of persecution or of arbitrary decisions during the regime.
Professor Adair Leonardo Rocha, from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), highlighted the importance of the initiative. "Memory certainly seals a commitment to history. In this respect, an Institution that has the duty of gathering and systematizing data that reflects life and everyday situations reveals the power and the conflicts found in the historical process. All that Brazil experienced during the dictatorship and its interference with institutions and people demand from the IBGE this kind of reparation translated into a Living Memory."
Website gathers historical information
The website launched by the IBGE will gather information related to institutional memory ans ongoing surveys. The platform will make available news, documents, reports sent by the public, besides thematic axes that will structure the work of the GTMH. The environment is organized into five menus:
Start
News
Submit your report
Themes (thematic axes of the project)
Documents
Based on documents from the IBGE itself—such as reports, publications, minutes, and testimonies—and academic sources, the website also provides a space for submission of information, records, and documents related to the Institute's activities during the military regime. Contributions can be made by current and former employees, retirees, and the general public through a form on the website, accessible at https://www.ibge.gov.br/memoria-historia/.
Participation of society
The participation of society in the submission of accounts is essential to broaden the understanding of IBGE's activities during the military dictatorship. Created through IBGE Ordinance No. 1717, of December 11, 2025, the Memory and History Working Group (GTMH/IBGE) considers these contributions fundamental to filling documentary gaps, offering new perspectives, and recovering experiences that do not appear in formal records. This material will enhance the historical research conducted by the group, strengthen the preservation of institutional memory, and ensure integration of different voices into the process of reconstruction of this chapter of Brazilian history.
