After 1918 Smolenice was part of Czechoslovakia, and Banič came home from America to the village he was born in. In 1929 two men from Smolenice, Imrich Vajsábel and a Banič, broke through into the fissures of Driny above the village; in 1934 the first 175 metres were opened to visitors. The village credits Štefan Banič with being one of the discoverers, while the Slovak cave literature names Ján Banič — a small, useful example of how local memory and the written record can pull apart. Štefan Banič lived out his life here and died in the village in 1941.Po roku 1918 patrili Smolenice do Československa a Banič sa z Ameriky vrátil do rodnej obce. Roku 1929 sa dvaja Smoleničania, Imrich Vajsábel a Banič, prekopali do puklín jaskyne Driny nad dedinou a roku 1934 sprístupnili prvých 175 metrov. Obec pripisuje účasť na objave Štefanovi Baničovi, slovenská jaskyniarska literatúra uvádza Jána Baniča — malý, ale užitočný príklad toho, ako sa miestna pamäť a písomný záznam môžu rozísť. Štefan Banič dožil doma a roku 1941 v obci zomrel.
