Janina Pytlik (married name Bałuk, pseudonym „Mira”) was born in Brzeszcze in 1923.
During the German occupation, she joined the Polish Socialist Party in Brzeszcze to help KL Auschwitz prisoners. The main recipients of the food aid provided by the Party were prisoners working in the coal mines, and in surveying or agricultural committees.
The Party also prepared packages for prisoners that were later delivered to them by post. She took care of those who managed to escape from the camp, helping to organise escapes herself. Arrested in the autumn of 1944 and imprisoned in Ravensbrück concentration camp, she survived to see liberation.
Her parents, Marianna and Gustaw, and brother Władysław were also involved in the underground movement.
She died in 2002 and is buried at the municipal cemetery in Brzeszcze. Photograph: Collection of Remembrance Museum of Land of Oświęcim Residents