Wawrzyniec Dayczak

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Wawrzyniec Dayczak (27 August 1882 – 28 April 1968) was a Polish architect and independence activist. He was born in Reniów near Załoźce, in the territory then part of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary. He was the oldest son of a peasant named Maciej Dayczak.

After finishing the classical gymnasium in Brody, he studied architecture at Lviv Polytechnic, graduating in 1915. While in school, he joined clandestine youth groups and rose to leadership in the Zet movement. From 1904 to 1905 he was active as a Zet member and served as a courier to Warsaw for a student strike in 1905. He also worked with the People’s School Society.

In 1908 he founded the Bartosz Brigades, a rural youth organization connected with Poland’s independence efforts, and led its teams. After graduation in 1915, he joined the Austrian army. He worked at the General Headquarters of Defence in Lwów (Lviv) and headed the Polish mobilization in Lviv in 1918. In early 1919 he was sent to Warsaw to help with relief work, and in 1920 he served in the Volunteer Army in Lviv.

As an architect, Dayczak designed and built about 100 churches, mostly in rural areas. From 1945 to 1964 he taught architecture and construction at the State School of Building in Jarosław. He died on 28 April 1968 in Jarosław and was buried at Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.