The Central Jewish Historical Commission (CJHC), transformed after three years into the Jewish Historical Institute (JHI), was established in 1944 to collect, inventory, study and edit materials documenting the war experiences of Polish Jews. As a result of its search for the right legal and organizational form, the Jewish Historical Institute Association was initiated in 1950. The establishment of a legal and organizational framework, in conjunction with the tasks the Association had taken on and the means for their implementation, has initiated a close link between the Association and the Institute. These fundamental origins of a strong dependency system conditioned their further development. This paper defines the profile of activities and analyses the legal and organizational changes of the JHI. The time range of the paper covers the period from 1944, the year the CJHC was formed, until the mid-1990s, when the JHI was separated from the JHI Association as a research institute.