Yoseph Komem is the descendant of a Jewish family of lace curtain manufacturers from the ancient town of Kalish, Poland. He, his brother, and their parents survived in the Nazi ruled "Generalgouvernement" during the years 1939-1945. He lived for several months in the survivors' orphanage in Bellevue, France, before immigrating to British Mandate Palestine (5.6.1947). Yoseph finished orthodox and secular schools in Tel Aviv and served in the Israeli Army on active duty. He has an MSc from the Technion in mechanical and control engineering. Komem was employed as designer and in research and development at Israel Aerospace Industries and also as designer of the first Israeli satellites. After retirement he acted as a consulting engineer in the fields of air quality control, and Intelligent technologies for control and data analysis. He currently leads the Association of Former Residents and Descendants of Kalish and Vicinity. Yoseph is married to Azriela, and they have children and grandchildren. Yoseph Komem has experienced the most significant events of Jewish history in the twentieth century, and those are reflected in Courage and Grace.
