- Author : Peter Duffy
- Binding : Hardcover
- Dewey Decimal Number : 940.53183209478
- EAN : 9780066210742
- ISBN : 0066210747
- Is Eligible For Trade In? : Yes
- Label : HarperCollins
- List Price : $25.95 (USD)
- Manufacturer : HarperCollins
- Number Of Items : 1
- Number Of Pages : 320
- Package Dimensions : 1.10 inches (Height) x 9.22 inches (Length) x 1.36 pounds (Weight) x 6.36 inches (Width)
- Publication Date : 2003-07-01
- Publisher : HarperCollins
- Release Date : 2003-07-01
- Studio : HarperCollins
It is one of the most remarkable dramas of World War II -- untold until now. In 1941, three young men -- brothers, sons of a miller -- witnessed their parents and two other siblings being led away to their eventual murders. It was a grim scene that would, of course, be repeated endlessly throughout the war. What makes this particular story of interest is how the survivors responded. Instead of running or capitulating or giving in to despair, these brothers -- Tuvia, Zus, and Asael Bielski -- did something else entirely. They fought back, waging a guerrilla war of wits and cunning against both the Nazis and the pro-Nazi sympathizers. Along the way they saved well over a thousand Jewish lives. Using their intimate knowledge of the dense forests surrounding the Belorussian towns of Novogrudek and Lida, the Bielskis evaded the Nazis and established a hidden base camp, then set about convincing other Jews to join their ranks. When the Nazis began systematically eliminating the local Jewish populations -- more than ten thousand were killed in the first year of the Nazi occupation alone -- the Bielskis intensified their efforts, often sending fighting men into the ghettos to escort Jews to safety. As more and more Jews arrived each day, a robust community began to emerge, a "Jerusalem in the woods." They slept in camouflaged dugouts built into the ground. Lovers met, were married, and conceived children. The community boasted a synagogue, a bathhouse, a theater, and cobblers so skilled that Russian officers would wait in line to have their boots reshod. But as its notoriety grew, so too did the Nazi efforts to capture the rugged brothers; and on several occasions they came so near to succeeding that the Bielskis had to abandon the camp and lead their massive entourage to newer, safer locations. And while some argued in favor of a smaller, more mobile unit, focused strictly on waging battle against the Germans, Tuvia Bielski was firm in his commitment to all Jews. "I'd rather save one old Jewish woman," he said, "than kill ten Nazis." In July 1944, after two and a half years in the woods, the Bielskis learned that the Germans, overrun by the Red Army, were retreating back toward Berlin. More than one thousand Bielski Jews emerged -- alive -- on that final, triumphant exit from the woods. The Bielski Brothers is a dramatic and heartfelt retelling of a story of the truest heroism, a historic testament to courage in the face of unspeakable adversity.
- Product Description
Customer Reviews:
Customers rated The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Saved 1,200 Jews and Built a Village in the Forest 4.0 stars out of 5.0 based on 26 reviews:A Tribute to the Human Spirit
by Nina (Danville VA Usa) - 2009-04-17
Where was the History of these people in my books? Hardly anyone I speak to knows who they are. This is a story of epic proportions, a tribute to the Human spirit, to greatness springing out of anonymity. To become the leader of 1200 people in terrible circumstances, to keep order, to further the cause of the just and in the end to recede back into anonymity. A truly noble family even though they had to resort to violence to keep the situation in control and to help their cause. Out of 1200 there are now thousands who must be thankful for their birth."In the woods, we were free."
by E. Bukowsky (NY United States) - 2009-03-13
Peter Duffy's "The Bielski Brothers" is a remarkable account of one of the most amazing examples of Jewish resistance during World War II. Duffy, who conducted extensive interviews with eyewitnesses and studied both primary and secondary sources, provides detailed background that puts the Bielskis' courageous deeds into historical context. When Tuvia, Zus, and Asael Bielski saw the handwriting on the wall, they went into hiding in the "Naliboki Puscha" (dense forest) to escape the Nazi death squads. Although some Jews hoped that they would ultimately be spared, as time went on, the scope of the carnage was becoming painfully obvious. The Bielski brothers, who lost parents, wives, and siblings to the German killing machine, decided to arm themselves, band together with other partisan groups, and conduct raids against the enemy forces. However, their most noteworthy accomplishment was their ability to persuade a large number of Jews to join their community. As Tuvia said, "I would rather save one old Jewish woman than kill ten German soldiers." Duffy's fluid and fast-paced style brings the Bielskis' extraordinary exploits to life. Even without the evocative archival photographs included in the book, we would be able to picture the handsome and dashing Tuvia, the oldest of the brothers, whose charisma, common sense, and communication skills (he was multi-lingual) made him a natural leader. Together with Asael and Zus, Tuvia organized a "miniature city," with "living quarters; workshops for tailors, shoemakers, seamstresses, and carpenters; a large herd of cows and horses; a school" and other amenities--all in the middle of a forest. When, in 1943, the Germans decided to rid themselves once and for all of this audacious band of brothers, the Bielskis, along with eight hundred other Jews, conducted a daring escape "through miles of puscha swamps as gunfire whistled past their heads...." Astonishingly, no one was lost. How did hundreds of Jews stay warm in the freezing winter months, obtain food, fight off typhus, and maintain their morale? Duffy explains in detail how this large group of people, including young and elderly, healthy and infirm, soldiers, intellectuals, laborers, and those who had no practical skills, managed to survive against tremendous odds. "The Bielski Brothers" is wonderfully inspiring, but Duffy does not ignore the difficulties and setbacks that the men faced, nor does he whitewash the brothers' flaws. Tuvia could be brutal when his authority was questioned, and he ran his village under strict military rule. Zus was famous for his fiery temper, risk-taking, and quick fists. In addition, the author is careful to point out that this massive rescue effort could not have succeeded without the help of such righteous gentiles as the Belorussian peasant, Konstantin Koslovsky. At long last, in July of 1944, twelve hundred Jews left the area that some called "Jerusalem" as free men, women, and children. For sixty years, few had ever heard the name Bielski, but thanks to books such as this one and the recent movie, "Defiance," the brothers and those who supported them are finally receiving the recognition that they deserve.An inspiring story
by Anyechka (Rensselaer, NY United States) - 2007-03-18
The story of Tuvia, Asael, and Zus Bielski and the village they built in the woods of Belarus, while waging a continual war against the Nazi occupiers and their anti-Semitic local collaborators, is an inspiring story proving that, contrary to what some people insist upon, there were those out there who did NOT let themselves be led like sheep to the slaughter. These men had been fighters since they were boys, unwilling to take guff or indignities from anyone, unafraid to defend themselves, even physically. They were not the stereotypical pale-faced yeshiva boys of Eastern Europe who ran and cowered from confrontation with anti-Semites. The Bielski brothers were three of the dozen children (eleven surviving past childhood) born to David Bielski and Beyle Mendelavich of Stankevich, Belarus, in an area that, through all of the wars and territorial treaties in those years, often changed hands between the Russians, the Poles, the Belarussians themselves, the Soviets, and finally the Germans. Drawing on their background of defending themselves and not running away from people trying to harm them, the brothers took an active role in partisan activity after the Nazi occupation. Though the three of them had managed to find residence away from the Lida and Novogrudek areas where their parents and most of their siblings were, they could see that what was happening was no small stuff, wasn't liable to stop anytime soon, and cried out to be avenged fully. Rescuing as many of their own people as possible became even more imperative after the murder of their parents, two of their brothers, and Asael's wife and baby daughter. Against all odds, they gave shelter and protection to roughly 1,200 people, began a fully-functioning village in the forest, moved their people to safer locations several times (under active Nazi pursuit and flying bullets no less), made connections with the Soviet partisans, and got many of their residents out of the Lida and Novogrudek ghettoes. They were so successful at getting their people out of the two closest ghettoes, in fact, that 240 of 250 people left in the Novogrudek ghetto on the eve of a planned deportation escaped through a tunnel in a mass escape that was amazingly successful (150 survived and weren't killed in the Nazi gunfire that followed, and the few remaining hidden in the ghetto escaped several days later). Along the way, they had to contend with enemies on four fronts--the Nazis, pro-Nazi collaborators, Soviet partisans who weren't always on the same page as they when it came to why they were fighting the war, and internal dissention among their own people. So much of the Jewish community in the Nazi-occupied Soviet Union had been completely decimated (particularly since most of them had been murdered by Einsatzgruppen instead of being killed in ghettoes or camps where they at least had a small chance of survival), so it was an astonishing thing to see these 1,200 survivors come walking out of the woods in July of 1944 after the area was liberated by the Red Army. (Although it was never really said just how many of the Bielski siblings survived, apart from Tuvia, Asael, Zus, their baby brother Aron who worked as a scout in the woods, their sister Taibe, and an older brother in America; are we to assume they were killed or that some of them were also in the woods? We know two of their brothers were killed, but we're never told anything about the fates of most of their other siblings.) There are those who claim that all books about the Shoah are just the same story over and over again, or are too depressing, but how many of those books are written about Jewish partisans who actively fought back and in the process also saved over a thousand of their own people, complete with creating their own village where life went on in (relatively speaking) normal circumstances? This is an inspiring story about three heroic brothers, not just some tale of sadness, woe, despair, and having to wait to be rescued by an outside force. I've also never read a book about the Shoah in Belarus; it's not too common to run across books with the Nazi-occupied USSR as the setting, seeing as how most of the people living there were murdered by the Einsatzgruppen early on, no chance of surviving the way someone in, say, Holland, France, or Hungary might have. This was hands-down one of the largest groups of Jews saved by anyone during the Shoah. It's about time these unsung heroes of the Shoah got more recognition.the ends don't justify the means
by Jeffrey A. lubchansky (usa) - 2005-11-22
they killed innocent jews even after they were liberated. another sad story of blind faith, absolute power corrupting absolutely and "spin". a book should be written about the family who suffered after the husband and father was shot over a pair of boots. how was it that they were allowed into america after being labeled war crimminals. did someone look under the table?"Hardly a plaque bears their names."
by Mary Whipple (New England) - 2005-09-19
When the Germans finally retreated from Belarus in the summer of 1944, almost twelve hundred Jewish survivors of the Holocaust shocked the world by materializing from the forest where they had lived in hiding during the German occupation. Tuvia, Asael, and Zus Bielski, three brothers, had managed to establish a well-organized community in the forest which lasted for almost three years, protecting hundreds of Jewish citizens while wreaking havoc on their German occupiers. Author Peter Duffy places this extraordinary story of survival in context by describing the Bielskis' lives and achievements, quoting from Tuvia Bielski's previously unknown journal, and revealing the sociopolitical history, including the anti-Semitism, of Belarus, a region south of Lithuania. In establishing their forest community, open to all Jews, the Bielskis had to fight "wars" on four fronts: the immediate threat from the Germans and the local police; the danger from local peasants and collaborators; the suspicions of Soviet partisans who questioned whether the Bielskis were sufficiently dedicated to their cause; and most of all, internal dissension. This was no "utopian community of enlightened democratic and egalitarian governance," and many readers may cringe at the extremes to which the leadership occasionally resorted in order to eliminate dissension. At its height, the forest village consisted of long, camouflaged dugouts for sleeping, a large kitchen, mill, bakery, bathhouse, tannery, school, jail, theater, and two medical facilities. Tailors, seamstresses, shoemakers, watchmakers, carpenters, mechanics, and experts in demolition provided the 1200-member community with necessary skills, and about sixty cows and thirty horses provided food and transportation. Many of the men served as part of the armed contingent which secured food and engaged in sabotage and the murder of Germans officials. By concentrating on one family and its life during the war, Duffy creates a powerful documentary about Jewish life. Breaking the narrative into six-month installments, he details the progress of the war throughout the region, relentlessly revealing cold statistics--the thousands of people killed in a single ghetto in a single day. As the numbers mount, the reader's horror at the immense scale of the genocide grows, the victims' utter helplessness becomes obvious, and the reader's amazement at the Bielskis' achievement increases. None of the Bielski brothers ever received public recognition for these heroic efforts, and Duffy's attempts to rectify this historical omission by telling their story will resonate with readers. Mary Whipple
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