Born Kazimiera Koziol in Gdansk, Poland. Her father and brothers worked in the shipyards and she was active from an early age in the movement that later become known as Solidarnosc. In 1981 when she was 17 she was beaten seriously enough by police to require hospitalization and in 1982 she was arrested during a street demonstration and spent the following year in jail. Upon her release in 1983 she resumed activity in the Solidarity underground while working odd jobs in and around Gdansk. Married in 1986 to Andrzej Rakuzanka, a follow underground activist. With the shifting of political winds in 1989 and the founding of the Republic of Poland she was able once again to make public her affiliation with Solidarity. In 1990 she joined the reconstructed Gdansk police force and quickly moved into undercover work to battle the growing organized crime problem in the newly liberated country. In 1993 she was recruited by the Grupa Reagowania Operacyjno Mobilnego (GROM), Poland's newly-formed counter-terrorist unit. Initially she was involved purely in intelligence gathering activities, but in 1994 when her unit took part in Operation Restore Democracy, the American-led invasion of Haiti, she was promoted to full-fledged CT operator. In 1998 she lead her first assault team, and has since cross-trained with the U.S. "Delta Force", Norway's Beredskapstroppen, and Finland's Osasto Karhu. Her husband and two daughters reside in Gdansk.
Rakuzanka is a survivor. Despite her unassuming appearance she has an iron consititution and is capable of enduring extreme hardship. She is a strong team player and an excellent shot. She has a sarcastic way of speaking but always reserves her sharpest barbs for the rich and powerful. She is called "Kazi" by friends and family, and "Kamikazi" by her colleagues, although never to her face.
