Alojzy Banaś as a student
– private archive of Andrzej Banaś / collection of The Remembrance Museum of the Land of Oświęcim –
Alojzy Banaś was born on 7 July 1906 in Nakło Śląskie.
He studied at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, first at the Faculty of Theology and later at the Faculty of Law and Administration. During his student years, he was active in various organizations, including associations of Upper Silesian students, military reservists, and insurgent youth groups.
Before the outbreak of World War II, he worked as a municipal official in Tarnowskie Góry.
After Poland’s defeat in the defensive war against Nazi Germany in 1939, he settled in Oświęcim, where the parents of his wife, Kazimiera, lived. He found employment at the local municipal office.
During the German occupation, Banaś became involved in the Polish resistance movement. From the spring of 1940, he served as the commander of a newly established district of the Union of Armed Struggle (ZWZ), organizing resistance activities in the Oświęcim area.
His apartment became an important clandestine meeting place for members of the Polish underground. There, Banaś administered oaths to those prepared to fight against the German occupiers. He was supported by his wife Kazimiera, who was involved in preparing false documents for members of the resistance.
The structures led by Banaś provided assistance to prisoners of the German Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz (KL Auschwitz). He coordinated the delivery of food, clothing, and medicines, as well as liturgical items used for clandestine Masses held within the camp.
As a result of denunciations by two informants, Alojzy Banaś was arrested by German authorities in October 1942, along with many of his associates.
On 25 January 1943, nearly all of those arrested—including Alojzy Banaś—were executed by shooting at the Death Wall in KL Auschwitz.