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 One of several Yiddish newspapers containing articles about Nazis that Nathan stapled to the wall behind the cash register at Birke's. Sala (Sally) Dymantsztajn Birke, thirteen years younger than Nathan, brought with her the perseverance and commitment a European wife felt toward her husband and marriage, no matter what. She brought an ability to focus on today, and a knack for making her Lowell customers feel special as she had done in the Lodz, Poland, clothing store where she worked full time from the age of thirteen, after leaving school to help support her family. She brought her own parent's warmth and love for their children. Sally's own memories of the Holocaust, including the loss of her entire family, all but a few cousins, have remained with her always. There is not a day she does not remember. Fleeing Poland World War II began in September of 1939, when the German army invaded the western half of Poland, the home of almost two-million Jews. They were forced to move into ghettos surrounded by walls and barbed wire. Conditions were deplorable. When Germany |