His Obit:
Alexander Zeisal Bielski, a leader of the famous Bielski Brigade that harried German occupation forces and rescued hundreds of Jews from Nazi execution in Byelorussia during World War II, died on Friday at his home in Brooklyn. He was 83. His family said he died of cardiac arrest. Mr. Bielski, who operated a taxi fleet and a trucking company after coming to New York from Israel in 1956, did his most important work gun in hand in the woods surrounding the tiny village of Stankiewicze, near Novogrudok, where he was born. Assigned to Poland in 1921 and re-annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939, the region was invaded by the Germans in 1941. Partly because Mr. Bielski and a brother, Eshahol, had taken refuge in the woods when the Germans stormed into his village, the Nazis had to contend with more than just the Soviet Army. As another brother, now known as Aaron Bell, recalled it yesterday, he managed to escape when his parents and his brother Alex's wife and infant daughter were shot by the Nazis. The moment 10-year-old Aaron found his brothers and told them what had happened, Mr. Bell recalled, the Bielsky Brigade was born. Throughout the war, the Bielskis, who were soon joined by their older brother, Tuvia, and some 300 other fighters, carried out non-stop guerrilla war against the Nazis, often using captured German weapons as they ambused German patrols, derailed troop trains and blew up bridges and electric stations. Other bands of resistance fighters operated in the Naliboki forests, but the Bielski Brigade was one of the largest and most successful. What set it apart, however, was that, unlike other resistance groups, the Bielskis rescued women and children, devising a chilling technique to assure their safety in villages where they were secretly housed. The villagers were told that if a single Jew were given up to the Germans, their entire village would be burned. Mr. Bielski's wife, Sonia, recalled yesterday that the threat was so effective that when she became ill and had to spend three weeks under a doctor's care at a mill town overrun by Nazis, they never had a hint that she was in a bunker just a few feet away. For all the fighting, there was romance in the forest. It has been more than half a century since Mr. Bielski's wife, the former Sonia Boldo, was rescued from the Novogrudok ghetto, but she can still see her husband as she first saw him standing under a tree, a tall, powerfully built man glistening with brass and bandolier. "He was shining," she said. As Mrs. Bielski recalled it, she was immediately smitten, and so was he, but when Mr. Bielski tried to get the 18-year-old virgin to go to bed with him, going so far as to ply her with vodka, she said, the legendary resistance leader learned something about Jewish resistance. "I refused," she said, "but I offered to make a contract. If he would rescue my parents from Novogrudok, I would go with him." Within four days, her parents were safe in the woods, and Mr. Bielski had claimed his prize. Five days later, Mrs. Bielski said, the Nazis massacred thousands of Jews in Novogrudok. Her parents, who later lived in a house Mr. Bielski provided them in Israel, lived into their 90's. According to one of their grandsons, some 10,000 people are alive today who would have died or never been born if the Bielskis had not known their way around the woods. In addition to his wife, and his brother, Aaron of Manhattan, Mr. Bielski is survived by three sons, David of Orange, N.J., Jay of Woodmere, L.I., and Zvi of Manhattan; another brother, Nathan Bell of Brooklyn; two sisters, Tabia Seltzer of the Bronx and Estelle Herschtahl of Coral Gables, Fla., and six grandchildren.
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Bielski Brothers:
Tuvia Bielski (1906–1987) (#18496589)
Asael Bielski (1908–1945) (#38362759)
Aron Bielski (1927- )
Alexander Zeisal Bielski, a leader of the famous Bielski Brigade that harried German occupation forces and rescued hundreds of Jews from Nazi execution in Byelorussia during World War II, died on Friday at his home in Brooklyn. He was 83. His family said he died of cardiac arrest. Mr. Bielski, who operated a taxi fleet and a trucking company after coming to New York from Israel in 1956, did his most important work gun in hand in the woods surrounding the tiny village of Stankiewicze, near Novogrudok, where he was born. Assigned to Poland in 1921 and re-annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939, the region was invaded by the Germans in 1941. Partly because Mr. Bielski and a brother, Eshahol, had taken refuge in the woods when the Germans stormed into his village, the Nazis had to contend with more than just the Soviet Army. As another brother, now known as Aaron Bell, recalled it yesterday, he managed to escape when his parents and his brother Alex's wife and infant daughter were shot by the Nazis. The moment 10-year-old Aaron found his brothers and told them what had happened, Mr. Bell recalled, the Bielsky Brigade was born. Throughout the war, the Bielskis, who were soon joined by their older brother, Tuvia, and some 300 other fighters, carried out non-stop guerrilla war against the Nazis, often using captured German weapons as they ambused German patrols, derailed troop trains and blew up bridges and electric stations. Other bands of resistance fighters operated in the Naliboki forests, but the Bielski Brigade was one of the largest and most successful. What set it apart, however, was that, unlike other resistance groups, the Bielskis rescued women and children, devising a chilling technique to assure their safety in villages where they were secretly housed. The villagers were told that if a single Jew were given up to the Germans, their entire village would be burned. Mr. Bielski's wife, Sonia, recalled yesterday that the threat was so effective that when she became ill and had to spend three weeks under a doctor's care at a mill town overrun by Nazis, they never had a hint that she was in a bunker just a few feet away. For all the fighting, there was romance in the forest. It has been more than half a century since Mr. Bielski's wife, the former Sonia Boldo, was rescued from the Novogrudok ghetto, but she can still see her husband as she first saw him standing under a tree, a tall, powerfully built man glistening with brass and bandolier. "He was shining," she said. As Mrs. Bielski recalled it, she was immediately smitten, and so was he, but when Mr. Bielski tried to get the 18-year-old virgin to go to bed with him, going so far as to ply her with vodka, she said, the legendary resistance leader learned something about Jewish resistance. "I refused," she said, "but I offered to make a contract. If he would rescue my parents from Novogrudok, I would go with him." Within four days, her parents were safe in the woods, and Mr. Bielski had claimed his prize. Five days later, Mrs. Bielski said, the Nazis massacred thousands of Jews in Novogrudok. Her parents, who later lived in a house Mr. Bielski provided them in Israel, lived into their 90's. According to one of their grandsons, some 10,000 people are alive today who would have died or never been born if the Bielskis had not known their way around the woods. In addition to his wife, and his brother, Aaron of Manhattan, Mr. Bielski is survived by three sons, David of Orange, N.J., Jay of Woodmere, L.I., and Zvi of Manhattan; another brother, Nathan Bell of Brooklyn; two sisters, Tabia Seltzer of the Bronx and Estelle Herschtahl of Coral Gables, Fla., and six grandchildren.
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Bielski Brothers:
Tuvia Bielski (1906–1987) (#18496589)
Asael Bielski (1908–1945) (#38362759)
Aron Bielski (1927- )
His Obit:
Alexander Zeisal Bielski, a leader of the famous Bielski Brigade that harried German occupation forces and rescued hundreds of Jews from Nazi execution in Byelorussia during World War II, died on Friday at his home in Brooklyn. He was 83. His family said he died of cardiac arrest. Mr. Bielski, who operated a taxi fleet and a trucking company after coming to New York from Israel in 1956, did his most important work gun in hand in the woods surrounding the tiny village of Stankiewicze, near Novogrudok, where he was born. Assigned to Poland in 1921 and re-annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939, the region was invaded by the Germans in 1941. Partly because Mr. Bielski and a brother, Eshahol, had taken refuge in the woods when the Germans stormed into his village, the Nazis had to contend with more than just the Soviet Army. As another brother, now known as Aaron Bell, recalled it yesterday, he managed to escape when his parents and his brother Alex's wife and infant daughter were shot by the Nazis. The moment 10-year-old Aaron found his brothers and told them what had happened, Mr. Bell recalled, the Bielsky Brigade was born. Throughout the war, the Bielskis, who were soon joined by their older brother, Tuvia, and some 300 other fighters, carried out non-stop guerrilla war against the Nazis, often using captured German weapons as they ambused German patrols, derailed troop trains and blew up bridges and electric stations. Other bands of resistance fighters operated in the Naliboki forests, but the Bielski Brigade was one of the largest and most successful. What set it apart, however, was that, unlike other resistance groups, the Bielskis rescued women and children, devising a chilling technique to assure their safety in villages where they were secretly housed. The villagers were told that if a single Jew were given up to the Germans, their entire village would be burned. Mr. Bielski's wife, Sonia, recalled yesterday that the threat was so effective that when she became ill and had to spend three weeks under a doctor's care at a mill town overrun by Nazis, they never had a hint that she was in a bunker just a few feet away. For all the fighting, there was romance in the forest. It has been more than half a century since Mr. Bielski's wife, the former Sonia Boldo, was rescued from the Novogrudok ghetto, but she can still see her husband as she first saw him standing under a tree, a tall, powerfully built man glistening with brass and bandolier. "He was shining," she said. As Mrs. Bielski recalled it, she was immediately smitten, and so was he, but when Mr. Bielski tried to get the 18-year-old virgin to go to bed with him, going so far as to ply her with vodka, she said, the legendary resistance leader learned something about Jewish resistance. "I refused," she said, "but I offered to make a contract. If he would rescue my parents from Novogrudok, I would go with him." Within four days, her parents were safe in the woods, and Mr. Bielski had claimed his prize. Five days later, Mrs. Bielski said, the Nazis massacred thousands of Jews in Novogrudok. Her parents, who later lived in a house Mr. Bielski provided them in Israel, lived into their 90's. According to one of their grandsons, some 10,000 people are alive today who would have died or never been born if the Bielskis had not known their way around the woods. In addition to his wife, and his brother, Aaron of Manhattan, Mr. Bielski is survived by three sons, David of Orange, N.J., Jay of Woodmere, L.I., and Zvi of Manhattan; another brother, Nathan Bell of Brooklyn; two sisters, Tabia Seltzer of the Bronx and Estelle Herschtahl of Coral Gables, Fla., and six grandchildren.
******************************
Bielski Brothers:
Tuvia Bielski (1906–1987) (#18496589)
Asael Bielski (1908–1945) (#38362759)
Aron Bielski (1927- )
Alexander Zeisal Bielski, a leader of the famous Bielski Brigade that harried German occupation forces and rescued hundreds of Jews from Nazi execution in Byelorussia during World War II, died on Friday at his home in Brooklyn. He was 83. His family said he died of cardiac arrest. Mr. Bielski, who operated a taxi fleet and a trucking company after coming to New York from Israel in 1956, did his most important work gun in hand in the woods surrounding the tiny village of Stankiewicze, near Novogrudok, where he was born. Assigned to Poland in 1921 and re-annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939, the region was invaded by the Germans in 1941. Partly because Mr. Bielski and a brother, Eshahol, had taken refuge in the woods when the Germans stormed into his village, the Nazis had to contend with more than just the Soviet Army. As another brother, now known as Aaron Bell, recalled it yesterday, he managed to escape when his parents and his brother Alex's wife and infant daughter were shot by the Nazis. The moment 10-year-old Aaron found his brothers and told them what had happened, Mr. Bell recalled, the Bielsky Brigade was born. Throughout the war, the Bielskis, who were soon joined by their older brother, Tuvia, and some 300 other fighters, carried out non-stop guerrilla war against the Nazis, often using captured German weapons as they ambused German patrols, derailed troop trains and blew up bridges and electric stations. Other bands of resistance fighters operated in the Naliboki forests, but the Bielski Brigade was one of the largest and most successful. What set it apart, however, was that, unlike other resistance groups, the Bielskis rescued women and children, devising a chilling technique to assure their safety in villages where they were secretly housed. The villagers were told that if a single Jew were given up to the Germans, their entire village would be burned. Mr. Bielski's wife, Sonia, recalled yesterday that the threat was so effective that when she became ill and had to spend three weeks under a doctor's care at a mill town overrun by Nazis, they never had a hint that she was in a bunker just a few feet away. For all the fighting, there was romance in the forest. It has been more than half a century since Mr. Bielski's wife, the former Sonia Boldo, was rescued from the Novogrudok ghetto, but she can still see her husband as she first saw him standing under a tree, a tall, powerfully built man glistening with brass and bandolier. "He was shining," she said. As Mrs. Bielski recalled it, she was immediately smitten, and so was he, but when Mr. Bielski tried to get the 18-year-old virgin to go to bed with him, going so far as to ply her with vodka, she said, the legendary resistance leader learned something about Jewish resistance. "I refused," she said, "but I offered to make a contract. If he would rescue my parents from Novogrudok, I would go with him." Within four days, her parents were safe in the woods, and Mr. Bielski had claimed his prize. Five days later, Mrs. Bielski said, the Nazis massacred thousands of Jews in Novogrudok. Her parents, who later lived in a house Mr. Bielski provided them in Israel, lived into their 90's. According to one of their grandsons, some 10,000 people are alive today who would have died or never been born if the Bielskis had not known their way around the woods. In addition to his wife, and his brother, Aaron of Manhattan, Mr. Bielski is survived by three sons, David of Orange, N.J., Jay of Woodmere, L.I., and Zvi of Manhattan; another brother, Nathan Bell of Brooklyn; two sisters, Tabia Seltzer of the Bronx and Estelle Herschtahl of Coral Gables, Fla., and six grandchildren.
******************************
Bielski Brothers:
Tuvia Bielski (1906–1987) (#18496589)
Asael Bielski (1908–1945) (#38362759)
Aron Bielski (1927- )
