Jan Sehn (April 22, 1909 – December 12, 1965), was a Polish

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solici ...

, 1945-1947

investigating magistrate In an inquisitorial system of law, the examining magistrate (also called investigating magistrate, inquisitorial magistrate, or investigating judge) is a judge who carries out pre-trial investigations into allegations of crime and in some cases m ...

, and professor at Jagiellonian University since 1961. He was member of the

Commission for the Investigation of Nazi War Crimes Commission or commissioning may refer to: Business and contracting * Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered ** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anothe ...

, and Chairman of the Kraków District Commission until 1953. In 1945 and 1946, he led the investigations on the site of the Nazi concentration camp

Auschwitz-Birkenau Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. As an investigation judge he prepared the accusation act of the former camp commandant Rudolf Höß. From 1949 director of the

Institute of Forensic Research An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...

. Sehn died suddenly 1965 in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...

. In 1966 Institute of Forensic Research in Kraków was named after Jan Sehn. He was the cousin of Wanda Szczerba (1910–1998), who was married to engineer and technical director of

Fablok Fablok is a Polish manufacturer of locomotives, based in Chrzanów. Until 1947 the official name was ''First Factory of Locomotives in Poland Ltd.'' ( pl, Pierwsza Fabryka Lokomotyw w Polsce Sp. Akc.), Fablok being a widely used syllabic abbrevi ...

Klemens Stefan Sielecki Klemens Stefan Sielecki (December 8, 1903 in Stanisławów, Austria-Hungary – July 14, 1980 in Kamień Pomorski, Poland) was a Polish engineer and technical director of the first Polish Locomotive Factory Fablok in Chrzanów in the post-war year ...

(1903–1980).

Selected publications

*''Wspomnienia Rudolfa Hoessa komendanta obozu oświęcimskiego'', ed. Jan Sehn, Warsaw, 1960. *''Konzentrationslager Oswiecim-Brzezinka (Auschwitz-Birkenau)'', Warsaw, 1957. 1909 births 1965 deaths Academic staff of Jagiellonian University 20th-century Polish lawyers {{Poland-law-bio-stub