The 16th General Congress of Polish Historians took place on September 15-18, 1999 in Wrocław. The congress was convened by the Polish Historical Society and the Committee of Historical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The choice of Wrocław as the meeting place was motivated by both the historical importance of the city and preparations for the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the presence of Silesia in Poland. The main topic of the meeting was "Breakthroughs in history". The congress was attended by numerous guests, including the President of the Republic of Poland, parliamentarians, representatives of local authorities and the last President of the Republic of Poland in exile. The informal inauguration of the meeting took place in the academic church of St. Name of Jesus. During the meeting, an honorary doctorate from the University of Wrocław was awarded to prof. Gerard Labuda. Panel discussion entitled "Poland's place in the history of Europe and the world in the second millennium" gathered many interested people. The discussion was attended by, among others: Minister of Foreign Affairs Bronisław Geremek, Jakub Goldberg (Israel), Jerzy Kłoczowski, Daniel Beauvois (France), Gottfried Schramm (Germany) and Janusz Tazbir. The meeting focused on research on the history of Poland and its role in the European and global context, as well as on the need to review history and set tasks for the future.