Ala Gertner, born on this day in 1912, was a Polish Jewish woman who helped facilitate the Sonderkommando revolt at Auschwitz, blowing up one of the crematoriums there. She was executed for this act of resistance in 1945.

Gertner was a member of the Sonderkommandos, slave laborers forced to aid with the disposal of gas chamber victims during the Holocaust. At Auschwitz, Gertner worked in the warehouses at first, sorting the possessions of Jews who had been gassed. There, she met Roza Robota, who was active in the underground resistance.

When Gertner was assigned to the munitions factory, she and Roza smuggled gunpowder to the Sonderkommando, who were building bombs and planning an escape. Gertner recruited other women to join the conspiracy and passed the stolen gunpowder to Roza.

On October 7th, 1944, the Sonderkommando blew up Crematorium IV, but the revolt was quickly quelled by armed SS guards. A lengthy investigation led the Nazis back to Gertner and Roza, and then to Estusia Wajcblum and Regina Safirsztajn, who were also implicated in the conspiracy. They were interrogated and tortured for weeks.

Gertner, along with three co-conspirators, were executed on January 5th or 6th (sources differ) in 1945. Their deaths were the last public hanging at Auschwitz.