PARSIPPANY — Edward Mosberg, a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor, an active promoter of Polish-Jewish dialogue died at the age of 96. He passed away on Wednesday, September 21, 2022.
Mosberg was born on January 6, 1926, in Krakow, Poland. He was only 13 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. In 1941, he and his family became prisoners of the Płaszów concentration camp, and he was later transferred to the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria. Sixteen of his relatives, almost the entire family were killed in the Holocaust. In 1951 he left Poland for the United States together with his fiancee, where they lived in New York and then New Jersey.
Mr. Mosberg was an active promoter of awareness about the Holocaust and of the Polish-Jewish dialogue, as well as a fierce defender of historical truth. He was always critical of media and political figures, including Israeli ones, who tried to capitalise on anti-Polish sentiments by promoting the false narrative of “Polish death camps” and the Polish nation’s complicity in the Holocaust.
“My day of Holocaust remembrance is every Monday, Tuesday, every Wednesday and Thursday. Every day of my life,” Mosberg said in 2018 during the annual March of the Living organized on the grounds of the Nazi German Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. “Germans murdered 6 million Jews and several million gentiles, who stood up to the Nazi party. […] We should not forget, that there were no Polish death camps or Polish[-engineered] Holocaust.”
For his activism in “building a dialogue in the spirit of memory about the Holocaust” the From The Depths Foundation named the prize their award for saving Jews from the Holocaust after him.
In June 2019, Polish President Andrzej Duda awarded Edward Mosberg the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for “outstanding merit in developing the Polish-Jewish dialogue and promoting knowledge about the role of Poles in saving Jews.”
“To return to the city where I was born at the age of 93 and receive such an honour is incredibly moving for me,” said Mr Mosberg when he received the order. “I accept on my own behalf, and on behalf of my wife, my children, and grandchildren and most importantly to honour my mother, father, siblings, and 6 million Jews, brutally murdered by the German Nazis during the Holocaust. It is important that those who come after us serve as our witnesses, who will ensure that the memory of the Holocaust is never forgotten.”
Edward was the beloved husband of the late Cecile (ne Storch), father of Beatrice, Louise (Stuart) Levine, Caroline (Darren) Karger. Adoring grandfather of Barry (Jacqueline), Jocelyn (Gregory), Alexander (Lara), Jordana, Zachary & Matthew. Treasured great-grandfather of Juliana, Sydney, Levi, Caleb and Charles.
Burial was held on Thursday, September 22 at Mt. Freedom Jewish Cemetery, 100 South Road, Randolph.
Contributions in Edward’s memory may be made to Yad Vashem by clicking here and United States Holocaust Museum by clicking here.
