refuge.
Abraham Viner, a partisan who worked with Tuvia Bielski, remem bers him as someone who ‘devoted his soul, his brains and every thing else to the rescue of Jews. He saw a chance, a great opportunity, in his ability to save.’ 5 Another survivor/partisan, echoing sentiments expressed in my interviews with Bielski survivors, writes:
‘For forty years, we had discussions about what was more im portant, fighting the Germans or saving Jews. We came to the conclusion that our heroism was not heroism. When I was fighting with guns together with other partisans, this was not heroism. Heroism was to save a child, a woman, a human being. To keep Jews in the forest for two years and save them, this was heroism.’ 6
Yet, divisions remained over the years. Elsie S.: ‘I remember at a Bielski survivor gathering several years ago … there were a number of people there… . One group sat off to the side, refusing to mingle with the others. I asked them what was wrong; why they were not talking. One of them said to me, “Oh, they’re malbush ; we don’t have anything to do with them.” … This after 30 years!’ One sur vivor remembers how her four-year-old son always used to ask: ‘Mommy, under which tree will be our house today?’ 7 But the trees brought safety. Elsie S.: ‘I loved those trees; and the trees told me stories; I spent hours speaking with them.’
Conflicts over leadership, periodic disputes, required Tuvia’s intervention. But even with sometimes serious arguments, the group survived and grew. The fighting brigade fluctuated between 20 and 30 percent for the entire detachment. Most of the brigade came from lower-class backgrounds with only a small minority from the upper or middle classes. Most had little or no formal education since few of the Jewish elite survived the initial German occupation and mass executions; and the few who did survive and managed to escape were ill equipped for forest life. Those who prior to the German invasion had been considered ‘lower class’ now became the elite. According to Tec, ‘Physical strength, an ability to adjust to the outdoors, and fearlessness were qualities that mattered. A man’s prestige depended on the extent to which he exhibited these qualities. Women were usually not included in these calculations,’ 8 although lower-class men sought out upper-class women as forest ‘companions’ or ‘wives.’ In Sonia Bielski’s words, ‘We were young; we didn’t know if we were going to be alive tomorrow. So, love came to us quickly in the forests; we needed some happiness.’ Working-class people adjusted better to the physical stress of the forests, and looked with contempt on educated Jews who struggled with the rigors of forest life. Aaron (Bielski) Bell: ‘Look we grew up in the woods; it was our natural place to live. City-Jews had a rough time with this.’
A refugee first encountering the Bielski camp recalls:
‘I was amazed … I thought that it was all a dream. I could not get over it… . there were children, old people, and so many Jews. When the guard stopped me, I spoke Yiddish. I met people who knew me. That first time I could stay only an hour. After a few days, I went back and then again and again… . Once I saw a roll call, soldiers stood in rows, with guns. I saw two men come out, tall, handsome, leather coats… . I asked who they were and was told that these were the Bielski brothers. They were giving orders to the fighting men. They were going for an expedition, Tuvia and Asael … The two jumped on the horses like acrobats. I imagined Bar Kochva to look like that … Judas Maccabe, King David… . It gave me hope.’ 9
While medicine was in short supply and a crude hospital took care of the very ill, death from illness and exposure was almost nonexistent. Infections were treated with injections of boiled milk and, if available, iodine; the sick received extra food rations, and the group’s only typhus epidemic claimed just
Abraham Viner, a partisan who worked with Tuvia Bielski, remem bers him as someone who ‘devoted his soul, his brains and every thing else to the rescue of Jews. He saw a chance, a great opportunity, in his ability to save.’ 5 Another survivor/partisan, echoing sentiments expressed in my interviews with Bielski survivors, writes:
‘For forty years, we had discussions about what was more im portant, fighting the Germans or saving Jews. We came to the conclusion that our heroism was not heroism. When I was fighting with guns together with other partisans, this was not heroism. Heroism was to save a child, a woman, a human being. To keep Jews in the forest for two years and save them, this was heroism.’ 6
Yet, divisions remained over the years. Elsie S.: ‘I remember at a Bielski survivor gathering several years ago … there were a number of people there… . One group sat off to the side, refusing to mingle with the others. I asked them what was wrong; why they were not talking. One of them said to me, “Oh, they’re malbush ; we don’t have anything to do with them.” … This after 30 years!’ One sur vivor remembers how her four-year-old son always used to ask: ‘Mommy, under which tree will be our house today?’ 7 But the trees brought safety. Elsie S.: ‘I loved those trees; and the trees told me stories; I spent hours speaking with them.’
Conflicts over leadership, periodic disputes, required Tuvia’s intervention. But even with sometimes serious arguments, the group survived and grew. The fighting brigade fluctuated between 20 and 30 percent for the entire detachment. Most of the brigade came from lower-class backgrounds with only a small minority from the upper or middle classes. Most had little or no formal education since few of the Jewish elite survived the initial German occupation and mass executions; and the few who did survive and managed to escape were ill equipped for forest life. Those who prior to the German invasion had been considered ‘lower class’ now became the elite. According to Tec, ‘Physical strength, an ability to adjust to the outdoors, and fearlessness were qualities that mattered. A man’s prestige depended on the extent to which he exhibited these qualities. Women were usually not included in these calculations,’ 8 although lower-class men sought out upper-class women as forest ‘companions’ or ‘wives.’ In Sonia Bielski’s words, ‘We were young; we didn’t know if we were going to be alive tomorrow. So, love came to us quickly in the forests; we needed some happiness.’ Working-class people adjusted better to the physical stress of the forests, and looked with contempt on educated Jews who struggled with the rigors of forest life. Aaron (Bielski) Bell: ‘Look we grew up in the woods; it was our natural place to live. City-Jews had a rough time with this.’
A refugee first encountering the Bielski camp recalls:
‘I was amazed … I thought that it was all a dream. I could not get over it… . there were children, old people, and so many Jews. When the guard stopped me, I spoke Yiddish. I met people who knew me. That first time I could stay only an hour. After a few days, I went back and then again and again… . Once I saw a roll call, soldiers stood in rows, with guns. I saw two men come out, tall, handsome, leather coats… . I asked who they were and was told that these were the Bielski brothers. They were giving orders to the fighting men. They were going for an expedition, Tuvia and Asael … The two jumped on the horses like acrobats. I imagined Bar Kochva to look like that … Judas Maccabe, King David… . It gave me hope.’ 9
While medicine was in short supply and a crude hospital took care of the very ill, death from illness and exposure was almost nonexistent. Infections were treated with injections of boiled milk and, if available, iodine; the sick received extra food rations, and the group’s only typhus epidemic claimed just
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