The Nieznanowskis were a poor Jewish family who observed tradition; the parents spoke Yiddish with each other, and Polish with their children.
The father came from Włoszczowa, the mother, Hadasa Gutman, from Przysucha. Michał Nieznanowski initially worked in a gasworks, but during the Great Depression, he lost his job and earned a living by repairing gas appliances around the houses.
Unfortunately, impoverished people delayed payment and the Nieznanowskis often lacked money for the basic necessities of life. Also contributing to their difficult situation was the tragedy of their eldest daughter Pola, a talented student at the Jewish girls' secondary school oat Długa Street.
She fell in love with a boy from a very rich family, who did not accept her. Pola tried to commit suicide and was saved, but her mental faculties never fully returned. Józef Josek Nieznanowski, the older son, became involved with the Communist Union of Polish Youth and received several sentences for his political activities. In September , he was imprisoned in Kalisz, from where he managed to escape with other prisoners and on 30 September joined his family in Warsaw.
In February , he was identified by the Gestapo as a communist, but before he could be arrested he fled to the territories occupied by the Soviet Union. He was accompanied by his younger brother Feliks, who at the outbreak of war was a pupil at a primary school managed by the Jewish community.
