R ECOMMENDED FOR Study Guide: H IGH SC H OOL STUDENTS Antisemitism in the Partisans
Edited in Consultation with Dr. Michael Berenbaum www.jewishpartisans.org Throughout German-occupied Europe during a matter of blood and genetics, not religious World War II, approximately 30,000 Jewish men identity. Being Jewish was considered a genetic and women fought as partisans. While some defect, not something learned or professed but fought as part of non-Jewish groups, others biological reality. And the Jews were considered formed their own Jewish partisan units. But no a cancer among German society. For Hitler and matter where or within which organizations, all many of his followers, Jews were considered Jewish partisans shared a common vision—to subhuman, and their destruction was not only fight the Nazis and their collaborators and deemed desirable, but necessary for the health to forestall what they feared would be the of the German nation. Under Hitler, in short, obliteration of all European Jewry. Christian religious antisemitism and secular political antisemitism were transformed into racial Like all guerrilla fighters, antisemitism. the Jewish partisans faced the difficult challenges of To better understand the antisemitism Jewish securing food, weapons and partisans faced, it’s important to understand shelter, while surviving enemy the different forms antisemitism took in different attacks. Unlike non-Jewish parts of Europe. It’s also important to consider combatants, though, the Jewish the obstacles Jewish partisans faced just because partisans also had to contend they were Jews as well as the triumphs they with pervasive antisemitism: achieved despite tremendous odds against them. hatred directed at them because they were Jews. Unlike classical guerrilla fighters, they IN THE WEST The strong antisemitic propaganda could not find safety within the local population, By the end of the nineteenth century, the Jews the Nazis used, as shown in this even under occupation. 1943 rally in Berlin, played upon of Western Europe (including Germany), Greece years of antisemitic feelings many and Italy had been granted civil and political people had. The Nazi anti-Jewish Antisemitism had a long-standing presence in rhetoric spread beyond Germany Europe. During the Middle Ages, for example, rights equal to their Christian neighbors. and affected populations, especially Metaphorically and actually, the walls of the in eastern Europe, where Jewish Jews were accused of being Christ-killers, child partisans had tremendous difficulty murderers, well-poisoners, the devil’s helpers or ghetto had come down. This emancipation paved with both locals and fellow the road for assimilation, allowing many Jews to partisans. USHMM Archive. devils themselves. Reviled and disdained, Jews in many countries were confined to ghettos and succeed in numerous professions. Such Jews had forced to wear specially marked clothes—patterns solid grounds for believing that in their regions of of oppression the Nazis would build on centuries Europe, at least, antisemitism was a thing of the later. Jews had even been excluded from certain past. professions and expelled from the countries they In part, this assimilation explains how the Jews lived in simply for being Jewish. of Western Europe were able to blend fairly easily While Jews had experienced antisemitism on into resistance networks: the Maquis (underground) and off for centuries, the kind of antisemitism in France, Liberty and Justice in Italy, and the introduced by the Nazis was radically different Fighting Squads in Holland. But while Jews fought than its previous forms. In Christian Europe, for alongside non-Jews in each of these partisan the most part, Jews were allowed to convert to groups, the painful history of antisemitism had Christianity; that is, while Judaism was despised taught them to be careful in their dealings with and Jews were mistreated, if and when they non-Jews both within and outside the organization. converted, they could be accepted as Christians. As a Greek Jewish partisan recalled, it was best By contrast, Nazi antisemitism allowed no “not to tell we were Jewish.” It was helpful, too, “to appear Christian” by attending church, as he Conforms to Common Core Standards possible escape for Jews. Being Jewish was jewishpartisans.org/standards explained, “If we didn’t do that [the villagers]
1 would not give us any food or the information we In sum, Jewish partisans in Western Europe faced needed.” antisemitic attitudes, but those attitudes tended to be held in check by a variety of forces: by the According to Jewish partisan Bernard Musmund, need for secrecy, by organizational demands, the same caution applied to French partisans. and ironically, by antisemitic beliefs themselves. Before joining the Maquis, Musmund created The emancipation of Jews in Western Europe fake identification and ration cards; after joining, translated into their being somewhat more he was armed. As he describes it, though, he accepted within non-Jewish partisan units. “never met any antisemitism in the underground.” Jewish fighters within the partisan units, even That said, secrecy was of utmost importance to as they fought on behalf of Jewish survival, the partisans, and “nobody discussed personal were often required to hide their Jewishness business.” As Musmund explained, “The less you or it was ‘kindly’ overlooked.
IN EASTERN EUROPE
Under ordinary circumstances in the world of partisans, the enemy of your enemy is an ally. Thus, one would have imagined that all partisan groups would have cooperated and that partisans would have worked with each other. They would have been drawn together and cooperated with one another because of their common bond— the hatred of German-occupation. But in Eastern Europe, the condition of Jews was far from ordinary.
In Eastern Europe, Jews had been a historically hated minority, and religious antisemitism was common. “It was taken for granted,” explained Simon Trakinski, a Jewish partisan from the city of Vilna. “The Catholic Church where I grew up used to remind their parishioners that the Jews killed Jesus. It was a way of life.” Ben Kamm A Jew being threatened by a Polish knew about somebody and the less they knew added, “I went to school with 98% Polish kids partisan. Date unknown. Source: about you, the better.” In other words, while Ghetto Fighters House Archive. and two Jews. We were abused every single day. antisemitic attitudes may have been common ‘Dirty Jew, lousy Jew,’ every single day we had to among non-Jewish French partisans, there was fight.” little opportunity for the French Jewish partisans to find out. In general, the Jews of Eastern Europe were far Additional Resources on Antisemitism in the Partisans less assimilated than their Western European As a member of the Italian partisans, Harry Burger t counterparts, frequently living as second-class explained that hiding his Jewish identity was Take the Antisemitism in the Partisans citizens apart from their Christian neighbors. The video course: aided by the fact that mountain villagers had little average Jew differed from his or her non-Jewish www.jewishpartisans.org/elearning interaction with Jews. “They didn’t know about neighbors in religion, dress, looks, occupation, Jews,” Burger said, explaining that, “In their eyes we t language and accent. Many Jewish men were wore red horns and a big tail. They didn’t know Watch the Antisemitism in the orthodox, sporting beards and sidelocks, black Partisans short film: that we’re normal.” The villagers’ antisemitic caftans and hats. And most Jews spoke Yiddish, www.jewishpartisans.org/films attitudes, in other words, blinded them to Burger’s a language rooted in old German. Moreover, the Jewishness. Burger’s commander, by contrast, t Jews of Eastern Europe were far more populous knew that Burger was Jewish, but didn’t care. As Download additional JPEF lessons, than were the Jews of Western Europe. Eight study guides, and other materials: the Viennese-born Burger explained, “My boss million of the roughly eleven million Jews of www.jewishpartisans.org/resist always said: ‘He’s Jewish, but that’s okay because Europe lived in Poland and the Soviet Union alone. he shoots.’” The partisan commander may well With one in ten citizens having Jewish ancestry, have preferred not to have Jews in his outfit, but Poland had the highest concentration of Jews the need for fighters outstripped any antisemitic in all of Europe. leanings.
2 While violence against Jews in Eastern Europe uncommon, for example, for non-Jews, with the was not uncommon, before the onset of WWII encouragement of the Germans, to go on ‘Jew antisemitism was most often expressed systemically. hunts,’ seeking out Jews who had escaped from the For example, in the second Polish Republic, which ghettos or were ‘passing’ as Aryans. A report to the existed between the two World Wars, Jews were not Polish government in exile explained that, “A Pole allowed to hold government jobs after 1919 when who turns up with a captured Jew is first ordered these positions were nationalized. In the same year, to dig a grave for him. Immediately after his all 6000 Jews who worked in the lumber industry luckless victim is executed, he receives an award were expelled from these positions. Quotas limited of 200 zlotys and the clothes and shoes of the Jewish enrollment at universities, where those Jews deceased.” As the war progressed, such incentives who were admitted had to occupy the back benches grew more and more attractive. According to of the classrooms. And while making up only 10% Simon Trakinski, “If a non-Jew would turn a Jew over to the Nazis, they would give them 50 pounds of salt or 10 liters of kerosene,” both much-needed and hard-to-come-by supplies.
The short film, Fighting on Three Fronts: Antisemitism in the Partisans, There are, of course, numerous examples of narrated by Larry King, was produced as an educational tool to non-Jews who not only helped Jews, but saved accompany this study guide. The film features rare archival footage and Jewish lives despite the threat to their own. Polish interviews from several Jewish partisan veterans. Please note that this partisan Sonia Orbuch credits her and her family’s film contains frank dialogue of the discrimination faced by Jews who survival in the forest to a peasant who provided fought with the partisans, including first-hand descriptions of persecutory them with food during the brutal winter of 1942. violence; antisemitic language; and troubling discussion of historic Christian doctrine regarding Jews, which may not be suitable for some When Ukrainian nationalists discovered the audiences. Due to this sensitive subject matter, it is recommended that family’s hiding place and prepared to attack, adults preview this film prior to presenting it to younger audiences. the peasant warned them to run. ”Even though
For educators who wish to present this 14-minute film, discussion the world is cruel,” says Sonia, “there are some questions based on this film can be found on page 5 of this guide. good people and they should not be forgotten.”
In addition, The Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation (JPEF) has Within the partisan units of Eastern Europe, produced a 7-minute film to serve as an introduction to the Jewish antisemitism thrived. Jewish partisans’ accounts partisans. The film, Introduction to the Jewish Partisans, is narrated by Ed bristle with stories of betrayal, violence and Asner. Both films may be viewed at www.jewishpartisans.org/films, or a DVD can be requested by emailing [email protected]. murder. Gertrude Boyarski was nineteen when the Germans destroyed the ghetto in her Discussion Questions for the Film Antisemitism in the Partisans: hometown of Derechin in eastern Poland. 1. What reasons are presented in the film for Eastern Europe’s antisemitic Together with her family she managed to escape culture? to the forest, where they joined a partisan group 2. How were Jews treated in some partisan units? Were all partisan units tolerant of antisemitism? led by a Soviet commander. Her mother and 3. Several Jewish partisans in the film said they had to prove themselves the younger children stayed in a so-called ‘family to other partisans. Why did they have to prove themselves? How did camp’ attached to the unit. they do so? The inadequately defended camp, a sanctuary 4. What were some of the responses of Jewish partisans to antisemitism in the partisan units? for Jews attempting to escape slaughter in the ghettos, soon became a target for local collaborators. In one attack, of the population, Polish Jews were made to pay her mother was murdered. In a second, two 30% of the country’s taxes. While these policies siblings and her father were also killed. Among oppressed Jews, who historically lived under the the murderers Boyarski recognized a former shadow of antisemitic violence, murderous attacks classmate, a young man who only a few years were limited in number and scope. earlier had been her partner in a dancing class. She pleaded with him to spare her life. “You The German occupation, however, loosened are a Jew. You must die,” she recalls him saying. the restraints on violent impulses. Non-Jews He fired his machine gun at her and left her for were encouraged to attack Jews with impunity, dead. Luckily, none of the bullets actually hit her, sometimes perpetrating violence with greater and she made her way back to the family camp. force than the Germans requested. It was not
3 OBSTACLES TO FIGHTING BACK it was a large group and attitudes towards Jews More Information varied, many of the AK’s members were violently on the Jewish Whether in Western or Eastern Europe, and whether antisemitic. In fact, an AK document penned in Partisans antisemitic violence was obvious, veiled or held in 1943 stated that Jews were an “alien minority” The Jewish Partisan check, Jewish partisans faced tremendous obstacles, that would have no many of which had antisemitic histories as well. Educational Foundation place in post-war recommends these resources The Boyarski family’s helplessness points to one Poland and had to for further information. of these: a lack of military training, which was be gotten rid of especially pronounced in Eastern Europe. In Poland, “without exception.” for example, Jews had not been allowed to serve in JPEF Short Films the Navy and Air Force, and the Army had done its Thus, not only s Introduction to the Jewish best to keep them from advancing beyond the rank did the AK not Partisans with testimonials of private. A common Polish joke asserted that “a accept Jews in its from Gertrude Boyarski and Jew can only shoot with a broom.” ranks, many of its other JPEF partisans, archival members went out images and rare WWII Another major problem which Jewish partisans newsreel footage. of their way to hunt had to face was their typical lack of presence in Norman Salsitz changed his identity and murder Jews, s Antisemitism in the Partisans: the countryside. The overwhelming majority of seven times to blend into non- including Jewish Jewish partisan groups, ultimately View the accompanying film Eastern European Jewry lived in cities and towns— saving hundreds of Jewish lives. partisans. for first-hand accounts from a habit descending from antisemitic laws against Date: 1944. Source: Jewish Partisan Jewish partisans who faced Educational Foundation archives. Jews’ owning land. Accustomed to living in cities, Unable to find any and overcame persecution in many Jews were initially ill-equipped to carry Jewish or friendly Soviet partisan groups in his order to fight back against the on a life-and-death struggle in a rural setting. area, Norman Salsitz tried to enter the AK, but Nazis and their collaborators. The work of the partisans took place mostly in was driven off and nearly killed for his efforts. See page 3 for more forests and depended on the cooperation and Norman ultimately managed to join an AK unit, information. goodwill of farmers and foresters. The Jews’ lack but only by assuming the name (and ID card) of a These and many more JPEF of strong links to the countryside therefore posed deceased non-Jew. “I wanted to join the AK to be short films about the Jewish a serious challenge. Moreover, rural populations equal with all the other Polish fighters and not to partisans—narrated by Ed tended to be even more antisemitic than urban be afraid for the AK members who fought on the Asner, Larry King, Tovah ones. Abe Asner’s group in Poland tried to buy same side.” Feldshuh, and Liev Schreiber— can be viewed online at: weapons from a local man in a small Polish village Unlike the Germans who were in unfamiliar www.jewishpartisans.org/ so they could defend themselves and fight the territory, the AK was composed of local people films. To order a DVD of JPEF’s Nazis. The man kept promising to sell to them, who knew the area well. This made them short films, email: dvd@ but whenever it came time to meet, the man was extremely dangerous, as they knew all the places jewishpartisans.org. never there, or made excuses why he could not ______Jews could hide. “They looked for us in haystacks sell it to them. Once, Frank Blaichman’s group tried and sheds,” declared Simon Trakinski, “they killed Books / Study Guides to buy food from a town’s general store and the us even though we fought for the same side.” As town’s population chased them out of the village s Jewish Partisans Saving a result of this policy, few Jews survived in areas Jews, JPEF study guide. www. with pitchforks. dominated by the AK. Jews in other countries jewishpartisans.org/resist The deep antisemitism of many of the partisan faced similar dangers from local antisemitic s We Fought Back: Teen unit members meant that Jewish partisans faced groups such as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Resisters of the Holocaust terrible dilemmas while serving (UPA), which initially supported the Nazi invasion. Paperback, by Allan Zullo. in them. When Norman Salsitz was shot in the Scholastic Book Club, 2012. Sometimes, Jewish partisans were singled out hand, requiring medical attention for the wound, for the most dangerous or difficult assignments s Jewish Resistance in he was taken to a doctor known to hate Jews. in their units. In Martin Petrasek’s unit in Occupied Eastern Europe, by The doctor asked Salsitz to lower his pants for Slovakia, a Jewish man named Schwartz was Reuben Ainsztein. Elek Books, an injection, presumably so that he could find 1974. assigned the task of carrying a machine gun out if Salsitz was circumcised. The Jewish partisan for many miles after a mission. This was the s The Jewish Resistance, by coolly pulled out a hand grenade, informing the kind of job that would normally be shared Lester Eckman and Chaim doctor, “If you do something funny I’ll pull out the between several partisans and was impossible Lazar. Shengold Books, 1977. pin and we’ll all be killed.” The doctor complied. for only one man to accomplish. Yet the
commander ordered Schwartz to carry the The Home Army (Armia Krajowa, or AK) was heavy weapon himself. After two hours, the largest underground movement in Poland, Schwartz requested a break so he could rest. The with a significant partisan contingent. Though
4 commander grabbed the machine gun and said, partisans often simply shot their Jewish partners, Discussion Questions “That’s exactly what I can expect from a Jew. reporting them as having been killed in action. Nothing else.” Schwartz was later executed for Kubryk informed a Jewish commander, who in turn 1. Explore the differences “disobeying” orders. informed his superior, a non-Jew. When nothing between the experiences happened, the Jewish commander threatened of partisans in Eastern and Western Europe. What are Despite the Soviet history of problematic attitudes to inform up the chain of command to Moscow some of the factors that and polices towards the Jews, the Jews fared better itself, which finally triggered a response. Eighteen in the partisans under communism. Unlike Nazism, could account for these non-Jewish partisans were court-marshaled and differences? communism preached racial and ethnic equality, hung “from eighteen different trees with a sign at least in theory. Jews fought alongside non-Jews explaining why.” Kubryk was careful to emphasize in the Red Army and as compatriots with Soviet 2. What is the difference that, “They didn’t hang them because they were between prejudice and partisans. Still, antisemitism in the forests ran antisemitic… They were hung because they deep. Many Jewish partisans were murdered by discrimination? Apply these killed partisans.” concepts to the history of communist comrades. Jews in Eastern and Western The Jews in Kubryk’s unit also gave assistance Even so, with communism and Nazism as the most Europe. Under what to escapees from the ghettos. These fugitives, conditions can prejudice bitter of enemies, it is not surprising that there Kubryk recalled, invariably showed up at their and/or discrimination turn were Jews who saw the former as the answer to base without weapons, and thus with little chance to murder? Find examples antisemitism. Martin Petrasek, was convinced of of admission. By burying some of the weapons from the text that support it and “felt pretty comfortable” fighting alongside captured during missions, Kubryk and his Jewish your statements. How does prejudice and discrimination communists. Nonetheless, he still thought it, “Better companions aided these new arrivals. Kubryk work in our world today? that I don’t say that I’m Jewish. Even if I saw a explained, “If a Jewish guy comes in and he’s been Jewish family…I tried to help them as a non-Jew.” In our lives? Under what told that he’s got to go get himself a rifle we… conditions could racism turn gave it to him and he comes back with a rifle, or to murder in our own times? JEWS HELPING JEWS with a gun, or with a grenade, or whatever it was available at the time.” 3. Italian partisan Harry Despite these considerable obstacles, Jewish Burger explains that the partisans found many avenues to overcome villagers’ antisemitic the disadvantages facing them. Jewish partisans ALL-JEWISH PARTISAN GROUPS beliefs “blinded” them in non-Jewish groups sometimes were able to As Kubryk’s case makes clear, not all partisan to his identity. Can you think of ways in which help other Jews surreptitiously, whether those groups in Eastern Europe excluded Jews. In you have experienced this Jews were other partisans or desperate civilians. Poland, Jews fought in the Peasant Battalions When the AK was organizing a mission to murder phenomenon? Ways in which (Bataliony Chlopskie) as well as the communist-led you have been “blind” to the Jews known to be hiding on a farm, Norman People’s Army (Armia Ludowa). Yet the pervasive identity of others? Salsitz ‘volunteered’ to be one of the two men climate of Jew hatred was oppressive. to carry out the job. Salsitz had earlier found a way into the AK by changing his name and Ben Kamm explained, “We didn’t have one enemy; 4. Fold a sheet of paper in half lengthwise. On one side passing himself off as a Catholic. “As a Jew we had three enemies. We had the Ukrainian of a sheet, list the obstacles I couldn’t even fight for my country. As a Jew Nationalists, Polish Nationalists and Jewish partisans faced in I couldn’t give my life for my country,” he sadly the Germans. We had to fight three Wars.” their struggle to fight and acknowledged. But as a member of the AK, Similar feelings prompted many Jews to form survive. On the other side, he saved Jewish lives. While en-route to the their own fighting units: all-Jewish partisan describe the strategies farmhouse, Salsitz first shot his partner, then groups. These groups faced enormous challenges they employed in order to coaxed the Jews from their hiding place by procuring weapons, food, clothes and other overcome these obstacles. addressing them in Yiddish. He eventually led the supplies. And yet they occasionally succeeded Rank obstacles in order of most to least challenging refugees to a Jewish partisan group in the forest. beyond their wildest hopes. and explain your choices. Joe Kubryk did something similar. Kubryk had Frank Blaichman was a 21-year-old fighter from left home at age fourteen, joining a group of the small Polish town of Kamionka. Blaichman’s 5. What were some of the partisans a year later. The partisan unit included approach was simple: “If someone did something special challenges that the Ukrainians, Poles and Russians, and “none of them to a Jew…. We try to punish those people.” The all-Jewish partisan units really liked the Jews,” he explained. When Kubryk unit’s first mission targeted two collaborators. faced? What tactics did they discovered that Jewish partisans were getting Their execution marked a “turning point in our use to survive? Do you think these tactics were justified? killed in far greater numbers than non-Jews in his struggle.” “People started talking,” asserted Why or why not? unit, he investigated, learning that non-Jewish Blaichman. People began recognizing that “there’s
5 some Jews who were defending Jewish life…. success was that Tuvia had military experience Sources We became notorious overnight…. The general prior to the German invasion—important training population knew that the Jews had the guts, that only a small percentage of Jews who became s the courage to go after those bandits who were partisans had. In order to remain an all-Jewish Anthology of Armed Jewish Resistance, Isaac Kowalski, Ed. working for the Germans.” Subsequent acts of unit, Bielski’s partisans and family camp members Jewish Combatants Publishers resistance—mining the railroad and sabotaging a made themselves indispensable to the Soviet House, 1984. dairy factory—solidified their reputation, earning units by supplying them with tailors, locksmiths, s Jewish Resistance in Nazi- “the respect from everyone that we knew how to bakers, shoemakers and other much needed Occupied Eastern Europe, by fight.” artisans. Thanks to Bielski’s outstanding leadership, Reuben Ainsztein. Barnes and approximately 1,200 Jewish men, women and Noble, New York,1975. Blaichman’s group was so well organized that not children—only 30% of them armed—saw the end even the AK was able to destroy it. “They make s The Jewish Resistance: The of the war. History of the Jewish Partisans an ambush,” he explained, “kill one or two, but in Lithuania and White Russia we would kill some of them too. They saw that it Blaichman and Bielski were exceptions, however. During the Nazi Occupation, didn’t pay for them to liquidate us. They stopped it.” Most units did not fare nearly as well. Norman 1940-1945, by Lester Eckmann Salsitz’s all-Jewish partisan group, which he and Chaim Lazar. Shengold Blaichman’s ‘eye joined after rescuing the Jews in hiding and Publishers, 1977. for an eye, tooth eventually led, was more typical. At its height, his s The War of the Doomed: for a tooth’ policy group included 125 members. Only six survived. Jewish Armed Resistance reversed the image in Poland, 1942-1944, by of Jews as cowards Schmuel Krakowski. Holmes or worthless fighters CONCLUSION and Meier, New York, 1984. in that area. More For a full list of sources for than merely respect, Hitler believed that he could not win the the material found in this his bold initiatives war without murdering every single Jewish study guide, go to: www. earned them acts man, woman, and child. This was the threat— jewishpartisans.org/sources unprecedented in the 3,500-year history of the Tuvia Bielski’s all-Jewish partisan of cooperation and group grew to 1200 people by coordination from Jews—that gave birth to the Jewish partisan. allowing any Jew to join, with which both sides or without a weapon. Date Given this frightful scenario, resistance was more unknown. Source: Novogrudek, benefited. The Polish than a matter of honor and dignity; it was matter The History of a Jewish Shtetl, www.novogrudek.com. Armia Ludowa of life and death. From the beginning, however, (People’s Army), for the cloud of antisemitism hung heavy over example, supplied Blaichman’s group with arms and Jewish partisan efforts. This invisible German ally ammunition. could be found in every European country, but Like most of the all-Jewish partisan groups, more so in Eastern Europe, where its impact was Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation Blaichman’s activities included protecting family devastating. 2 0OST 3TREET camps of approximately 200 Jews. “All the bandits Yet no matter where they fought, Jewish partisans Suite know if they gonna touch them, they gonna be proved remarkably resilient, adapting and adopting San Francisco, CA 941 punished for that,” Blaichman made clear. coping strategies and tactics as they went along. 415-563-2244 (tel) Even so, the protection of civilians—a category that The all-Jewish partisan units and associated family 415-563-2442 (fax) camps—uniquely Jewish creations— are but included women, children and the aged—added yet [email protected] another layer of complexity to the already difficult one example among many. Jewish courage and © 2007 - 2014 Jewish Partisan Educational task of fighting the Germans. Faced with the choice determination won respect even from hardened Foundation. Revision ID#: 7.6 of rescuing Jews or fighting Germans, though, antisemites. Whenever possible, Jews fighting in non-Jewish groups used their positions to rescue THIS STUDY GUIDE MADE Jewish partisan commanders usually opted for the POSSIBLE BY THE CONFERENCE former. “To save a Jew is much more important fellow Jews. Blaichman and Bielski proved that ON JEWISH MATERIAL CLAIMS than to kill Germans,” decreed Tuvia Bielski, a Jews could conduct successful partisan struggles AGAINST GERMANY—RABBI even as they protected Jewish lives. In a word, ISRAEL MILLER FUND legendary Jewish partisan operating in Belorussia. FOR SHOAH RESEARCH, Like Blaichman, Tuvia made himself feared by Jewish partisans had to be bolder, more inventive DOCUMENTATION & avenging the actions of the local population and and show greater resolve than ordinary partisans, EDUCATION, THE RICHARD & responding in kind. He would leave notes: “This not only because they had to combat an enemy RHODA GOLDMAN FUND, THE fixated on killing every last Jew, but because they ASNER FAMILY IN HONOR family was wiped out for collaboration with the OF ABE & LIBBY ASNER, AND Germans and for turning Jews over to them. Signed, also had to overcome what was perhaps the most THE RITA J. & STANLEY H. The Bielski Company.” A key factor in the Bielskis’ ruthless enemy of all: antisemitism. KAPLAN FOUNDATION, INC.
6