Ewa Klonowski

Ewa Klonowski (born 18 November 1946) is a Polish-Icelandic forensic anthropologist. She took political refuge in Iceland in 1981, following the declaration of martial law in the People's Republic of Poland. She has been living in Reykjavík, Iceland since 1982. In 1996, she began working on individual and mass graves exhumation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since then, she has been responsible for the excavation and identification of over 2,000 victims, and in 2005 she was nominated to the list of the 1,000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Biography Ewa Elvira Klonowski was born 18 November 1946 in Wrocław, Poland. In 1981, she became head of the laboratory at the Department of Pathology (Forensic Medicine Division), University of Iceland, Reykjavík. as director of the Monitoring Exhumations Project of International Forensic Program, and as a member of Forensic Experts Team of the State Commission for Tracing the Missing Persons, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Work in Bosnia and Herzegovina In 1996, Klonowski left her position as a specialist in paternity inquiries

To begin with, she must contend with the complex physical history of the graves themselves. "There are primary, secondary and even tertiary graves," The bodies were lifted out of the pit using a rope system, and their sexes were identified before they were packed into plastic bags.

Impact During her time in Bosnia, Klonowski has identified more than two thousand family members, and has seen first hand the effect which having even part of a body identified as a loved one has on relatives of the victims .

She has also received honorary citizenship from the authorities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.