Defiance: An Excerpt

Some colleagues and I were lucky enough to be invited to an advance screening of the new film starring Daniel Craig, Liev Schrieber, and Jamie Bell, Defiance. In 1942 a small group of Jewish resistance fighters established a community deep in the forests of western Belorussia, offering protection to all Jewish fugitives who could find their way to them. Within two years they numbered more than 1200 – it was the largest armed rescue operation of Jews by Jews in perhaps any war in history.

Their leader, the charismatic Tuvia Bielski (played by Daniel Craig) told his story to author Nechama Tec two weeks before he died in 1987, and she went on to write the book (published by OUP) on which the new film is based: Defiance – The True Story of the Bielski Partisans.

The film itself didn’t disappoint. As well as all the action you would expect from a war movie, there was also the human story of the hundreds of fugitives that were rescued, as well as the story of the Bielski brothers themselves. I’m not ashamed to admit that I shed a few tears in that cinema! Below is an extract from the book.

Tuvia was not interested in military glory. To live, to keep his people alive, to bring more Jews into the otriad, these were his goals. He would avoid talking to the non-Jewish partisans about his main preoccupation: the saving of lives. To them he presented himself as a guerrilla fighter and continually repeated that he had come to the forest to wage war against the enemies of the Soviet Union, the Germans. And when Panchenko suggested that they cooperate in anti-Nazi moves he readily agreed.

Their joint military ventures began in the last quarter of 1942 and continued into the second half of 1943. Although such anti-German moves were initiated by Panchenko, the two otriads each carried the same burden. Publicly Tuvia continued to emphasize his personal commitment to anti-German activities. In reality he and his group were under pressure to participate. A refusal could have endangered the very existence of the Bielski otriad. Russian partisans would not have tolerated an unwillingness to fight, especially not from Jews whom they suspected of cowardice. At this early stage, all forest dwellers were united in their hatred toward the Germans and their collaborators. These feelings of hostility were supported by equally strong ideas that it was important to fight their common enemy, the Germans.

Russian partisans were very belligerent when they talked about their enemy—killing Germans was equated with patriotism. Hero worship was common. How much of a hero a person was depended on how daring and life-threatening the person’s opposition was to the Nazis. But this high value placed on fighting the enemy did not correspond to actual combat; their belligerence was merely verbal. Inevitably, however, these favorable ideas about guerrilla fighting came with a devaluation of those who could not wage war. Nonfighters were subjected to ridicule and contempt. The disheveled and hungry ghetto runaways in particular were sometimes greeted by Russian partisans with a sneering, “Why did you work for the Germans instead of fighting?”

The forest was pervaded with ideas that fighting and causing damage to the Germans and their collaborators was good. Even young ghetto runaways after they were accepted into a Russian otriad would soon become strong advocates of the “wage a war ethic.” In their case, as with others, the admiration of anti-German fighters came with a disapproval of non-fighters.

One of these young Jewish partisans admits, “I looked at the Bielski otriad with its one thousand Jews, most of whom could not fight, and thought: ‘So what? But they do not fight!’ I believed that they should have fought the Germans. As a Russian partisan I felt self-important.” The idea that waging war against the Germans was more important than saving lives was implicitly accepted by many others. And while the degree of such acceptance varied, to some extent it was always there. Indirectly, support for this ideology sometimes had tragic consequences. The actions of known Jewish partisan fighters reflect this attitude. Dr. Icheskel Atlas, Alter Dworecki, and Hirsz Kaplinski each distinguished himself as an outstanding partisan leader. Each courageously battled the enemy. By the end of December 1942, they had all been killed in action.

During their short careers as partisan leaders, the three operated in and around the huge Lipiczańska forest. With its jungle-like growths, islands of swampy terrain, and irregular, poorly built country roads, this forest promised safety to many of the persecuted. Lipiczańska forest became home for both Jewish and Russian partisans. It also became a haven for ghetto runaways, many of whom were older people, women, and children. Small family clusters or units of unattached fugitives were scattered all over this forest. Disorganized and unprotected, these groups lived in primitive bunkers. Some would beg for food from surrounding farms; the few who had guns would get their provisions by using force. Still, the very few who brought some money or valuables with them would exchange these for food. Unaccustomed to life in the forest, many fugitives were attacked by unruly partisan bands and robbed of their meager belongings, and some were murdered in the process. Without the support of a large group like the Bielski otriad many died from cold, starvation, and epidemics.

Defiance will be in UK cinemas from January 9th and will be in US cinemas from January 16th.