Biography
Roffman, Joseph. (“Doc”); b. October 4, 1912, NYC; Russian American; Parents died shortly after coming to the US from Russia and children were placed in Orphan Asylum until he was 16; Seaman (ISU); Spanish CP, Food Workers Union of America; Received Passport# 366195 on February 9, 1937 which listed his address as 2192 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, New York; Sailed February 17, 1937 aboard the President Roosevelt; Arrived in Spain on March 1, 1937; Served with the XV BDE, Lincoln BN, MG Co., Medic; November 1937 to Tarazona as First Aid Instructor; Later with BDE Estado Mayor, Sanidad; Rank Sargento; Served at Jarama, Brunete, Quinto, Belchite, Teruel, and the Retreats, and Ebro Offensive; WIA during Ebro Offensive near Gandesa, wounded in the arm, five months in hospital Vich; Returned to the US on December 31, 1938 aboard the President Harding; WWII Merchant Marine; d. May 30, 2002, Springfield, California; Spoke German, English, and Spanish.
Siblings: four brothers and one sister.
Sources: Sail; Scope of Soviet Activity; Lincoln; RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 974, ll. 8-13; (obituary note) The Volunteer, Volume 24, No. 3, September 2002, p. 22; L-W Tree Ancestry. Code A
Photographs: Joseph Roffman, Lincoln-Washington, March 1938. The 15th International Brigade Photographic Unit Photograph Collection; ALBA Photo 11; ALBA Photo number 11-0126. Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, 70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries; and three undated photographs from his 1936 Application for Seaman’s Protection Certificate, L-W Tree Ancestry.
Siblings: four brothers and one sister.
Sources: Sail; Scope of Soviet Activity; Lincoln; RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 974, ll. 8-13; (obituary note) The Volunteer, Volume 24, No. 3, September 2002, p. 22; L-W Tree Ancestry. Code A
Photographs: Joseph Roffman, Lincoln-Washington, March 1938. The 15th International Brigade Photographic Unit Photograph Collection; ALBA Photo 11; ALBA Photo number 11-0126. Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, 70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries; and three undated photographs from his 1936 Application for Seaman’s Protection Certificate, L-W Tree Ancestry.