We Must Not Think of Ourselves

by Lauren Grodstein

Name: Szifra Joseph Date: December 30, 1940 Age: 15 years, 10 months Height: 175 cm? Weight: 55 kg? Szifra Joseph is the oldest of three children born to Irina and Avram Joseph, previously of Konstancin-Jeziorna, Poland. Before his death, Avram was the president and founder of the Joseph Apparel Company, situated in Praga, Warsaw, which for years produced and supplied the bulk of the uniforms for Polish hospitals and sanitary units. The family, therefore, was financially quite successful and lived in a large villa with a swimming pool, a greenhouse, and a gazebo on its grounds. The family employed a chauffeur, a cook, and several maids, all Poles, and found it especially distressing when the Germans decreed that Poles could no longer work in a domestic capacity in Jewish households.