Defiance, A Tradition Being Shared

One son fulfills his fathers wish to tell the world how one family helped save thousands during the Holocaust

By Yehuda Sugar

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Nearly every famous Jewish story, Biblical or otherwise, has at its core a hero or heroes who performed extraordinarily brave, death-defying acts of defiance. Moses defied Pharoah against all odds, Esther and Mordechai defied Haman, the Maccabees defied King Antiochus, all the way back to Abraham, we have a man who defied an entire G-dless culture, in our own times, the Israeli army defied many Arab nations in a half dozen wars.

It’s the Jewish way and it’s here to stay.

On Tuesday evening just a few days after the world commemorates the Holocaust on Yom Hashoah, a Chicago area audience will be treated to the story of a small group of modern-day Macabees whose gripping World War II story involving the daring preservation of Jewish life was dramatically documented in a 2008 full-length film entitled none other than: Defiance.

The storyteller, Zvi Bielski, the 50s-something son of one of the heroes, Zus Bielski, says about his father: “My father told me stuff when I was growing up about how he killed people. Before he died, he gripped my arm and told me, ‘You tell the world what I did with my brothers.’”

That’s exactly what Zvi did and does. 

In the aftermath of the slaughtering of their parents in 1941, Zus, 27 at the time, and Zvi’s two uncles, Tuvia then 33, and Asael, then 30, took up arms against the Nazis, created a safe haven in a dense Polish forest and went about the business of saving and rescuing some 1,250 Jews. Their fierce and methodical campaign involved smuggling Jews out of heavily guarded ghettos, scouting the roads for fugitives and leading retaliatory raids against Belorussian Jewish peasants who collaborated with the Nazis.

By 1944 when the Russians liberated the region, they had formed the largest armed Jewish run rescue operation in World War II, having amassed an impressive array of German weapons with which they destroyed numerous German targets. 

“They took in women and children, the old and the sick, “Zvi Bielski said, referring to the enclave they built that included a synagogue, clinics, a nursery, bakery and even a theater. “They offered protection to all who could find their way to them. Their group included 275 men on horseback with machine guns.”

In one dramatic case, a woman with an infant was rescued from a swamp after being left behind after a Nazi raid.

“Years later, my parents were in Israel taking a stroll and a woman came up to my father and embraced him and kissed him repeatedly,” Zvi Bielski said. “It was the same woman he had saved. She called her daughters so that they could meet my dad. There are hundreds of stories like that.”

All told, approximately 20,000 descendents of the men, women, and children who survived because of the Bielski’s heroic deeds are alive today.     

“Our youth need to hear the powerful story and message of the brave acts of people who put their own lives at stake to save others,” says Rabbi Meir Hecht, Director of the Jewish Learning Institute of Metropolitan Chicago, reflecting on the Bielski brothers’ incredible heroism. “Confronting life's everyday questions has never been as challenging as it is today and this message of positive Defiance against all odds will hopefully inspire students to do better in school and become more caring individuals at home and with friends.” 

After living in Israel, where Zvi and his two brothers were born, Zus and Tuvia settled in Midwood, Brooklyn. Asael was killed in the last days of the war. Zus was a successful businessman who owned a fleet of trucks and medallion taxis and lived a quiet life until his death at the age of 83. 

“His only regret during his life was that he wished he could have saved more people,” Zvi Bielski said. “He will always be my hero. He was a great man.”

Zvi Bielski will retell the story Tuesday April 13 at 7:30 p.m. at the Niles West High School Auditorium at 5701 Oakton St. in Skokie at an event entitled: An Evening of Defiance. Tickets for the event can be bought in advance or at the door. For more information, or to buy tickets, please visit www.LearnChicago.com or call (312) 445-0770. The event is sponsored by The Jewish Learning Institute in conjunction with The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.