The Bielski Brothers

This is an article about a book. For the Jewish partian group it describes, see Bielski partisans.

The Bielski Brothers is a book by Peter Duffy published in 2003. It tells the a story of Tuvia, Zusia, and Asael Bielski, three Jewish brothers who established a large partisan camp in the forests of Belarus during World War II, and so saved 1,200 Jews while fighting the Nazi forces.

At the end of the war, with Soviet control of Belarus becoming increasingly oppressive, Tuvia Bielski and his remaining brothers fled to Romania, traveling on to Mandatory Palestine and eventually to the United States. One brother, Asael, had been drafted into the Soviet Red Army and was killed in action at Königsberg in 1944.

Criticism

The Peter Duffy's book received a lot of critical reviews from Polish readers. Many, but not all, of those reviews came from extreme right-wing and/or antisemitic circles. After removing the rhetoric, main points raised are :

• The repeating the myth about supposed Bór-Komorowski order which allegedly mandated Polish underground to kill off Jewish partisans (this allegations is probably based on order nr. 116, which called for extermination of criminal groups and protecting local population).
• Avoiding the reference to massacre in Naliboki, where supposedly participated Bielski's partisans.
• Not concentrating enough on the question of securing food from local population. (P.Duffy however describes several allegations made against Bielski brothers)
• Accusing Armia Krajowa of being ally of German occupiers.

See also

• Bielski partisans

References

• Peter Duffy, The Bielski Brothers : The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews, Harper Perennial, 2004, ISBN 0-06-093553-7

Further reading

• Nechama Tec, Defiance: The Bielski Partisans, Oxford University Press, 1994, ISBN 0-19-509390-9