Banek Józef & Anna (Bystrzycka)

Banek, Józef Banek, Anna Anna Banek, a nurse who worked in a Warsaw hospital, became acquainted with the Dratwer family in 1933 when she cared for Mr. Dratwer during his stay in the hospital. The friendship between Anna Banek and her husband Józef and the Dratwer family continued even after the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city were imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto, the Baneks used to enter the ghetto to supply their friends with food and medications, despite the danger posed to their lives. In September 1942, Stera Dratwer, who was ill and exhausted, fled from the ghetto, after the Baneks agreed to help her. Stera Dratwer found asylum in the Banek apartment located on the eastern side of the Vistula River. They cared for her every need until the area was liberated by the Red Army in September 1944. Stera’s health continued to deteriorate and she remained in the home and under the care of the Baneks after the liberation. They nursed her until she died in January 1945. At no time did the Baneks receive anything in return for their generosity and kindness, and their actions were motivated solely by altruism and their friendship with the Dratwer family, a friendship that stood the test of the difficult times. Stera Dratwer’s son, Ishai Dratwer who survived the concentration camps, returned to Warsaw after the war and was warmly received in the Baneks’ home. They tended to his needs and nursed him back to health. They gave him the personal items of value that his mother had left with them for safekeeping. Jsay continued to maintain contact with his mother’s saviors even after he immigrated to Israel. On March 18, 1976, Yad Vashem recognized Anna Banek and Józef Banek as Righteous Among the Nations.