Bertha Borowick

Bertha Borowick was born Bracha Frydman in 1919 in Sokółka, Poland. When she immigrated to the United States with her husband Moishe (Morris) and daughter Nancy after World War II, she Americanized her name to “Bertha.” Her memoir, 1 of the 6: A Memoir of a Holocaust Survivor from Sokółka, published in 2019, recounts her life’s experiences, and serves as a testament to her resilience. .

Bertha Frydman lived with her father, mother, and six siblings in Sokółka. She had four brothers and two sisters. Their mother died when she was four years old. Like other children, she participated in typical Jewish activities, which she remembered fondly. Her family was not Orthodox, but they still enjoyed the many traditional celebrations. Hers was a large extended family that grew in the years prior to World War II, as some of her brothers and sisters married and had children.

Bertha’s joyful youth ended with the outbreak of World War II, when she was twenty years old. There had been rumors of an imminent war, but no one thought much about it until the Germans attacked Poland on September 1, 1939. The Germans occupied Sokółka on September 13, a couple of days before Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year. The Germans only stayed three days in Sokółka, and then withdrew to the occupation lines that had been agreed on in the Nazi-Soviet pact of August 22. The Soviets occupied Sokółka from September 20, 1939 until June 22, 1941 when the Germans declared war on the Soviet Union. When the Germans entered Sokółka again on June 23, they immediately announced severe rules that Jews had to follow. On October 14, 1941, the Jews of Sokółka were ordered to move into the Sokółka ghetto. In November, 1942, many Jews, including her brother Benjamin, were taken to Auschwitz. On January 19, 1943 the order was received to make Sokółka free of Jews. All of the remaining Jews in the ghetto, including Bertha and her remaining family, were taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau. There, her older sister Chana and Chana’s three children were sent immediately to the gas chambers. Only six of the women on their train, including Bertha, survived the selection. Bertha’s hair was shaved, and was given the prisoner number 31565, which was tattooed on her forearm. She was assigned to a Kommando (workgroup) where her job was to move stones from place to place, backbreaking work that few prisoners could survive for long while receiving the starvation rations of Auschwitz. Her chances of survival improved when she was re-assigned to Kanada, the commando that gathered up and sorted the possessions of the Jews who arrived at the camp. It was easier work, and provided access to food from the luggage that could be secretly taken – although prisoners caught doing this were punished, and sometimes executed. Even though Bertha was healthy, she contracted typhus shortly after she arrived in Auschwitz. The blockalteste (block leader) and kept Bertha from “selections” that would have sent her to the gas chamber. Bertha would tie a kerchief around her head during roll call to avoid appearing sick. Things only became better when Bertha met Moishe, her boyfriend and future husband. 

Morris (Moishe) Borowick was born on February 5, 1914 in Porzecze, Poland, near Grodno. His father, Joseph Borowick, died when he was very young. His mother, Nesha Epstein, remarried Jude Segal. Moishe had one biological brother, Lebyl (Leon), one biological sister, Sarah, and four step brothers Jude Segals sons from his first marriage). They were very poor but managed to get by. The family was placed in the Grodno ghetto for a year and a half,  from 1940 to 1942. From there, Moishe, Leon and their mother were sent to Kiełbasin, where they labored for two months before being returned to the ghetto. When the Grodno ghetto was liquidated a short time later, they were sent to Auschwitz, where Moishe’s inmate number was 93322 or 93324. His brother Leon was a member of the underground in Auschwitz, but he became very sick, and Moishe had to take care of him.. Moishe was permitted into the women’s camp because of a work assignment, and that is how he met Bertha. 

 In 1944 there was a revolt of one of the Sonderkommando units that operated a crematorium complex. The underground group that carried out the uprising was not Leon’s group, but in the ensuing chaos, Leon and Moishe escaped with the Sonderkommandos, They came to a ditch and hid. Moishe wanted to leave the ditch, but they did not, and as a result they were caught by an SS guard who asked if they were Jewish. An unknown Kapo came by and vouched for them, which saved their lives. After the uprising, Leon and Moishe were sent to Dachau. Leon credits his survival in Auschwitz to Moishe. They were completely different people; Moishe knew how to work the system and survive. They were in Dachau for six months, and relied on each other completely. Before the liberation of Dachau, the brothers were sent on a death march. 

Bertha had been  separated from Moishe since January 1945, when the Germans placed her on an open freight train in Auschwitz that took her to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The women were on these trains for three days, completely exposed to the snow and ice, and many died on the journey. There were no gas chambers in Bergen-Belsen, but the conditions were so terrible that thousands of people were still dying in the camp, mainly of starvation and typhus. Bertha was considered ‘lucky’ because she worked in the kitchen and had access to extra food. While other inmates contracted typhus, which ran rampant in the camp at the end of the war, she had developed immunity due to her earlier typhus infection in Auschwitz . 

After Bergen-Belsen was liberated by the British on April 15, 1945, she reunited with Moishe. They traveled to meet Moishe’s brother, Lebyl in Feldafing displaced persons (DP) camp. Bertha and Moishe married at Feldafing, and in 1947 had their daughter, whom Bertha named Masha, after her mother (in the United States,they called her Nancy). It was not until 1949 that they left for the United States, where Moishe had a cousin, Max Segal, in Philadelphia.Their ship, the SS Marine Falcon took them to New York, and they continued to Philadelphia. When they arrived, Max offered Moishe a job at $12.00 a week and charged $10.00 for other living expenses..Eventually, due to luck, they were able to move into a four bedroom apartment. This apartment positively influenced their finances for the rest of their lives. They were able to take in four boarders, who all had jobs and paid rent. With this income, Bertha was able to pay the rent on their apartment and buy food. This allowed them to save all of Moishe’s income. Some time later, they decided to open a small store. As they continued their success, they needed to buy a bigger location and this pattern continued until they ended up with a large store in Center City, Philadelphia. They then started buying real estate and established a real estate company. They purchased a house outside Philadelphia and lived there for over 30 years. 

After Moishe died in 1994, Bertha was sustained by the love of her family. She had her daughter, Nancy, her son-in-law, and a granddaughter, Dana. In 1995, Bertha purchased a property in Atlantic City, New Jersey. For a few years, Bertha shared her time between her Philadelphia home Atlantic City before settling down in Atlantic City. Bertha Borowick passed away in 2023 at the age of 103.