We Must Not Think of Ourselves: A Novel

In November 1940, Adam Paskow becomes a prisoner in the Warsaw Ghetto, where Jews are confined and held captive by Nazi guards. He is soon approached by a mysterious figure who asks him to join a secret group of archivists tasked with preserving records of conditions inside the ghetto. Adam agrees and begins collecting testimonies from his students, friends, and neighbors. Among those he interviews is his flatmate Sala Wiskoff, a stoic and determined woman who is married with two children. As months pass in confinement, Adam and Sala fall in love. When Adam learns of a possible escape route from the ghetto, he faces an impossible decision about whom he can save and what the cost will be. Inspired by the historical testimony-gathering project Oneg Shabbat, this novel explores love, determination, and sacrifice during the Holocaust.