Dawid Lerner was born in 1925 in Warsaw, the fourth of seven children. He studied at a Jewish gymnasium and was active in the Hashomer Hatzair Zionist youth movement. In the ghetto he worked in a workshop, smuggled food for his family, and joined the ŻOB (Jewish Combat Organization) in January 1943. He was known among the resistance for his steady hands — he cleaned and loaded the few pistols the group possessed.
Smuggled out of the burning Warsaw Ghetto during the uprising, this letter was written by an 18-year-old Jewish fighter to his younger sister — the only surviving member of their family.