HIEU 158 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Tuvia Bielski, Inferiority Complex, West Belarus
Document Summary
800,000 of those 3 million were from belorussia (west and east) Belorussia is between poland and russia and changes hands many times. Western belorussia became part of the new post-war poland. They were liberated by the soviets in 1944. Millers and farmers with a large family. Didn"t make them rich, but gave them status. The bielski brothers were different from intellectuals who depended on them in the forest. Bielskis were from a small, rural farming village called stankiewicze. Asael, the third brother, died in the soviet army in 1945. There was a debate about whether to fight the nazis from the ghetto or go into the forest. Higher chance of survival in the forest. Some believed that there was more honor fighting from the ghetto. No one knew about the people in the forest except people who lived there. There was a prison, workshop, synagogue, etc. The bielski otriad joined forces with panchenko"s otriad.
