ALEKSANDER GRZEGORZ G AZEK THE CREATOR OF THE MODERN SYSTEM OF FORENSIC SCIENCES IN POLAND

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1 by the Institute of Forensic Research ISSN ALEKSANDER GRZEGORZ G AZEK THE CREATOR OF THE MODERN SYSTEM OF FORENSIC SCIENCES IN POLAND Józef Krzysztof GIEROWSKI 1, 2 1 De part ment of Fo ren sic Psy chol ogy, In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re search, Kraków, Po land 2 Fac ulty of Psy chi a try, Collegium Medicum of Jagiellonian Uni ver sity, Kraków, Po land Abstract The au thor de scribes the life and ca reer of Aleksander Grzegorz G³azek, Di rec tor of the In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re search in Kraków from He trans formed the IFR into a mod ern in sti tu tion, car ry ing out ex pert ex am i na tions and re search in ac cor dance with in ter na tional stan dards and de fin ing di rec tions of de vel op ment of fo ren sic sci ences not only in Po land, but also in the world. He con trib uted greatly to the de vel op ment of ENFSI, be ing the Chair man of the Eu ro pean As so ci a tion of Fo ren sic Sci ences (EAFS) in , a mem ber of the Com mit tee of the Eu ro pean As so ci a tion of Fo ren sic Sci ences ( ), and then, from 2006 un til his death, a mem ber of the Board of the Eu ro pean Net work of Fo ren sic Sci ence In sti tutes. Key words Aleksander Grzegorz G³azek; In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re search in Kraków; ENFSI; His tory of fo ren sic sci ences. Re ceived 13 Jan u ary 2010; ac cepted 19 Feb ru ary 2010 Aleksander Grzegorz G³azek, the long stand ing Di - rec tor of the In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re search in Kraków and the ini ti a tor and cre ator of the mod ern the ory and prac tice of fo ren sic sci ences in Po land died on 6 March 2009 af ter a se ri ous ill ness. He was born on 25 April 1955 in Kraków, into a typ i cal Pol ish in tel li gen tsia fam ily with tra di tions of pa tri o tism and ser vice to the com mu nity. He was the only child of Andrzej and Gabriela (nee Florek), longterm em ploy ees of For est (Las) Co op er a tive, a com - pany which for many per sons who had suf fered ter ri - ble war time ex pe ri ences con sti tuted a place of rel a tive calm and neu tral ity in post-war Po land. Ac cord ing to fam ily leg end, Grzegorz s fa ther (Aleksander G³azek used his sec ond name) was ren dered speech less by the beauty of his fu ture wife and then hav ing re cov ered his com po sure in formed her that he had to marry her! And so it came to be not long af ter wards. The G³azeks were a very suc cess ful and lov ing cou ple un til the pre - ma ture death of Andrzej in The for tunes of the G³azek fam ily con sti tute an in - ter est ing chap ter in the his tory of the Pol ish in tel li gen - tsia at the turn of the 19 th and 20 th cen tu ries. On the one hand, an ethos of free dom and pa tri o tism was cul ti - vated, and on the other, praca u podstaw (ed u ca tion of the most de prived sec tions of so ci ety) was not avoided and var i ous so cial ac tiv i ties and ini tia tives were en - gaged in. Grzegorz s great-grand fa ther, Jan G³azek, a cit i zen of Czêstochowa, was ap pointed mayor of this city at the end of the 19 th cen tury and be came known as a first-class ex pert on all ad min is tra tive reg u la tions (...) a very good and able of fi cial [10]. This tal ent was un doubt edly passed on from great-grand fa ther to greatgrand son, for Aleksander Grzegorz, in the course of his long term ten ure as Di rec tor of the In sti tute of Fo - ren sic Re search dis played ex cep tional or gani sa tional, man a ge rial and dip lo matic abil i ties. One may add in

2 10 Józef K. Gierowski pass ing that he did not for get his Czêstochowa roots and tra di tions, to which he some times re ferred, even dur ing of fi cial func tions, such as dur ing the Na tional Con fer ence of Fo ren sic Ex perts in Czêstochowa in His grand fa ther, Aleksander, af ter whom Alek san - der Grzegorz was named, was a qual i fied en gi neer-for - ester. For sev eral years be fore the war he man aged a saw mill and a coun try house in Kamienica (a vil lage lo cated be tween Gorce and Beskid S¹decki moun - tains), in which Grzegorz s fa ther, Andrzej (born 1926) was brought up. Fig. 1. Aleksander Grzegorz with his grand fa ther Alek san - der in the flat on Sarego Street. The out break of the war and the oc cu pa tion pe riod left a huge im print on the for tunes of the fam ily. The teen aged Andrzej be came whole heart edly en gaged in op po si tion ac tiv i ties sim i larly to many of the in hab it - ants of Gorce. This would later af fect his ed u ca tion, ca reer and life pros pects in post-war Po land, where the com mu nist au thor i ties were not well dis posed to wards for mer AK (Home Army) mem bers. Aleksander Grze - gorz did not for get these pa tri otic tra di tions ei ther, be - com ing in volved in un der ground ac tiv i ties dur ing the pe riod of mar tial law in the 1980 s and just af ter wards. He pub lished ar ti cles dur ing this pe riod in an il le gal pe ri od i cal ti tled Opinia Krakowska is sued by the Con - fed er a tion for an In de pend ent Po land un der his fa - ther s war time pseud onym Wir (Whirl). Af ter the war, the G³azek fam ily found it self in Kraków, liv ing (to gether with grand fa thers, aunts, un - cles and their fam i lies) in a ten e ment on Sarego Street. It was not un til the 1960 s that they ob tained an in de - pend ent flat for them selves a small apart ment in Bronowice on Obopólna Street, oc cu pied to this day by Aleksander s mother, Gabriela G³azek. From there, Grzegorz would go on hikes with his fa ther to his be - loved Gorce moun tains, and it was there that he ex pe ri - enced his fa ther s pre ma ture death (in 1972). His fa ther left him at an age when such a loss is par tic u larly pain ful, and the need to iden tify with at ti tudes, mod els or val ues passed on by an adult man are dif fi cult to re - place or com pen sate for. A nat u ral re ac tion was to strengthen ties with his mother, a per son who in spite of trau matic ex pe ri ences from the Bergen-Belsen con - cen tra tion camp (she was im pris oned there to wards the end of the war), knew how to sup port him and teach him how to be re source ful, in de pend ent and re spon si - ble. But per haps, above all, she taught him how to set him self am bi tious goals and stan dards, and also con - sis tency and per sis tence in their reali sa tion. The cir - cum stances of the ar rest of Gabriela and her deportation (to gether with her mother) to the camp con sti - tute an other im por tant fam ily story. Madly in love, the young par ti san se cretly car ried her signed pho to graph with him. When he was ar rested and the pho to graph was found on him, the ge stapo deemed that she must be ac tive in the re sis tance move ment. Grzegorz at tended VII High School, and was in ter - ested in his tory. He de voted most of his free time to var i ous scout ing ac tiv i ties, be ing a mem ber of the XV Regle Kraków Scout ing Troop, where he quickly as cended through nearly all the ranks, be com ing as - sistant scout mas ter and in struc tor at dis trict scout ing head quar ters. These years in the life of Aleksander Grzegorz G³azek were a time when he de vel oped and per fected his or gani sa tional tal ents, and also those abil i ties which are es sen tial for co op er at ing with other peo ple, for real is ing com mon aims and tasks with them, and for man ag ing a large team. In the years , he stud ied law at the Jagiellonian Uni ver sity. His choice was no doubt in - flu enced by both his in ter est in his tory and his need to ful fil him self through var i ous socio-or gani sa tional ac - tiv i ties. Law opened up broad ho ri zons for him and more over, there was no need to make lim it ing spe ciali - sa tion choices too early. He was a tal ented in deed, out stand ing stu dent, which was un am big u ously con - firmed by the fact of his be ing awarded the pres ti gious Pri mus Inter Pares ti tle (for the ac a demic year 1977/78) by the Kraków ac a demic es tab lish ment. He ful filled his ac a demic and so cial as pi ra tions within the frame work of the old est stu dent ac a demic cir cle in Po - land The Jagiellonian Uni ver sity Law Stu dents Li - brary As so ci a tion. Just as he had in the scout ing movement, he quickly ad vanced from be ing a rank-and-file mem ber through man ager of the Criminalistics Sec - tion to Pres i dent of the Board. He was an ac tive or gan - iser of sci en tific camps, sem i nars and pub lic speak ing con tests. Dur ing his mas ter s de gree course, he at tended classes run by Pro fes sor Tadeusz Hanausek, an em i - nent criminalist and pe nal law spe cial ist. Un der his su - per vi sion, he de fended his mas ter s the sis in 1979

3 Aleksander Grzegorz G³azek the creator of the modern system ti tled Fo ren sic and Le gal As pects of the Nat u ral Environment of Hu mans. Aleksander Grzegorz G³a - zek s stu dent ca reer path is very rem i nis cent of that of em i nent schol ars and ac a dem ics in par tic u lar, pro - fes sors of var i ous branches of law. How ever, Grze - gorz s choice broke with the usual scheme. Al ready as a stu dent, fas ci nated by criminalistics and fo ren sic sci - ences, he joined the In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re search in Kraków, in which a Sec tion for Hand writ ing and Ques tioned Doc u ments Ex am i na tion was then be ing opened one of the few in Po land. He was em ployed there as an as sis tant on 1 September 1978, even be fore he had fin ished his le gal stud ies. Fig. 2. On a scout camp in He was as sessed by his su pe ri ors at the In sti tute as be ing an ex cep tion ally able and in tel li gent em ployee, with high cre ativ ity and ini tia tive. He very quickly gained ap pro pri ate pro fes sional qual i fi ca tions and in 1980 he was ap pointed an ex pert. His par tic u lar or - gani sa tional abil i ties, which he had al ready dem on - strated at the ini tial stage of cre ation of the Sec tion, in clined the Di rec tor of the In sti tute, Pro fes sor Jan Markiewicz, to pro mote him in 1988 to Head of the Sec tion, and from 1 Jan u ary 1990 to the po si tion of Head of the De part ment of Criminalistics. In 1991, he also be came the As sis tant Di rec tor of the In sti tute, and he was also elected a mem ber of the Sci en tific Board of the In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re search. He ful filled the lat ter func tion for the next three terms. From the be gin - ning of his work in the In sti tute, he de vel oped a rep u ta - tion not only as a com pe tent ex pert, but also an ex cel lent or gan iser of many sci en tific events and ini - tia tives. Amongst his most im por tant achieve ments in this field was or gani sa tion of the in ter na tional Criminalistic Traces Sym po sium of Fo ren sic Sci - ences (Popowo near War saw May 1988). At that time it was the big gest sci en tific con fer ence in Po land in the field of fo ren sic sci ences, draw ing spe cial ists in this field from 17 coun tries of Eu rope, Amer ica and Asia. The or gani sa tional and sci en tific level of the Sym po sium was very highly rated by its in ter na tional par tic i pants this was at tested to by the pub lish ing of the en tirety of the sci en tific ma te ri als by Elsevier Sci - en tific Pub lish ers Ire land Ltd. in Fo ren sic Sci ence In - ter na tional. Aleksander G³azek was also an ini ti a tor and or gan iser of Au tumn School of Em pir i cal Hand - writ ing Anal y sis, which was held an nu ally in the years Some of the fruits of these in ter dis ci plin - ary meet ings bring ing to gether hand writ ing an a lysts, psy chol o gists, psy chi a trists, lin guists, pa le og ra phers and educationists in ter ested in hand writ ing anal y sis in cluded: the un der tak ing of work on a dic tio nary of terms in the field of hand writ ing anal y sis, draw ing up a cat a logue of graph i cal and lan guage fea tures of hand writ ing and also pe ri od i cal is su ing of the bul le tin Scriptum. At this point, it is also worth men tion ing his par tic i pa tion in or gani sa tion of var i ous sci en tific meet ings linked with cele bra tory an ni ver sary events of the In sti tute, of which the most im por tant are: the round ta ble con fer ence Fo ren sic ex pert opin ion state and pros pects (1979), Eth i cal and le gal is sues re lat ing to ob tain ing and us ing com par a tive ma te ri als against the back ground of the need for a hand writ ing anal y sis opin ion (1985) and Ex pert prac tice as a source of criminalistic knowl edge (1986). It should be emphasised that al ready in his first years of work at the In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re search, Aleksander G³azek re vealed un usu ally broad sci en tific in ter ests, ex tend ing sig nif i cantly be yond his spe ciali - sa tion. They en com passed the o ret i cal ques tions re lat - ing to ex pert opin ions, the is sue of eco log i cal threats, in clud ing le gal pro tec tion of the en vi ron ment and also en vi ron men tal tox i col ogy, the psy chol ogy of hand - writ ing and is sues re lat ing to con tem po rary IT, automation and also com put eri sation of re search pro cesses. He was the co-au thor and ini ti a tor of the con cep tion of com put eri sation of the In sti tute, en abling rapid ac cess

4 12 Józef K. Gierowski to es sen tial in for ma tion for ex perts through a sys tem of cre ated data bases, anal y sis of these data, pre par ing ex pert opin ions and car ry ing out cur rent re search works. His cre ativ ity, com mit ment and ac tive ness in work for the In sti tute con trib uted to the de vel op ment of its equip ment and lab o ra tory in fra struc ture in all fields rep re sented at the In sti tute at that time: tox i col ogy, criminalistics, psy chol ogy and road ac ci dents. The 1980s were a time of stormy socio-po lit i cal changes in Po land, be gin ning with the cre ation of the first Sol i dar ity trade un ion, through the trau matic ex - pe ri ences of mar tial law to the re gain ing of full na - tional sov er eignty and deep trans for ma tions encom - pass ing the en tirety of so cial and po lit i cal life. His po - lit i cal ac tiv ity in this pe riod speaks for it self Aleksander G³azek s so cial and moral stance can only be as sessed as un am big u ously ex em plary and fault less. And so, as early as Sep tem ber 1980, he formed the ISTU Sol i dar ity In sti tute Com mis sion (Komisja Za - k³adowa NSZZ Solidarnoœæ) at the In sti tute of Fo ren - sic Re search, and un til 1991 he was its chair per son and was also cho sen as a mem ber of the ISTU Sol i dar ity Na tional Co or di nat ing Com mis sion of Jus tice Ad min - is tra tion Em ploy ees (Krajowa Komisja Koordy na cyj - na Pracowników Wymiaru Sprawiedliwoœci NSZZ Solidarnoœæ). In the pe riod of mar tial law, he pub - lished in the sec ond cir cu la tion (samiz dat); he was also an or gan iser of the first au di tion of Sol i dar ity Ra dio (Ra dio Solidarnoœæ) in Kraków. It is dif fi cult not to re - flect at this point that he was sys tem at i cally putt ing into prac tice the val ues and aims that his fa ther, grand - fa ther and great-grand fa ther had de fined. A look at the his tory and for tunes of the In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re - search shows that this tra di tion also ran deep at this es - tab lish ment. In its short but un doubt edly stormy his - tory, the In sti tute, its lead ers and staff had in sis tently real ised a pol icy of in de pend ence and pa tri o tism, not al low ing them selves to be used for po lit i cal aims and tasks be it by the Ger man oc cu pi ers or the com mu nist au thor i ties of Po land. This pre vail ing ethos led staff of the In sti tute, for ex am ple, to se cure doc u ments re lat ing to the Katyñ mas sa cre and ev i dence in case of the kill - ing of Fa ther Popie³uszko. These tra di tions al ways con sti tuted for Aleksander G³azek an ad di tional sign - post or ref er ence point, es pe cially when dif fi cult de ci - sions had to be made. When he be came Di rec tor, he cared about and cul ti vated these good tra di tions, draw - ing on them ably and mak ing an ef fort to main tain con - ti nu ity and con sis tency in the de vel op ment of the In s ti tute. He al ways re mem bered to com mem o rate all the an ni ver sa ries and ju bi lees, es pe cially when it came to his pre de ces sors: Doc tor Jan Zygmunt Robel, Pro - fes sor Jan Markiewicz and Pro fes sor Jan Sehn [2, 5, 8]. Aleksander G³azek s fault less eth i cal and moral stance was re cog nised by the Kraków au thor i ties di - rectly af ter full in de pend ence was gained. By a spe cial res o lu tion of the City Coun cil, he was ap pointed in 1990 as a non-coun cil mem ber of the Rule of Law and Pub lic Or der Com mis sion. He ful filled this func tion in the years His wor thy un der ground and so - cial ac tiv i ties in the eight ies no doubt helped him in later years to gain mem ber ship of the elite Kraków Club (Klub Krakowski). Fig. 3. Dur ing a meet ing of the the Jagiellonian Uni ver sity Law Students Library Association. The pe riod of trans for ma tion opened up new pos si - bil i ties and pros pects for the In sti tute and its staff, which un til re cently would have been un imag in able. The be gin ning of the trans for ma tion pe riod co in cided with the re tire ment of the highly dis tin guished Di rec - tor, Pro fes sor Jan Markiewicz and the an nounce ment of a com pe ti tion for the po si tion of Di rec tor of the In - sti tute, this time on de cid edly more dem o cratic and self-gov ern ing prin ci ples than in pre vi ous de cades (when the Di rec tor was ap pointed). Aleksander Grze - gorz G³azek en tered the com pe ti tion and won. The de - part ing di rec tor was the main ad vo cate of the then very young can di date. In an opin ion is sued on 30 July 1991, he jus ti fied his po si tion thus: the per sonal char ac ter - is tics and high pro fes sional qual i fi ca tions of Alek - sander G³azek, LL.M., es pe cially his ex cel lent or ga n - i sational tal ents, su perb abil ity to man age a team, high cre ativ ity and ini tia tive in seek ing new so lu tions both in the field of or gani sa tion of work and re search is sues, ex cep tional com mit ment to pro fes sional work, fully pre dis pose him in my opin ion to in de pend ently di - rect a sci en tific in sti tu tion. The year 1991 was a turn ing point in the life of Aleksander G³azek, open ing up per spec tives whose bound aries were dif fi cult to es ti mate at that time. It should be emphasised at this point that the young di - rec tor made use of the op por tu ni ties that had been pre -

5 Aleksander Grzegorz G³azek the creator of the modern system sented in full even ex ceed ing ex pec ta tions. He trans - formed the In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re search into an in sti - tute that was thor oughly mod ern, and some times even pi o neer ing and in no va tive, real is ing its ex pert and re - search aims in a way that was con cor dant with world stan dards, and also de ter min ing di rec tions of de vel op - ment of fo ren sic sci ences not only in Po land but also in the world. Fig. 4. As an ex pert in the Sec tion for Ques tioned Doc u - ments Ex am i na tions. In at tempt ing to as sess the role that Aleksander Grzegorz G³azek played in the his tory of the In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re search (and from a slightly broader per - spec tive in the de vel op ment of fo ren sic sci ences in Po land), it can be stated that from the very be gin ning of his term as Di rec tor of the In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re - search he had a very con crete vi sion of what the fo ren - sic sci ences are in es sence, of their re la tion ship with ev ery day ex pert wit ness ing prac tice, in what way and on what ba sis bi o log i cal and so cial sci ences should be ap plied in fo ren sic ex pert prac tice, or what prac ti cal ac tiv i ties should be un der taken in or der to de velop and per fect the level and qual ity of ser vices that ex perts pro vide for the jus tice sys tem. This vi sion was a com - plex con struct, tak ing into ac count var i ous lev els and di rec tions of re la tions be tween sci ence and the gen eral level of knowl edge and its prac ti cal ap pli ca tion for the needs of the ad min is tra tion of jus tice. Aleksander G³azek as cribed an in ter dis ci plin ary char ac ter to the above re la tions, treated as a fun da men tal dis tin guish - ing fea ture or cri te rion of fo ren sic sci ences. In one of his last ar ti cles he wrote that this in ter dis ci plin ary char ac ter of the men tioned sci ences man i fests it self in the fact that they are not a di rect part of the group of le - gal dis ci plines, but orig i nate from the nat u ral, tech ni - cal and hu man is tic sci ences. For they make use of their achieve ments and ex pe ri ences, adapt ing them to serve le gal dis ci plines with the aim of en abling reali sa tion of fun da men tal aims of the ad min is tra tion of jus tice. He em pha sized, how ever, that tak ing into ac count the on - go ing de vel op ment of sci ence, the mod ern jus tice sys - tem can not ef fec tively real ise the tasks fac ing it with out re fer ring to spe cial ist knowl edge. Rep re sen ta - tives of fo ren sic sci ences are con stantly de vel op ing new re search meth ods and pro ce dures, which are cre - at ing ever greater pos si bil i ties of solv ing prob lems en - coun tered in courts [7]. In the con text of fo ren sic sci ence tasks de fined in such a way, the pos si bil ity of mu tual un der stand ing by in ter ested par ties spe cial - ists from var i ous dis ci plines and rep re sen ta tives of the law con sti tutes a sig nif i cant is sue in the opin ion of Aleksander G³azek. For con stant ad vances in sci ence mean that specialised knowledge increasingly frequently leads to dif fi cul ties in as sess ment and even un der - stand ing of opin ions of ex perts pre sented to courts. In or der to im prove mu tual un der stand ing be tween the par ties, pro fes sional train ing of both ex perts es pe cially in the field of ev i den tial law and the ory of ex pert opin - ing and prac ti tio ners of the ad min is tra tion of jus tice is es sen tial. For the lat ter, fun da men tal knowl edge in the field of fo ren sic sci ences is vi tal for cor rect as sess - ment of ev i dence in the shape of ex pert opin ions [1, 3]. The pic ture of the fo ren sic sci ences that emerged from Aleksander G³azek s nu mer ous speeches and un for tu nately sig nif i cantly rarer pub li ca tions, was ho lis tic and sys temic, tak ing into ac count both the the - o ret i cal and meth od olog i cal sta tus of fo ren sic sci ences and em i nently prac ti cal is sues re lat ing to ev ery day ex - pert opin ing work, stan dards and re search pro ce dures ap plied by ex perts, needs of per fect ing and de vel op ing them, con tin u ous ed u ca tion and train ing of ex perts them selves and also law yers and ad min is tra tion of jus - tice of fi cials. The role of the Di rec tor of the In sti tute thus boiled down to per form ing or gani sa tional and man a ge rial func tions and tasks and also var i ous ac tiv i - ties linked with ini ti at ing, real is ing and de vel op ing ac - tiv ity of a strictly sci en tific na ture. In the lat ter case, it was mainly a ques tion of mon i tor ing cur rent ten den - cies and di rec tions of de vel op ment of these dis ci - plines, which could con trib ute to fur ther de vel op ment of fo ren sic sci ences and of fac ing new hith erto not en coun tered ex pert opin ing chal lenges. What un - doubt edly char ac ter ised G³azek was his broad knowl - edge and open ness to all sci en tific in no va tions and nov el ties in terms of pos si bil i ties of us ing them in fo - ren sic ex pert prac tice. This knowl edge sig nif i cantly ex ceeded the bound aries of the le gal ed u ca tion of the di rec tor and was an in di ca tion of his ex cep tional open - ness and readi ness for ev ery thing which could be use - ful in the prac ti cal reali sa tion of ex pert ac tiv i ties. Those who had the pos si bil ity of closer co op er a tion

6 14 Józef K. Gierowski with Aleksander G³azek were some times sur prised and as tounded when they found they could dis cuss com pli cated and dif fi cult sci en tific prob lems with him as equals. It did not mat ter whether it was his spe cial ist sub ject of criminalistics or is sues re lat ing to tox i col - ogy, ge net ics, an thro pol ogy, IT, speech and au dio anal y sis, road ac ci dents or psy chol ogy. The men tioned er u di tion of the di rec tor, of ten sup ported by in tu ition and feel ing, re lat ing to pre dicted di rec tions of fur ther de vel op ment of fo ren sic sci ences, most of ten re sulted in or gani sa tional de ci sions the set ting up of work - shops and new de part ments. Ex am ples in clude the Fo - ren sic Ge net ics or Fo ren sic In for ma tion Tech nol ogy Sec tion. The motto which he adopted for the In sti tute Iustitia et Scientia clearly en cap su lated its mis sion and fun da men tal stat u tory aims: work ing to wards ap - ply ing the achieve ments of all the sci ences which can con trib ute to the rais ing of stan dards in ev i den tial pro ceed ings to the prac tice of the ad min is tra tion of jus tice. Aleksander G³azek was aware that this was only pos si ble in the case of a har mo ni ous de vel op ment of ex pert ex pe ri ence on the one hand and so-called fun da men tal fo ren sic sci ences on the other. He also knew that the level of fo ren sic opin ing is very var ied in Po land, rang ing from ex pert opin ions is sued by cer - tain in di vid ual ex perts from the so-called list that of - ten did not ful fil fun da men tal di ag nos tic and meth odological re quire ments to pro fes sional spe cial ist opin - ions meet ing world stan dards is sued by var i ous sci en - tific in sti tu tions with the In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re - search at the fore front. It is worth emphasising here that by un der tak ing a se ries of im por tant and valu able re search ini tia tives at the In sti tute, he man aged to cre - ate a for mula rec on cil ing ev ery day fo ren sic ex pert prac tice with strictly sci en tific re search and work. He was aware of the role that opin ions of fo ren sic ex perts play in the pro cess of es tab lish ing a given fact (some - times an ab so lutely de ci sive role in solv ing a case) and the some times very se ri ous re sults of er ro ne ous opin - ions. He thus con sid ered that it was im por tant to de - velop a cer tain sys tem of qual ity con trol of the com pe tence of ex perts. This prob lem is re cog nised in many coun tries. It is worth not ing that al though a com - pletely sat is fac tory so lu tion is prob a bly im pos si ble, ac tions should be un der taken which would at least al - low mini mi sa tion of prob lems re sult ing from a lack of ap pro pri ate com pe ten cies of ex perts. To this end, it was deemed nec es sary to de velop cer tain stan dards of pro ce dure, both of a gen eral and a spe cial ised na ture ap pro pri ate for spe cific dis ci plines within the fo ren sic sci ences, which may con sti tute guide lines for as sess - ment of com pe ten cies of ex perts. Such at tempts were also made in Po land, and their main ini ti a tor was Fig. 5. With his pre de ces sor, Pro fes sor Jan Markiewicz, Di - rec tor of the In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re search. G³azek him self. This idea had a prac ti cal out let in the ini tia tive to cre ate the Col lege of Fo ren sic Sci ences (Kolegium Nauk S¹dowych) in It was sup ported by a broad group of rep re sen ta tives of sci en tific so ci et - ies, in clud ing the Pol ish Hu man ist As so ci a tion, the Pol ish So ci ety of Fo ren sic Med i cine, Pol ish Psy chi at - ric As so ci a tion, Pol ish Psy cho log i cal As so ci a tion, uni ver sity de part ments of criminalistics and de part - ments of fo ren sic med i cine, de part ments of me chan i - cal or au to mo tive en gi neer ing at uni ver si ties of tech - nology, and also by po lice lab o ra to ries and rep re sen ta - tives of the In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re search. The Col lege was sup posed to con sti tute a fo rum for ex change of ex - pe ri ences and cen tral reg is tra tion of spe cial ists of var i - ous dis ci plines of sci ence serv ing the ad min is tra tion of jus tice on an ev ery day ba sis with their knowl edge. Its aims were to in clude: draw ing up uni form stan dards of ex am i na tion, pro ce dures and qual i fi ca tion re quire - ments aim ing at en sur ing the high est qual ity, and at the same time cor rect ness and re li abil ity of per formed ex - am i na tions and is sued opin ions. Un for tu nately this un - der tak ing only met with pass ing in ter est and sup port on the part of au thor i ties of the ad min is tra tion of jus - tice. Due to a lack of an ap pro pri ate le gal frame work sanc tion ing the un der tak ing of ac tiv i ties to im prove the level of expert opining, the intended aims could not be realised [1, 7]. Prob lems with cre at ing an in sti tu tion to deal with the above di lem mas fac ing the fo ren sic sci ences in Po -

7 Aleksander Grzegorz G³azek the creator of the modern system land, and also the in creas ingly nu mer ous in ter na tional con tacts of IFR staff with var i ous in ter na tional in sti tu - tions deal ing with pro mo tion and de vel op ment of the fo ren sic sci ences, in clined Di rec tor G³azek to un der - take co op er a tion with ENFSI the Eu ro pean Net work of Fo ren sic Sci ence In sti tutes, which was founded in Its fun da men tal aim is to en sure op ti mal con di - tions of de vel op ment of re search and also ef fec tive prop a ga tion of fo ren sic sci ences in the whole of Eu - rope, which re quires es tab lish ing and main tain ing pro - fes sional re la tions with other or gani sa tions of a sim i lar pro file of ac tiv i ties and also prop a gat ing prin ci ples of good lab o ra tory prac tice and in ter na tional stan dards amongst all mem ber lab o ra to ries, thus en sur ing high qual ity of re search and com pe tence of per sons car ry - ing it out. The gen eral aims of ENFSI were thus very close to those be hind the men tioned ini tia tive of set - ting up the Col lege of Fo ren sic Sci ences in Po land. It should be em pha sized that un der ly ing the whole ini tia - tive was the as sump tion that wher ever fo ren sic sci - ences are ap plied, they must be ap plied com pe tently and a sim i lar level of com pe tence should ap ply to all. The cre ators of ENFSI also hold the cor rect view that com pe ten cies en com pass, on the one hand, knowl edge and the abil ity to ap ply it and, on the other, the be hav - iour and at ti tudes of ex perts. The de vel oped stan dards, ac cord ing to the au thors, can be ap plied to fo ren sic opin ions re lat ing to all dis ci plines. For the In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re search, and Di rec tor Glazek in par tic u lar, the con fer ence in Lausanne in 1997 was a land mark, for this was when the In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re search be came a full mem ber of ENFSI. A year later, in rec - og ni tion of his pro fes sion al ism and ac tiv ity, Aleksander G³azek was elected Chair man of Eu ro pean Acad emy of Fo ren sic Sci ences (EAFS) for the pe riod , a kind of sci en tific coun cil con sti tut ing an ad vi sory body to ENFSI, de fin ing its fu ture di rec tions of de vel op ment and ac tiv ity. On his ini tia tive, not long af ter wards in the year 2000 an EAFS con fer ence was held in Kraków. Over 800 peo ple took part in it, not only from Eu rope, but also from Asia, Aus tra lia and the United States. From that time, the lead ing role of Aleksander Glazek and the In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re - search in the de vel op ment of fo ren sic sci ences was un - ques tioned. This was con firmed by the se lec tion of the Di rec tor of the IFR as a mem ber of the Com mit tee of the Eu ro pean Acad emy of Fo ren sic Sci ences ( ), and then, from 2006, as a mem ber of the Board of the Eu ro pean Net work of Fo ren sic Sci ence In sti tutes (he ful filled this func tion up un til his death). The In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re search was the first Pol ish in sti tu tion in the Eu ro pean Net work, and G³azek, as a rep re sen ta tive of the board of ENFSI in EAFS, or - gan ised many sem i nars and one-day meet ings in Kra - ków, de voted to more de tailed spe cial ist prob lems. To - day, the In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re search has its rep re sen ta tives in each of a dozen or so work ing groups func tion ing within the framework of ENFSI. Fig. 6. With Pro fes sor Stanis³aw Waltoœ dur ing a pro mo tion of a book pub lished by IFR Pub lish ers. The Eu ro pean mi lieu of fo ren sic ex perts fully ap - pre ci ated the role of Aleksander G³azek in ENFSI struc tures. Jan De Kinder, Chair man elect of the Board of the Eu ro pean Net work of Fo ren sic Sci ence In sti - tutes, bid fare well to the Di rec tor at the Rakowicki Cem e tery on 12 March 2009 thus: I would like to apo lo gise for not be ing able to speak Pol ish. My name is Jan De Kinder. I am the lab o ra tory di rec tor of the Bel gian Fo ren sic In sti tute and as the Chair man des ig - nate of the Eu ro pean Net work of Fo ren sic Sci ence In - sti tutes, I would like to ex press our con do lences at the death of Aleksander G³azek, board mem ber of our or - gani sa tion. Aleksander was one of the driv ing forces of our or gani sa tion. Al though he did n t speak Eng lish flu ently, he was highly in volved in the or gani sa tion and tried to cre ate new ways of ad vanc ing the or gani - sa tion of ENFSI. Within the Board of the or gani sa tion, we knew him as some body who, even dur ing his ill - ness, had a crit i cal mind with a pos i tive base line: try - ing to im prove. Start ing in 1997, he was for many years a mem ber of the Eu ro pean Acad emy of Fo ren sic Sci ences Stand ing Com mit tee, mostly as its Pres i dent. As such, he was the or gan iser of the sec ond Eu ro pean Acad emy of Fo ren sic Sci ence meet ing in I was there as a fo ren sic sci en tist who was amazed by the size and the qual ity of the con fer ence. I still con sider this meet ing one of the high lights of my sci en tific ca - reer. As the board rep re sen ta tive to the Eu ro pean Acad emy of Fo ren sic Sci ence Stand ing Com mit tee, he or ga nized a lot of sci en tific meet ings, so-called One

8 16 Józef K. Gierowski Day One Is sue Sem i nars. The hos pi tal ity and the or - gani sa tion of all the meet ings have be come leg end ary. There was a gen eral feel ing within the ENFSI com mu - nity: if it was or ga nized in Kraków, it was guar an teed to be a good meet ing. He set the bar very high for the fu ture! While most ENFSI mem bers are sci en tists, his ed u - ca tion as a law yer pro vided va ri ety in the dis cus sions, where he was able to for mu late stra te gic doc u ments in an ex act way. Dur ing the last two years, he tried to con trib ute as much as pos si ble to the meet ings, even when he could not travel so far and Gosia 1 re placed him at meet ings. I still re mem ber how much we en - joyed the warm sun at a meet ing in Larnaca, Cy prus, where af ter a long day of work, we sat on the beach, watch ing the sun go down. Aleksander, ENFSI will not be the same any more with out you. We will have to find ways to move on with out your cre ative think ing and or gani sa tional skills. The whole ENFSI com mu - nity feels sad about your go ing. Aleksander G³azek at tached spe cial sig nif i cance to sci en tific co op er a tion. From the mo ment of as sum ing the po si tion of Di rec tor, he at tached enor mous im por - tance to de vel op ing in ter na tional col lab o ra tion be - tween IFR and sim i lar in sti tutes in Eu rope and around the world. He pro vided his staff with op por tu ni ties for place ments and train ing abroad, mo ti vated them and even de manded that they par tic i pate ac tively in in ter - na tional con fer ences, meet ings and sym po sia. He ably ex ploited the pos si bil i ties af forded to young staff of the In sti tute by the Le o nardo da Vinci pro ject. Thus, thirty of them ex pe ri enced broader train ing and in tern - ships. It should be noted here that op por tu ni ties for re - la tions with and travel to for eign in sti tu tions were in com pa ra bly greater for IFR staff than for many re - nowned ac a demic cen tres, which aroused not only sur - prise but also envy amongst young uni ver sity staff. The men tioned con tacts were cul ti vated by or gan is ing a se ries of in ter na tional sci en tific con fer ences in var i - ous fields of fo ren sic sci ences in Kraków in the years And so, amongst other things, IFR was the host and or gan iser of the 8 th and 14 th Eu ro pean Con fer ence of Psy chol ogy and Law (in 1998 and 2004), and in 1999 and 2007 of the VIII and XVI Con fer ence of the Eu ro - pean As so ci a tion for Ac ci dent Re search and Anal y sis (EVU). In 1999, the In sti tute or gan ised the Con gress of the In ter na tional As so ci a tion of Fo ren sic Tox i col o - gists (TIAFT), and in 2000 the men tioned II Meet ing of the Eu ro pean Acad emy of Fo ren sic Sci ences (EAFS). 1 Ma³gorzata Wojciechowska, manager of the Scientific Infor - mation Division IFR. It would be dif fi cult to talk about a com pre hen sive approach to developing and promoting forensic sciences with out tak ing into ac count two im por tant themes or ar eas of ac tiv ity in which Di rec tor G³azek en gaged: ed u ca tion and pub lish ing. As Józef Wójcikiewicz rightly notes [11], the train ing and ed u ca tional ac tiv i ties of the In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re search had been real ised from the very be gin ning, i.e. from the mo ment of its es tab lish ment. For they con sti tuted one of the main stat - utory directions of activities of this institute. A breakthrough mo ment was the es tab lish ment in , on the ini tia tive of the Di rec tor, of the Fo ren sic Sci - ence Ed u ca tion Cen tre (Centrum Edukacyjne Nauk S¹dowych). These train ing and ed u ca tion ac tiv i ties then be gan to de velop on a hith erto un prec e dented scale. The tar get groups were, above all, pros e cu tors, judges and ex perts. Sev eral thou sand peo ple were trained, most of ten dur ing sev eral day ses sions in Dobczyce, near Kraków. This ed u ca tional mis sion was com ple - mented by pub lish ing ac tiv ity. For the In sti tute has had its own pub lish ing house for a dozen or so years, sys - tematically issuing handbooks, monographs and broader re ports from per formed re search. The Di rec tor him self was en gaged in this ac tiv ity very in tensely. He was one of the found ers of the monthly Prokuratura i Prawo (The Pros e cu tor s Of fice and the Law), an ac tive mem - ber of the ed i to rial boards of Paragraf na Drodze (The Road Traf fic Jour nal), Prokuratura i Pra wo, and es pe - cially Z Zagadnieñ Nauk S¹dowych (Prob lems of Fo - ren sic Sci ences). The lat ter jour nal con sti tutes a great call ing card for the In sti tute. It has ap peared for years in a bi lin gual for mat Pol ish and Eng lish and the re - view ar ti cles and re ports from em pir i cal stud ies pub - lished there rep re sent the high est sci en tific level, constituting a very ef fec tive form of pro mot ing the modern achieve ments of fo ren sic sci ences. Aleksander G³azek par tic i pated very ac tively in pub lish ing ini tia tives of the In sti tute. He read all the pub lished texts care fully. Thanks to his in sights, ac cu racy and ed i to rial dil i - gence, he of ten as ton ished not only other mem bers of the ed i to rial com mit tee, but also the au thors them - selves. His com ments and sug ges tions were al ways in - ci sive, sci en tif i cally jus ti fied and in gen eral con firmed his broad knowl edge and sci en tific ex per tise. Aleksander G³azek him self did not pub lish pro lif i - cally, prob a bly putt ing aside writ ing for calmer pe ri - ods later on, when fun da men tal prob lems con cern ing both the In sti tute and the state of fo ren sic sci ences in Po land would have been solved. He was un doubt edly a per fec tion ist, which was not al ways help ful when it came to pro duc tion line pub lish ing or the un der tak - ing of broader, more com plex sci en tific stud ies. His plans for a doc toral dis ser ta tion suf fered for sim i lar

9 Aleksander Grzegorz G³azek the creator of the modern system rea sons. He con sid ered such a pos si bil ity many times, un der tak ing pre lim i nary ac tiv i ties in this di rec tion, but he was al ways dis sat is fied with him self in his as pi ra - tions to per fec tion and bur dened by the need to solve cur rent prob lems of the In sti tute. So, he put off till to - mor row his more per sonal ac a demic ca reer. He sim - ply made a choice to clearly put the in ter ests of fo ren sic sci ences and the In sti tute which he di rected above his own per sonal suc cess. He had a sim i lar at ti - tude to his pro fes sional de vel op ment and train ing he did not fin ish his pub lic pros e cu tor s train ing un til In spite of this, the list of his pub li ca tions is not overly mod est, en com pass ing over 40 po si tions. Some of these are pub li ca tions of a his tor i cal na ture, dis cuss - ing the aris ing and de vel op ment of fo ren sic sci ences in Po land and also pro files of prom i nent rep re sen ta tives of the fo ren sic sci ences who con trib uted to the de vel - op ment of the In sti tute of Forensic Re search (e.g. [2, 4, 5, 8]). A large part of Alek - sander G³azek s pub li ca tions con cerned fun da men tal prob lems of fo ren sic sci ences, their sta tus, sys temic na ture and also the need for con cep tuali sation and institutionalisation of ac tiv i ties es sen tial for their fur - ther de vel op ment and greater prac ti cal use ful ness (e.g. [1, 7]). There is no doubt ei ther that the Di rec tor s re - ports on the ac tiv i ties of the In sti tute which ap peared sys tem at i cally in Prob lems of Fo ren sic Sci ences will con sti tute in valu able ma te rial for fu ture re search ers of the his tory of fo ren sic sci ences in Po land and of the In - sti tute of Fo ren sic Re search, show ing the or der and di - rec tion of changes, im por tant or gani sa tional ini tia tives un der taken, as sess ment of their prac ti cal and sci en tific ef fects, which over all must pres ent a dy namic and evolv ing im age of the fo ren sic sci ences in Po land. Aleksander Grzegorz G³azek was not, in the tra di - tional, ac a demic sense of the word, a dis tin guished ac - a demic. How ever, he was a man whose role and sig - nificance in the de vel op ment of fo ren sic sci ences in Po land can not be over es ti mated. He had out stand ing or gani sa tional and man a ge rial abil i ties, a spe cific vi - sion of the fo ren sic sci ences in all their multi-lay ered com plex ity, tak ing into ac count the com pli cated na - ture of the re la tion ships be tween sci ence and pos si bil i - ties of ap ply ing it in the prac tice of the ad min is tra tion of jus tice. If we add such per son al ity traits as per sis - tence and con sis tency in endeavouring to achieve aims set for him self, his ex cep tional in tel li gence, am bi tion, and his ex cep tional ac tive ness and con sci en tious ness (some times tend ing to wards workaholism), then we gain a pic ture of a per son who is des tined to suc ceed. And that is what hap pened for the In sti tute of Fo ren - sic Re search in Kraków is to day an in sti tu tion which has not only the high est sci en tific level, ef fi ciently us - ing and ap ply ing mod ern knowl edge to the needs of law, but also plays a sig nif i cant role in the sys tem of Eu ro pean lab o ra to ries, re search in sti tutes and units, pro mot ing and de vel op ing the best forms and mod els of co op er a tion be tween the ev ery day prac tice of the ad min is tra tion of jus tice and the pro gres sive de vel op - ment of sci ence and knowl edge. It is also ex cel lently and com pre hen sively equipped with the lat est tech nol - ogy mod ern in ev ery re spect. This was un doubt edly one of Aleksander Grzegorz G³azek s per sonal suc - cesses in spite of the fact that he treated his role more as a spe cific mis sion and task of a clearly pro-so cial na ture, in which per sonal suc cess and sig nif i cance are not as im por tant as the more gen eral over arch ing goal and val ues linked with it. Grzegorz was ab so lutely de - void of any nar cis sis tic qual i ties, which, of course, are not a rar ity amongst per sons pur su ing ac a demic and sci en tific ca reers. He was a gen u inely mod est man, some times hum ble and shy. He had an id io syn cratic, ironic sense of hu mour, and a high level of per sonal cul ture. In deal ings with other peo ple, he was not prej - u diced in any way; he could mo ti vate them ef fec tively and bring out re sources and po ten tial in them that they some times were not aware of them selves. He al ways set high stan dards for oth ers and him self; how ever, he was not com pet i tive. He was ob jec tive, and had the abil ity to take great plea sure in the suc cesses of oth ers (es pe cially when they were also the In sti tute s suc - cesses). Thanks to his sup port and abil ity in mo ti vat ing oth ers, dur ing his term as Di rec tor, staff of the In sti tute de fended as many as 21 doc toral the ses, were pro mot - ers of over 170 mas ter s the ses and, more over, two per sons qual i fied as as sis tant professors. Like all of us, he also had cer tain faults. His per fec - tion ism could some times de scend into ex ces sive at ten - tion to de tail and hair-split ting ev ery doc u ment leav ing the In sti tute had to be looked over and stud ied ad in fi ni tum. He would re veal petty in sig nif i cant mis - takes and short com ings with some sat is fac tion. Some - times he would put off mak ing a de ci sion till the last min ute, which could not but en gen der a cer tain feel ing of un cer tainty and lack of sta bil ity. He was quite rigid and fixed in his views; he could be im pul sive and was eas ily up set. But he would quickly calm down and was able the next day af ter an ar gu ment to apo lo gise to the per son to wards whom he had be haved, in his opin ion, too brusquely or ag gres sively. He sur rounded his sub - or di nates and col lab o ra tors with care and con trol, which was some times ex ces sive. This some times led to a spe cific state of pow er less ness, felt es pe cially keenly when he was sick and de prived of strength and was no lon ger able to per son ally de cide about all the in sti tute mat ters both im por tant and triv ial. He also

10 18 Józef K. Gierowski had what can only be de scribed as dip lo matic abil i ties. The way he man aged re la tions with his su pe ri ors at the Min is try of Jus tice con firmed this. The sta tus of the In - sti tute as a min is te rial re search and de vel op ment unit had its ob vi ous ad van tages and dis ad van tages. Be ing di rectly sub or di nate to the Min is try en abled great flex - i bil ity and speed of re ac tion in sit u a tions where con - crete prac ti cal prob lems linked with the In sti tute and its ac tiv i ties had to be solved. Be ing di rectly an swer - able to the min is try was also, how ever, a source of var - i ous prob lems hin der ing reali sa tion of more long term tasks and aims. For there ex isted an ev i dent con tra dic - tion be tween the per spec tive of pol i ti cians ex pect ing im me di ate ef fects of their ini tia tives and re al is tic pos - si bil i ties of solv ing a prob lem, usu ally re quir ing time, pa tience or else a com plex long term plan of ac tion. Aleksander G³azek knew how to cope with these mat - ters. The au thor of this ar ti cle, who, for a dozen or so years, was first a mem ber of the Sci en tific Coun cil of the In sti tute, then As sis tant Chair per son and fi nally Chair per son of the Coun cil, was able to ob serve how the Di rec tor ef fec tively coped with the con stantly chang ing prom i nent of fi cials of the Min is try, how he won them over to his ideas and plans, how he co op er - ated with them, ir re spec tive of his own per sonal po lit i - cal con vic tions and views. What was im por tant to him was the fi nal goal and pos si bil ity of real is ing it, rather than any bias or pref er ences. An ex am ple of this was the ac tive in volve ment of Aleksander G³azek in 2007 in the ac tiv i ties of the Min is try aimed at im prov ing the level and qual ity of opin ions in the field of eco nom ics, ac coun tancy and fi nance, or his in volve ment in var i - ous ex pert com mis sions work ing on the Law on Ex - perts. All this re quired pa tience, re peat ing the same ar gu ments over the years, and some times readi ness to com pro mise in various ways. Aleksander Grzegorz G³azek was not a very ef fu - sive man he did not eas ily and will ingly share his more per sonal feel ings and thoughts. The greater is thus the value of his au to bio graph i cal note, posted by him in 2007 on the webpage of the Kraków Club (Klub Krakowski). Grzegorz wrote about him self thus: I grad u ated from the Fac ulty of Law and Ad min is tra tion UJ in 1979, hav ing started work at the In sti tute of Fo ren sic Re search in Kraków a year ear lier. And so I have now been faith ful to this es teemed in sti tu tion for nearly 30 years. Madly in love with it, I try to serve the mi lieu of su perb chem ists, bi ol o gists, phi lol o gists, psy chol o - gists, me chan i cal en gi neers, prod uct re search ers, com - puter sci en tists and many other spe cial ists, who hold dear the motto Iustitia et Scientia with my le gal knowl edge. Work at the In sti tute also al lows me to Fig. 7. On hol i day in Janowiec, pro mote the charms of my be loved Kraków, by or gan - is ing a whole se ries of large and small in ter na tional meet ings and con fer ences here ev ery year, at tract ing rep re sen ta tives of var i ous dis ci plines of fo ren sic sci - ences from all over the world. Many del e gates re turn to our city many times, not only on busi ness but also on hol i day with their fam i lies and friends, which gives me the great est sat is fac tion. Be sides the Club, I also be long to a cou ple of far less im por tant na tional and international as so ci a tions, in clud ing one acad emy, which I had the hon our to pre side over in the years But I love not only the In sti tute and Kra - ków, but also Janek, Ewa and Micha³. I also have a weak ness for bev er ages: tea and beer (which, I think, may not be too fa vour ably per ceived by some of my es teemed fel low mem bers, who have a strong pref er - ence for cof fee and wine). Aleksander G³azek s ef forts to set up a mod ern fo - ren sic sci ence sys tem in Po land were ap pre ci ated by nu mer ous sci en tific so ci et ies. For ex am ple, in 1992 he was ap pointed Vice Pres i dent of the Man age ment Board of the Pol ish So ci ety of Fo ren sic Med i cine and Criminology and Vice-President of the Scientific Council of the Pol ish Fo ren sic As so ci a tion. In rec og ni tion of his in ter na tional con tri bu tion, he re ceived the Dis-