The movie Defiance, released in 2008 caused quite a stir, especially since it was based on a true story. Tuvia, Zus and Asael Bielski decided to change the fate of 1200 Jews during World II.
The Bielski Otriad in World War II, Fighting off The Nazi Regime
In 1941, Nazis stormed into the city of Navahrudak, Poland and turned it into a Jewish ghetto. Tuvia, Zus, Asael and a young fourth brother named Aron, fled and escaped to the Naliboki forest in 1941 after the death of both their parents.
While in the forest, they formed a partisan group with other Jewish neighbors from the ghetto. The original group was around forty or so members; however, commander-in-chief Tuvia wanted that more Jews escape from the ghetto. Thus, Tuvia sent members of the refugee settlement into Navahrudak to help more Jews escape and guide their way to the Bielskis. Hundreds of people did exactly that, walking days and days, whatever it took to find a sense of freedom.
In the January 10, 2009 article "Bielski brothers were heroes, says survivor" (Telegraph) by David Harrison, member of the Bielski settlement and current day survivor, Jack Kagan recalls when he and a friend trekked five days through the forest to escape a hard labor camp:
"Every step was agony. Jack had lost all his toes to frostbite and gangrene following an earlier failed escape attempt. His toes were amputated by a dentist using pliers. The pain was forgotten when he saw two of the Bielski brothers and a dozen other Jewish partisans in a reconnaissance group."
"'They were on tall horses and carrying machine guns,' he says. 'It was an amazing sight.'"
Escaping the Jewish Ghetto of Poland, Nazi Resistance Fighters
The three years that followed, the Bielskis could have never guessed the numbers of Jews that would come into the forest to form a resistance group. During those years, the settlement was nomadic, fleeing camp at a moment's notice from an impending Nazi attack. They had to learn how to rebuild time and time again.
These forest fighters lived and slept in bunkers, camouflaged by natural resources. At the height of the Bielski Otriad (meaning "partisan detachment") settlement, there was a school, nursery, bathhouse, medical facilities and even a theater. For food, the fighters went to farms and bartered with willing farmers, or took what they needed from the forest or other sources. It was a matter of survival.
Living these years in the forest, the Bielski settlement relocated many times like Jews through the desert. Yet for the most part, they survived and subsisted even through harsh Eastern European winters. Men and women took up arms and fought alongside each other, killing off Nazi attackers and collaborators when necessary.
In 1944, the Soviets reclaimed the Naliboki forest from the Nazis. The Bielski settlement of 1200 Jews left the safety of the forest and marched into Navahrudak. Their time as forest fighters was over.
Following the war, Asael was conscripted into the Soviet army and killed only six months later. Tuvia and Zus eventually emigrated to the US and ran a trucking business. Though all three brothers are deceased, during their lives, they never asked for recognition. They never thought of themselves as heroes.
In reality, they changed the way people think of Jews during World War II. Instead of victims, the Bielskis turned Jews into fighters.
Check out the Eastern Europe blog for more articles and commentary on the Bielski brothers.
Jennifer Ciotta - Jennifer Ciotta is the author of I, Putin (Vladimir Putin novel): http://vladimirputinnovel.com.
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