A Fearful Force
The brothers, with Tuvia as leader, Asael second-in-command, and Zus as the intelligence officer, were aware that their survival depended on the might of their men. They set up a well-equipped fighting force. Asael’s daughter tells that her father gave her mother what was at the time the best gift a woman could want: a revolver. Bielski’s group didn’t only conduct food raids to feed the growing camp. It also joined with a Russian partisan group hiding in the same area to conduct anti-Nazi missions. In October 1942, the partisans raided a German convoy killing at least one soldier.
In his Yiddish-language memoirs, Tuvia wrote of his satisfaction: “The world should know that there were still Jews alive and especially Jewish partisans.” In the fall of 1943, Tuvia’s partisans aided a major operation launched to disrupt the railroad transportation used to transport German reinforcements to the Russian front. More than 230,000 rails were destroyed and for 51 hours all transports stopped.
With the danger of being discovered always a possibility, the partisans not only moved around in the forest, but also eliminated any collaborators. An informant, a former neighbor of the Bielskis was brought to the partisans’ camp and beheaded. A farmer, who caused the death of ten partisans on a food raid, was murdered together with his family and his homestead then burned down. They were taught, says Mickey Bielski, Tuvia’s son, “That there was a penalty for Jewish blood.”
Jerusalem in the Woods
In July 1943, the Germans, having already issued a warrant for Tuvia’s arrest with a 100,000 mark reward, launched Operation Hermann. 52,000 troops were mobilized in the area east of Lida and west of Minsk to hunt down the various partisan groups. Tuvia’s group fled further into the forest through a formidable swamp that reached their chests. Finally, 75 miles west of Minsk, deep in the Naliboki forest, they set up a camp that resembled a small village. Known to the partisans as Jerusalem of the Woods, the functioning community had a hospital, classrooms for the children, a synagogue, a soap factory, a Turkish bath, tailors, butchers, and even a group of musicians who played at festivals.
In July 1944, retreating German forces, fleeing the Russian front, unintentionally discovered the Bielski camp. Horrific fighting followed as the elderly, the women and children fled into the surrounding forest. By the end of the struggle, nine partisans had been killed and four Nazi soldiers had been captured. Needless to say, despite their pleas of innocence, the Nazis did not survive.
The following morning, an unexpected miracle happened: The camp awoke to the Russian liberators. On July 10, 1944, after more than two years of living in the forests, Tuvia led out 1200 survivors. Today, 20,000 people are living testimony to the fearless leadership of the Bielski brothers.
Becoming a Movie
The 2008 film Defiance (starring Daniel Craig, aka James Bond) tells the story of the Bielski brothers. It is an adaptation of Nechama Tec’s book Defiance.
