Monday 11 February 2013

Defiance - Jewish Resistance in WWII

Defiance - The true story of the Bielski Partisans - by Nechama Tec  ISBN 978-0-19-538523-6

In 1942 a small group of Jewish resistance fighters escaping Nazi persecution established a community in the forests of western Belorussia.  Within 2 years they numbers more than 1200 men, women and children.  It was the largest armed rescue of Jews by Jews in the war.

The leader of the Partisans - Tuvia Bielski emphasised that saving Jewish lives as being more important than killing Germans.

The book chronicles the reality of living in very difficult circumstances, the huge achievements by those living in the community and the challenges they faced.   It is not a well know part of history and deserves to be better known.

Defiance - was the basis for a film staring Daniel Craig - aka James Bond. The film is not very historically accurate - as is the way with most films
that try and condense events of two years into 2 hours.

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