Defiance: The Bielski Partisans » (Reprint)

Nechama Tec is Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut, Stamford. She is the author of six books, including In the Lion's Den: The Life of Oswald Rufeisen, the winner of the 1990 Christopher Award, When Light Pierced the Darkness, and Dry Tears, a memoir of her experiences during the years of the Nazi occupation of Poland.

A history of the Beilski Partisans, a forest community which was established in 1942 in western Belorussian and numbered over 1,200 Jews by 1944. The group represents the largest armed rescue operation of Jews by Jews in World War II. Tec describes other partisan movements in the region, showing that while most forest fighters were rifle-carrying young men, the members of the Beilski community included both men and women of all ages, some with weapons, but mostly unarmed. Drawing from survivor partisan interviews, Tec discusses the details of the partisans' daily lives, explores the charismatic leadership of Tuvia Bielski, and outlines the internal processes and structures of the community.

Booknews

The history of a Jewish partisan group, a forest community established in 1942 in western Belorussia, that would number more than 1,200 by 1944--the largest armed rescue of Jews by Jews in WWII. Drawing on wide-ranging research and original interviews with survivor partisans--including charismatic leader Tuvia Bielski himself, two weeks before his death in 1987--Tec reconstructs the lives of those in the community and tells how they survived in a hostile environment. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)