Moshe (Moses) Borger, born in Mielec in 1920, was a teenager when the war broke out in 1939. Through sheer luck and a strong survival instinct, he survived the Shoah and eventually immigrated to New York and later Israel. Moshe was the son of Szymon (Simon) Salpeter and Pearl Borger, and the younger brother of both Sala (Sarah) and Fela (Feiga). Moshe kept a diary from 1937 to 1939 which, along with photos and other keepsakes, was donated to Yad Vashem. It is an ongoing project to honor Moshe’s memory with the publishing of his diary here in both the original text (Polish) and in translation (English).
Transcription credit: Izabela Sekulska
Translation credit: Google Translate with light editing by Scott Genzer
Original Source: Yad Vashem
This is a work in progress. Please keep checking back for edits and expansion of this work.
NOTE: There is a full PDF English translation of the diary (49MB file) that is in the Yad Vashem archives. I assume this was done by Rochelle Seidel or someone working with her when she was writing her book.
Diary of Moshe Borger – page 1
"Youth! The nectar of life to you So sweet because I share with others: The heart of blue bears a wedding When the gold thread binds them together."1 Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite!!!2
1. Perhaps this is a quote from a published poem? Source unclear.
2. “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” is the national motto of France. It translates to “Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood”. [Wikipedia]