Ganed Josef Herman yn Warsaw ym 1911. Fel Iddew Pwylaidd, ffodd oddi wrth wrthsemitiaeth y Natzïaid yn Ewrop i Brydain ym 1940 gan ymgartrefu yn Glasgow. Ym 1944, aeth i Ystradgynlais ar ei wyliau - a gwneud ei gartref yno tan 1955. Dywedodd, 'Arhosais yma (yn Ystradgynlais) am fod yma bopeth oedd ei angen arna i. Cyrhaeddais i fel dieithryn am bythefnos; trodd y bythefnos yn 11 mlynedd.' Daeth yn rhan fawr o'r gymuned a chael ei alw'n hoffus yn 'Joe Bach'.
Josef Herman was born in Warsaw in 1911. As a Polish Jewish Émigré he fled Nazi Europe to escape anti-Semitism and arrived in Britain in 1940 where he settled in Glasgow.   In 1944 he visited Ystradgynlais on holiday - and made it his home until 1955, he said. ‘I stayed here (in Ystradgynlais) because I found all I required. I arrived here a stranger for a fortnight; the fortnight became 11 years’. He became a big part of the local community and he was fondly nicknamed ‘Joe Bach’.