Nechama TecRezensionen

Impressive work by Nechama Tec-I learned a lot. The extensive research the author did on Jewish resistance during World War 2 and the insights she gained from interviewing surviving members of the Bielski otriad made for a fascinating read. I was impressed by the fact that she gave her interview subjects a choice of four different languages to speak during their interviews—I'm assuming this means she speaks all four herself—Hebrew, Yiddish, Polish and English.
The focus of the book is on the leadership of Tuvia Bielski, what he and his brothers Zus and Asael did to rescue Jews and how his partisan group grew to be over 1200 by the end of the war. It wasn't just a matter of hiding from the Nazis. The group was on the move a lot, had to deal with conflict from within and eventually had to answer to leaders of Russian partisan groups.

Interesting read—highly recommended.

Nessuno a Brooklyn si sarebbe mai immaginato che i tranquilli signori Bielski fossero degli eroi. Ora questo libro squarcia il velo sulla loro eccezionale impresa. Determinazione, intelligenza e disciplina sono le armi che hanno fatto di Tuvia Bielski e dei suoi fratelli le anime di un'imponente operazione di salvataggio di ebrei, realizzata dagli ebrei stessi, durante la seconda guerra mondiale. Rifugiatisi nelle foreste della Bielorussia, organizzarono un'unità partigiana con un obiettivo: salvare più persone possibile. Così l'unità Bielski accolse non solo giovani combattenti o abili sabotatori, ma anche donne, vecchi e bambini, diventando l'ultima speranza di gente disperata.

Utterly inspiring account of three heroic Jewish brothers in WW2 Belarus; hiding from the Nazis in the vast, inhospitable forests, their initial small band of acquaintances rapidly becomes a small town, as more Jews flee the ghettos. Led by the charismatic Tuvia Bielski, his group stands out as one that turned no one away; while other detachments refused the frail, useless and unarmed...and were often guilty of anti-semitism...the Bielskis actively sought out all who wanted to come, their focus on saving lives than attacking the enemy (although there was, pleasingly, some of that too.)
"Bielski was for us what Israel is for the Jews now...an insurance."Through interviews with all the major players in the 1980s, Tec writes a seemingly balanced account; the Bielskis had their detractors, moments when maybe things could have been done better. There were confrontations with bands of Nazis, cold and privation, dissent in the ranks, and a need to rub along with the groups of Russian patriots in the area...

Sometimes (not often!) you finish a book so inspired by the character that you think "if I had a son right now, I'd name him after this person."

An amazing story, that has to be read to be believed.

I liked the first chapter or so, but I just couldn't get into it. The book is written in such a way you can't really "feel" for the characters - they are all written as two dimensional characters. I understand it's probably the only way the author could write the story, but even though she's living in remarkable times and dealing with horrifying things, you can't really feel for her because of her writing. I muddled through a few more chapters, desperately hoping the book would get better, but the voice is just too flat for me.

The story of what the Bielski brothers were able to accomplish during such dangerous and uncertain times is really incredible. I was disappointed in the format of the book. I was expecting to read a 5 star novel, but it was more like a term paper.

This is not a novelization of the movie, but an actual true story of the Bielsky brothers. The language is a bit heavy, but worth getting through. The book does not idealize the brothers, but shows them as real human beings, warts and all. I was fortunate enough to attend a lecture by Zus Bielsky's son, and he described his father and uncle as "tough guys and sometimes a-holes." Of course they would have to be such to pull off the amazing rescue of Jews right under the Nazi's noses, then protect them and maintain the tough discipline that was needed to survive. This is not a light read by any measure, but a worthy one.

Tuvia Bielski e i suoi fratelli appartengono alla folta schiera degli eroi misconosciuti, questo libro racconta la più imponente operazione di salvataggio mai realizzata dagli Ebrei durante la seconda guerra mondiale.

Very good for those who want to know more about what happened to Jews during WWII, but don't like the stereotypes that have been showered on them for decades. This is the true story of a group of Jews who managed to save themselves from the Nazi killings, and then dedicated themselves to saving other Jews. You won't find perfect heros or perfect villains, just real people facing extreme circumstances.

This is a non-fiction book which sets down in chronological order, the events of WWII which impacted Polish Jews living in the area of Stankiewicze, Poland. From that town and that time was raised up heroes – the Bielski brothers. Fleeing to the forest for their lives, they came to the decision to save their fellow Jews, whatever the cost. This is the story of how they accomplished that goal, to the saving of over 1,200 Jews. Told in a straightforward way, and backed up with numerous personal interviews and historical documents, this was a horrifying look behind the scenes of hell in the forests of Poland. Thank God for such men. And for such who bring their stories to light.

This well-written memoir is a lovingly written tribute to Tec's parents, especially her father, who had the foresight, connections and appearance to arrange for the author's family to spend the duration of World War II passing as Polish Christians. The author presents a different and more ambiguous struggle for survival than is typically given in holocaust biographies and memoirs. The poor Homar family accepts Tec's family to ensure their own survival during a time of deep rations and deprivation. The Jewish family essentially foots the food bill, the rent and the start-up for one of the Polish family member's black market vodka business. The author insists the Homars are kind, affectionate, and generous to them in spite of being deeply anti-semitic. My edition includes an epilogue in which the author explains something of what happened after the war when the family returned to Lublin Poland. Compared to the rest of the book, this section is quite sketchy and unsatisfying. The author states that dealing with this aspect of her personal and family history is still painful. Dry Tears reads like narrative and the author provides clear characterization of the poor Poles her family lived with. This is a book worth reading for a completely different view of the Holocaust experience.

Made into movie, 2008; largest armed rescue operation of Jews by Jews in Belaruss during WWII

Nechama Tec's Defiance was on my shortlist for my Belarus book for the Europe Endless Challenge. After watching an episode of NBC's Who Do You Think You Are? a couple of of weeks ago that featured actress Lisa Kudrow's family, I was eager to get hold of and read this book. Ms. Kudrow's great-grandmother was one of thousands of Jews executed by the Nazis in what is now Belarus. Defiance is the story of a group of more than 1,200 Jews who survived the Nazi terror in the forests of Belarus.

Tuvia Bielski was the second son of a large Jewish family from a village in what is now Belarus. When the Germans began forcing Jews into ghettos in the larger cities, Tuvia and two of his younger brothers, Asael and Zus, were determined to stay out of the ghettos. They tried to persuade family members to join them. Soon their group enlarged to include family friends and their relatives. As the group grew, it formally became one of many partisan groups under Soviet direction. As the oldest brother in the group, Tuvia became its leader.

Most of the Soviet partisan groups accepted only able-bodied men with weapons who were able to fight. In contrast, the Bielski group accepted all Jews, including unarmed men, women, older people, and children. Everyone who reached the Bielski group was assured of food and protection. Tuvia's main goal was to save Jewish lives rather than to fight the Germans. He sent scouts into the ghettos and the forests to invite all Jews who were willing to come. Although other Soviet partisan groups thought the Bielski group was too large and consumed too much hard-to-get food, Tuvia was able to overcome objections to the group's existence by providing some fighters for joint partisan missions, and especially by supplying support to other partisan groups in the form of goods and supplies. Among the Bielski group there were people with skills to repair weapons, to tan leather for shoes, to repair and make clothing, and to provide medical care for the sick and wounded.

The Bielski partisans were not saints. They were survivors who did what they had to do to survive. This included making armed raids on inhabitants of the surrounding countryside. The food parties tried to take food only from those they believed had food to spare. They mostly took items that were considered necessities and mostly avoided taking luxury items. Many women chose to improve their situations by becoming the mistress of a valuable member of the group, such as a fighter or someone in a position of authority. Interestingly, many of these relationships survived not just during the war years, but for decades afterward.

There are other books available on the Bielski group and the Jews who survived in the forests. I chose this one because of the publisher's reputation, and I am pleased with my choice. The book shows evidence of careful and thorough research, including the use of archival sources and the author's own interviews of surviving members of the Bielski group. The author notes that her interviews were recorded, and both the original recordings and the transcriptions are available to other researchers. Where recollections or opinions differ, the author attempts to reconcile these differences and notes the reasons for her interpretation in the end notes. The accompanying material includes eight pages of black and white photographs, a map of the settlement the group built in the Nalibocka Forest, a biographical appendix listing individuals who appear frequently in the book with a brief summary of their lives after the war, an organizational list of officers and heads of workshops, a short glossary, and 56 pages of end notes. Although many sources are listed in the end notes, I would have liked a separate bibliography or selected reading list.

This book is highly recommended to readers interested in the Holocaust, World War II in Eastern Europe, and the Soviet-German conflict. Readers with an interest in leadership studies might find useful material in the author's analysis of Tuvia Bielski's charismatic leadership style.

Nechama Tec is a sociologist, and she here does scholarly work. The reader is confident of imbibing impressions that are as accurate as humanly possible when the Notes, detailing the source of every testimony, take up 45 of the 270 pages. The narrative flow of the work as a whole is chunky, though, which is not surprising when the author is obviously focusing on not omitting, and not inventing. This chunkiness does not bother a bit for a reader like myself who before reading saw the 2008 film by Edward Zwick - the perfect portal for the human and historic treasures to be found in this volume.

Not quite as exciting as the movie, but still it fleshes out what happened in the years the camps of the Bielskis set up. Amazing really that you could have a camp in the middle of Nazi occupation, that was for the saving of Jews.

There are two books about the Bielski partisan group that I know of; the other is Peter Duffy's The Bielski Brothers. Both books were good but I found Tec's to be the better of the two. Her writing gave a better sense of what daily life was like in the Bielski camp, possibly because she herself was a "hidden child" Holocaust survivor. Tec was also able to interview Zus and Tuvia Bielski before their deaths, whereas Duffy didn't start writing his book until the brothers (excepting Aron, the youngest, who was only a child during World War II) were all dead.

The story is a fascinating one which deserves to be better known. The Bielski brothers are the closest thing to real-life Robin Hoods that I know of, and there ought to be a movie about them. Both books are worth reading but if you can only get one, get Defiance.

Impressive story about the Bielski brothers. Jewish partisans who fought against the Nazi's in occupied Poland (now Belarus). It is a true story of Jewish resistence. It focuses on the lives and leadership of the partisans, the Bielski brothers.
It is not a well known history but lately get more attention.
Cause of the 2008 movie 'Defiance' based on this book, starring Daniel Craig.
But sadly also because of allegations by the Polish IPN institute of their involvement in war crimes commited by Soviet Partisans. Which is denied by survivors, historians and the writer of this book Nechama Tec.

I tried first to read the Dutch translation:.. in English it is much better!

"This is the true story of Nechama Bawnik Tec, whose family found refuge with Polish Christians during the Holocaust. It is a dramatic tale of how an eleven-year-old child learned to "pass" in the forbidding Christian world... a quietly moving coming-of-age story... and a unique celebration of the best human qualities that surface under the worst conditions." Excerpt from the back cover of the book.

NO OF PAGES: 262 SUB CAT I: Holocaust SUB CAT II: SUB CAT III: DESCRIPTION: Hiding Jews from the Nazis carried the death penalty, and yet an unusual group of Christians willingly opened their doors to Jews. Who were these rescuers and what motivated them to risk their lives for persecuted Jews?NOTES: SUBTITLE: Christian Rescue of Jews In Nazi-Occupied Poland

NO OF PAGES: 279 SUB CAT I: Holocaust SUB CAT II: Biography SUB CAT III: DESCRIPTION: Here is the unforgettable, definitive story of Oswald Rufeisen...of his incredible valor and personal agony as savior of substantial numbers of Jews and non-Jews during the Holocaust, while pretending to be a Nazi.NOTES: SUBTITLE: The Life of Oswald Rufeisen