52 years ago, on October 28, 1965 a man from Queens by the name of Danny Borris shot himself in the head and chest. He was 28-years-old. But it wasn’t simply another tragic suicide. For those who knew Borris’ hateful streak and his history, felt that it was justice. So reported the New York Post.
In the 1960’s New York had far more white supremacists than those who appeared in Charlottesville a few months back. These men had sworn to kill all Jews, African Americans, and Puerto Ricans.
Danny Borris was one of them.
At one point, he was one of the leaders of the Hitler Youth, which was a part of the racist “National Renaissance” Party.
He used to boast about his torture machine that his warped mind had concocted to punish Jews. It was a piano, whose keys were electrified and would cause those who played it to seize while the machine was turned on.
Borris and his friends were under constant surveillance by the police. Borris had always claimed that he wanted to be the Fuhrer of America. But Borris had a secret, one so devastating, that once revealed, caused him to kill himself. Danny Borris, the man who hated Jews, was himself, Jewish.
Borris was the only son of George and Esther, a worker and store clerk respectively. He was born in 1937, shortly before his family moved to Queens, New York.
When asked later why he felt it was so important that all the Jews be killed, Borris answered: “We need to make the world safe for all the blonde-haired, blue-eyed children.”
Danny learned in a modern-orthodox yeshiva and was considered to be a good student. When he had his Bar Mitzvah, his Rabbis thought that he would turn out to pursue a career in the rabbinate.
However, after a few years passed, he began to take an interest in Nazis. He hang posters of Nazi generals in his room and even began a pen-pal relationship with Nazis from different countries.
He enlisted in the U.S. Military, but once it was revealed that he was a fascist, he was released immediately. He was later arrested in 1964 after carrying out violent acts during racist marches in favor of fascism.
The federal agent in charge of his case got tired of his hateful actions and leaked the fact that Borris was Jewish to the New York Times. On the 25th of December, 1965, the Times published a front-page article listing Borris as Jewish.
When Borris saw the paper, at a Nazi friend’s apartment, he screamed: “This will destroy me.” He then proceeded to climb up another flight of stairs and killed himself. His friend responded to the incident and said: If Borris was indeed a Jew, it was the best-kept secret since the atomic bomb.”
Borris’ elderly parents identified the body and burned it. His mother Esther, who knew a little bit about his life full of hatred told a reporter: “He was always such a good boy.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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14 Responses
I guess at that time, they lacked todays “experts” who would of made sure he was put on a pedestal, made into a role model, a hero, and given “unconditional” love love love love love love. He wouldn’t of been “judged”. He would’ve been the guest speaker by the next Yeshiva system bashing Organization.
Purpose of this article being:
(a) OTD kids is an old problem
(b) Don’t send your child to a modern orthodox yeshiva
(c) Cremation is okay
(d) “Dog Bites Man” sells newspapers
This is obviously a very, very important story.
The facts suggest someone who was profoundly mentally ill (and therefore not responsible for his actions). So why isn’t this article classic לשון הרע? There is heter to bring it up, regardless of whose shitah you follow. If the purpose of the article was to suggest a need for better care of mentally ill people in our community, that still would not justify the use of his name or photograph. If you lost your mind, would you really YWN to run an article about it?
Whats the point !
why is this news? It happened a long time ago
I guess this story recently became popular,
What’s the point of this?
What a poor soul. Probably just wanted to be part of something.
Can you imagine the internal conflict.
I am surprised to see a color picture from that time.
kitov, there were color pictures during the civil war, and really good ones 110 years ago.
In 1965, The New York Post was a respectable newspaper, not the dreck it is today. The logo given here belongs to the current Murdoch rag, not the Dorothy Schiff paper of the 60’s.
Akuperma
What in this article tells you he was mentally I’ll? Ever heard ofnthe term”self-hating Jew”?
Nothing new under the sun – One of Titus HaRasha’s commanders in churban sheini was in fact a renegade Jew – from a prominent family!
Dear Voseppes,
No need to go back that far,
We have it right here in front of our door step, they can be found locally amongst us ברחובות ובשווקים
I thought of a purpose for publishing this article, which otherwise seems completely without context. Lesson of the day: don’t blame every insanity on influences of Internet or smartphones. They just expedite accessing insanity. In fact there were people this crazy in the time of the Civil War. The 2nd World War. In fact there were people this crazy in the time of Attila the Hun…and Julius Caesar…the Ming Dynasty…Sodom…and pre-Mabbul. That is our world. Just watch yourself.