 | |
| Formation | Spring 1942 |
|---|---|
| Type | Underground organization |
Region | German-occupied Poland (today Belarus) |
| Leader | Bielski brothers (Tuvia, Alexander, Asael, Aron) |
The Bielski partisans were a unit of Polish Jewish partisans who rescued Jews from extermination and fought the German occupiers and their collaborators around Novogrudok and Lida in German-occupied Poland (now western Belarus). The partisan unit was named after the Bielskis, a family of Polish Jews who organized and led the community.
The Bielski partisans spent more than two years living in the forest. By the end of the war they numbered as many as 1,236 members, most of whom were non-combatants, including children and the elderly. The Bielski partisans are seen by many Jews as heroes for having led as many refugees as they did away from the perils of war and the Holocaust.[1] However, as their relations with the non-Jewish population were strained and occasionally violent, their wartime record has been the subject of some controversy in Poland.[2]
- ^ "THE BIELSKI PARTISANS". United States Holocaust Museum. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
- ^ Kazimierz Krajewski – "Opór"? "Odwet"? Czy po prostu "polityka historyczna"? nr 3/2009 - Instytut Pamięci Narodowej page 105