always provided. Guards were constantly posted, yet in an environment of hostility and uncertainty, the Main Street character of this village in the forest lent stability and meaning to a world of despair and death. Nevertheless, many of the fighters saw the support group as a drain on partisan operation.
Many Russian commanders were suspicious of the Bielski group and wanted it disbanded. However, when General Platon, the Russian in charge of the partisan brigades in the Baranowicze region, toured the camp, he was impressed by the model partisan community he found and insisted that its integrity be preserved in the Soviet partisan system. According to Tec: ‘[Platon’s] insistence that the Bielski otraid ’s contributions were essential to the partisan movement saved the life of Tuvia Bielski.’ 3 Politics mattered, but in Zvi Bielski’s words, fierceness mattered more: ‘The Russians knew the Bielskis were prepared to fight to preserve their unit, to kill Russians if they had to.’
Women were treated on equal terms in the Bielski group, al though they rarely were allowed on partisan missions. Much of that reluctance had to do with cultural and traditional attitudes; and while some women had guns and used them with partisan units, the majority in the Bielski group, as in other partisan brigades, were assigned to support services. Sonia Bielski: ‘I had a gun but Zush didn’t want me going out on missions.’ Yet, with few exceptions, women refused to allow themselves to be treated as second-class cit izens even though most of the fighters resisted efforts to bring more women into the fighting units.
Tuvia’s spontaneity, his accessibility to the detachment, his toler ance when necessary, in addition to astute decision-making and his willingness to kill to assure the group’s survival, constituted a form of leadership that was absent in the ghettos. To protect his detach ment from Russian anti-Semitism, he constantly reminded Soviet officials of their government’s policy of nondiscrimination; that Jews were Soviet citizens like everyone else, in addition to being patriots who in the forest were defending the Soviet Union and the unity of its system. Zush, according to his son, in not so subtle ways reminded the Soviets that these fighters would not hesitate to kill for their survival. When Platon visited the Bielskis, he saw some elderly Jews daven ing [praying]. When he asked what they were doing, Tuvia said they were reciting the words of a Soviet patriotic song. Tuvia had a talent for managing strong personalities, an ability that improved relationships between different factions in the brigade and mediated differences, including those with Soviet brigades that on occasion threatened the community’s capacity to function.
Tuvia’s insistence on rescue rather than revenge as the community’s fundamental rule was the dynamic primarily responsible for its survival. In the words of one survivor: ‘It seems to have been the right decision. Had we remained a small group we could not have made it. So the goal was to become a big group.’ While many of the early survivors, including Zush, opposed this decision, ‘Tuvia insisted that if we were bigger we would have a better chance of survival and we would be more secure.’ 4 Rescue, then, took precedence over killing, a fact that distinguished Tuvia’s detachment from Jewish and non-Jewish partisan brigades built only on the pursuit of vengeance and who refused admittance to anyone without a weapon and the physical stamina to withstand partisan life. This is not to say that Tuvia avoided violent missions. They were as essen tial to his group as to the other partisan brigades; and if he believed he had to fight, he never refused to engage in combat. Yet, Tuvia, in spite of differences with his brothers, saw the community’s ability to sustain fighting and to remain intact as a Jewish brigade to be tied up with its role as a place of rescue and
Many Russian commanders were suspicious of the Bielski group and wanted it disbanded. However, when General Platon, the Russian in charge of the partisan brigades in the Baranowicze region, toured the camp, he was impressed by the model partisan community he found and insisted that its integrity be preserved in the Soviet partisan system. According to Tec: ‘[Platon’s] insistence that the Bielski otraid ’s contributions were essential to the partisan movement saved the life of Tuvia Bielski.’ 3 Politics mattered, but in Zvi Bielski’s words, fierceness mattered more: ‘The Russians knew the Bielskis were prepared to fight to preserve their unit, to kill Russians if they had to.’
Women were treated on equal terms in the Bielski group, al though they rarely were allowed on partisan missions. Much of that reluctance had to do with cultural and traditional attitudes; and while some women had guns and used them with partisan units, the majority in the Bielski group, as in other partisan brigades, were assigned to support services. Sonia Bielski: ‘I had a gun but Zush didn’t want me going out on missions.’ Yet, with few exceptions, women refused to allow themselves to be treated as second-class cit izens even though most of the fighters resisted efforts to bring more women into the fighting units.
Tuvia’s spontaneity, his accessibility to the detachment, his toler ance when necessary, in addition to astute decision-making and his willingness to kill to assure the group’s survival, constituted a form of leadership that was absent in the ghettos. To protect his detach ment from Russian anti-Semitism, he constantly reminded Soviet officials of their government’s policy of nondiscrimination; that Jews were Soviet citizens like everyone else, in addition to being patriots who in the forest were defending the Soviet Union and the unity of its system. Zush, according to his son, in not so subtle ways reminded the Soviets that these fighters would not hesitate to kill for their survival. When Platon visited the Bielskis, he saw some elderly Jews daven ing [praying]. When he asked what they were doing, Tuvia said they were reciting the words of a Soviet patriotic song. Tuvia had a talent for managing strong personalities, an ability that improved relationships between different factions in the brigade and mediated differences, including those with Soviet brigades that on occasion threatened the community’s capacity to function.
Tuvia’s insistence on rescue rather than revenge as the community’s fundamental rule was the dynamic primarily responsible for its survival. In the words of one survivor: ‘It seems to have been the right decision. Had we remained a small group we could not have made it. So the goal was to become a big group.’ While many of the early survivors, including Zush, opposed this decision, ‘Tuvia insisted that if we were bigger we would have a better chance of survival and we would be more secure.’ 4 Rescue, then, took precedence over killing, a fact that distinguished Tuvia’s detachment from Jewish and non-Jewish partisan brigades built only on the pursuit of vengeance and who refused admittance to anyone without a weapon and the physical stamina to withstand partisan life. This is not to say that Tuvia avoided violent missions. They were as essen tial to his group as to the other partisan brigades; and if he believed he had to fight, he never refused to engage in combat. Yet, Tuvia, in spite of differences with his brothers, saw the community’s ability to sustain fighting and to remain intact as a Jewish brigade to be tied up with its role as a place of rescue and
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