Holocaust Resister: Tuvia Bielski by Kendall Denny

Tuvia's background

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Tuvia was born in Stankiewicze, western Belorussia, in 1906. He grew up in a poor peasant family, and their family happened to be the only Jews in the community. In 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, Tuvia and his brother, Zus, agreed to never get caught by the Germans. Tuvia's knowledge of the area gave him the advantage to find places to hide and not get captured by the Germans, and the Germans had a warrant for his arrest.

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Start of the Bielski Camp

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At first Tuvia and two of his brothers only hid along hillsides around the area where they grew up. But, when their siblings, parents, and other relatives were murdered in 1942, they grabbed a few guns and took 30 Jews with them to start a small partisan group. Within a year, the group went from 30 to 400 Jews. They moved around from place to place from 1942 to 1943. A permanent base for the group was built in the Naliboki forest. The forest was dense and swampy, the camp was a small, organized community with schools, workshops that enabled cooperation with Soviet partisans, and a synagogue. By this point in time, the Germans were looking for the Bielski's especially Tuvia.

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“Don’t rush to fight and die. So few of us are left, we need to save lives. It is more important to save Jews than to kill Germans.” - Tuvia Bielski

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https://www.yadvashem.org/articles/general/solidarity-bielski-brothers.html

Bielski Otriad

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The Bielski otriad (Russian words for a partisan detachment), carried out food raids, sometimes joined a Russian partisan group in anti-Nazi missions, and killed German collaborators. An example of an anti-Nazi missions was burning the ripe wheat crop so then the German soldiers couldn't collect nor eat. The otriad would also seek out Jews in ghettos that were willing to escape to the forest, guides were sent to help them as well. Any Jew was accepted into the group no matter their age, gender, or health.

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One survivor from the camp tells her story

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3V-kGu5avU

Jews in the camp over the years of the Holocaust

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In 1942, at the start of the camp, there were 30 Jews. By the summer of 1943, there were 700 people. When Russians liberated the area in 1944, there were 1,200 Jewish people in the camp. Tuvia's partisan group, was the largest of the Jewish partisan groups.

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Tuvia's determination

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A very high percentage of the Jews Tuvia led, survived. That was due to his strong and effective leadership, and determination to save as many Jews as possible.

The Impact

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The camp was one of the largest organized Jewish resistance and rescue efforts. The story of the Bielski camp became a symbol of Jewish resistance and resilience during the Holocaust, which inspired generations.

German forces attack

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In the summer of 1943, German forces attacked their original camp, and the whole group escaped into the deep forest. With surviving the attack, the Bielski brothers relocated to a new spot in the dense forest where they began work on the new camp. The new camp was completed in October-November of 1943, and the camp was known as Jerusalem, which later turned into a real village.

Post WWII

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Tuvia first moved to Israel after the war. Him and his brother, Zus, eventually settled down with their children and wives in New York, in America. The story of the Bielski partisans was later turned into a motion picture called "Defiance," in 2009.